Merry Snack-mas!

We're in the middle of holiday party season. I haven't had a chance to finish my shopping and I've had to *gasp* work! I like to have something new each season so that my people using us for party catering can expect something exciting. Here are a couple of things we've done this season.

BLT Cheeseball

Alright so the "L" is really parsley. Cut me some slack. 2lbs cream cheese, 1/2 lb of crispy bacon, crumbled, 1/4 pint of grape tomatoes diced 1 bunch of parsley chopped. Mix together with some kosher salt, a lot of black pepper, and some of your favorite seasoning. Serve with crackers and pretend like it took forever. If you're lazy, you could use the bacon crumbles (not bits!) from the salad section. (Ok. I know this works because I am lazy. There I said it.)

Cranberry Relish

I've added this to balsamic vinaigrette and used it to top my little goat cheese tarts. In a food processor combine 2 cups of fresh cranberries, 6 or 7 basil leaves, 2 whole oranges (not peeled, not de-seeded, whole) pulse until it's pulverized. Add about 1/2 cup of rice wine vinegar, 2 cups of sugar and let it rest for a few days. for the world's easiest pick up food spread gingersnaps with goat cheese and then top with a dollop of cranberry relish.

This week holds a few more parties before our own family celebrates. Hope your holiday is awesome.

Family Traditions

My extended family wholeheartedly believes in tradition. Do something twice and it's considered a tradition. Easter holds the promise of traditional BBQ Chicken. July 4th...more BBQ. We had to break our long standing Christmas Tradition when our families grew to include new babies. So we started our own. Ham and biscuits for breakfast. White beans and home made chili sauce on christmas eve. Wine beginning early Christmas afternoon. My sister's husband drinking enough to be sweet to me by 6:30.

But the ultimate in tradition in the Roark Family is Thanksgiving. Nearly 30 years ago my aunt Ginger began preparing Thanksgiving dinner for the Roark family after she lost her mom on Thanksgiving day the year before. We are seated at a long table with perfect linens, beautiful china, and shiny silver. Each person has an assigned seat that only is adjusted when someone is born or marries into the family. The food. Oh the food.

We'll start: cold cranberry salad, cornbread dressing with cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and gravy (both giblet and faux giblet), english peas, corn casserole, asparagus casserole, sweet potato casserole both with pecans and with marshmallows, sherried fruit, and, of course, turkey.

Perfection. Ginger and her family work for days on the food, and weeks on the silver. It's one of the most perfect days. After lunch we take turns telling what we are thankful for from the past year.

We are blessed. Hope your Thanksgiving is filled with as much food and love and family as mine will be.

Best of the Best

Imagine: over 100 of the best barbeque teams in North America. Smoke filling up the air. The smell of alligator frying. Some old guy with a microphone hollering: get your peaches and cream corn! fresh off the farm! fresh off the grill! And in the background...the Ubon's team doing what can only be considered a performance art piece. Bohemian Rhapsody.

Ok, so we don't know all the words, but we can improvise guitar solos and piano solos and achieve really loud operatic-esque vocals when pressed.

Truth of the matter is that on Friday we had a really awesome hog. It netted us a 7th place. Out of 7. Friday night when it was time to get hog number 2 rolling in as many days, well, we weren't so thrilled with the process. You see, my friend, Beeve retires from BBQ every single time he doesn't win. Sometimes he retires even when he does win. Beeve retired around 6:00 pm and was forced out of retirement like a pig smoking Brett Farve at 6:15. My dad slapped the hog around a little, threatened it. Gave it the Christopher Walken treatment. We performed Bohemian Rhapsody. By 6:30 that hog was on the grill and smoking. 8:00 and we were headed to the Japanese Steak House in Waycross Ga.

Saturday evening brought us a long awards ceremony. Top 10 apple pies. Top 10 Pecan pies. Top 10 Macaroni and Cheese. Top 10 quail egg based mayonnaise. You get the point, right? The thing is, all of the backyard teams were given their awards. and that crowd left. I wanted to stand up and scream: hey! I listened to your kid play the clarinet you stay and listen to mine! (Sorry, I digress.) After nearly 100 awards, we were finally given a trophy for a 1st place hog.

Excited isn't the word! Worst to First!

I'm sad that Beeve and Blondie, Viv and Allen weren't included in the picture above. But my, ain't that bell pretty!

Mr. George's Tomatoes are in!

I got home one night this week and found a plastic bag full of tomatoes hanging on my door knob. So after a couple of days of tomato sandwiches and tomato gravy I started worrying about my tomatoes turning. We spent today hanging out and watching cooking channel and Jamie Oliver gave us an inspiring show on tomatoes. So here's what we had for dinner:

Tomato Orzo Gratin

Wash and place in a roasting pan 3 pints of tomatoes. add 3 tbsp of olive oil, 1 tbsp of rice wine vinegar salt and pepper. Roll tomatoes around to coat and roast for about 30 minutes at 350. Peel tomatoes (it's ok if you don't get all the skin...I call that "texture") and put into an oven safe baking dish. Add a handful of chopped herbs (I used basil and parsley). Strain tomato leavings and discard the seeds. Mix a tablespoon of flour into the tomato "juice." Add 1/2 milk, 1/2 cup of gouda and 1/2 cup of chicken stock. Add 1/2 cup of orzo and pour over tomatoes. Cook covered for about 20 minutes. Uncover and top with mozzarella and prosciutto and bake for 10 minutes.

This would have worked without the prosciutto...but what the hell, it was delicious.

Grilled Veggie Orzo

My friend Michele is a massage therapist, yoga instructor, Reiki Master and *gasp* VEGETARIAN! I know..I know. We've found common ground without me force feeding her bacon. She's a beautiful person and an amazing friend. I made tonight's recipe with her in mind.

While red bell pepper, zucchini and yellow squash are roasting on the grill, cook 1/2 cup of orzo pasta (I used whole wheat). Mix together 2 tbsp olive oil, 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar, 1 tbsp lime juice, salt and pepper. Dice 2 tomatoes and the roasted vegetables and toss with the dressing. Add drained orzo. Toss in a hand full of herbs (I had basil and parsley) and allow everything to get friendly for about an hour.

We had this with a grilled cheese sandwich...provolone, cheddar, jack and havarti. Perfect summer dinner.

Video of the Princess

My friend Anthony Quintano was kind enough to put together this video for me. He is AWESOME. I had no idea when I was begging for his help that dude is a serious professional! (And a super nice fella to boot!) Let me know what you think.

Ubon's at the 2010 Big Apple BBQ Block Party New York City from Anthony Quintano on Vimeo.

Big Apple Barbeque Block Party

Our family is heading out for our favorite event of the year. Today Daddy, Mama, and Reggie left Mississippi pulling our BBQ Trailer. Tomorrow my family...all of us...Jacob AND Ellie...will be hitting NYC.

We've been cooking competitive bbq for more than 20 years. It is so exciting to see a national interest in BBQ. We are honored to be included in the 2010 Big Apple BBQ Block Party. We've got a huge group coming. I can't wait. People I love, People who are dear friends, People I don't even know sharing in the culinary interest of BBQ.

Please come see us.