Sassy Sows

The Sassys have missed the last 2 BBQ contests and now we are down to our last one - yep, our last chance to win a spot in the MBN championship contest next June. This weekend we will be going to Oxford (yes, I said Oxford) to compete. I'm not sure who all will be there but I'm sure it will be some fierce comeptition. Keep your fingers crossed for us. Stay tuned - results will follow next week.

Octoberfest

I started this post on Oct. 16 and here it is Oct. 23 and I'm just now getting back to it. Since I've taken so long to write about it I have decided to just give you the short version - Kay & I went up there Friday morning and ended up staying until Sunday. We had a great time - the weather was perfect for being outside and the contest was a big success with 10 MBN teams and 38 patio teams. The contest winners are as follows: 1st place Hog Ubon's; 1st place shoulder Red Hot Smokers; 1st place ribs Ghost River Smoke-a-holics - Grand Champion was Ubon's. Congratulations to all these fine teams - again I say, job well done!

There are a couple of photos from the contest that I just couldn't resist sharing. (We don't call this blog Torture & Bliss for nothing - you figure it out)

And this my friends is Ronnie Hamilton - the only man I know that wears a gold plated rib bone around his neck. The story is that this rib came from his hog that he won with in Memphis. Alan, this photo is for you - if you had been in Cleveland you could have met Ronnie and heard the story first hand.

The Bet

After the game last weekend when MSU beat Vandy - yep, that is what I said, MSU beat Vandy 17-14 - the score on the bet is now Linda 2, Brett 3 - watch out, I'm catching up

More BBQ

Last weekend was the BBQ contest at The Chapel of The Cross. They have had the Day in the Country festival for several years and 7 years ago they added the BBQ contest. There were 10 teams participating this year - just to name a few Ubon's, Diamond D, Steve's Magnificent, Fireman John's, Dr. Swinestein, and Barnyard. There were also arts and crafts booths there. Barnyard won Grand Champion and because they had already done this the pass down went to Diamond D's. Congratulations to all the teams that placed and to the winners - job well done! I hate that The Sassy Sows were not there participating but I certainly enjoyed getting to judge. If you have never been to this festival I strongly encourage you to check it out next year.



This weekend there is a BBQ contest in Cleveland, MS. I will be collecting Baby Kay in the morning and we'll buzz on up thru the Delta. This contest has been one of our favorites for years. The official name of it is Octoberfest. They will have live music on Friday night and arts/crafts on Saturday. While there I will also get a chance to run over to McCarty and purchase myself some new pottery. I'll have photos and stories of our adventure posted next week so check back in. In the meantime, have youself a good weekend!

Vidalia cont'd.

I left a couple of things off of the Vidalia write up that were just plain worth having their own mention. I have to tell just how inventive the group at Ubon's is. I think I'll start off with Jacob, the littlest Ubon (Leslie & Doc's son). I found him sitting on a cooler with the most intense look on his face stiring a "pot" of something. When I inquired as to what his recipe was I was informed that it was some type of "soup". I told him that it "must be documented" (I learned that from Beeve and Bradley) so off the cooler he came and here is he proudly displaying his
"soup". I see a BBQ chef in the making!

On Friday night before Dr. Father Vivian's birthday bash started I noticed that there was a new addition to the Ubon's site located just outside the fence. I am not quite sure if Beeve invented this on his own or if he had help. Anyway, here are his 2 precious daughters, Erin & Claire demonstrating the proper usage of this new addition. I'm not sure that they made any money off of it but it was quite creative.

And you really could see 2 states and a casino!

Cudos to Ubon's for creativity!

Ole Miss

Just wanted to say congrats to the Rebels for defeating Florida in the swamp - NOT!!! Where in the world did that victory come from - ooohhhh, I know - we lost 2 very good friends, Jere Barrier and Sidney Chaffin within the last few months - they were both die-hard Rebel fans and I just know that they had something to do with this - I will say this just for them (and nobody else):
Hotty Toddy - Gosh A'mighty - Who in the hell are we - hey, flem flam bim bam - Ole Miss BY DAMN!!! -
I love and miss you both!!

oh, yeah - Linda 1; Brett 3 - I'm not digging this score at all! Looks like I MAY possibly be buying my own bottle of wine to go with that lasagna BUT I'm not giving up - after the LSU game it looks like Coach Croome has finally realized that Lee needs to be our QB instead of Carroll - Wesley tried hard but he definitely needs some more work or needs to be moved into another position - hopefully they can regroup after being off this weekend and come back bigger and better - I have faith in them and I know they won't let me down!

Vidalia

This past weekend was the Jim Bowie Festival in Vidalia, LA. The Sassy Sows were the reigning champions of the BBQ contest -in fact we have won the past 2 years. We went down there with great anticipation - could we pull off a Three-peat??? We got there Friday morning and began setting up our area and prepping our ribs.

The weather was perfect - light little breeze blowing, sun shining and we did not have many love bugs to deal with. By late afternoon we had our area all decorated, the ribs were safely tucked in for the night and we were ready to relax for a while.

Brian (aka Beeve) had a surprise b'day party planned for Dr. Father Vivian down at Ubon's site Friday night. The Sassys had not one but TWO cakes hidden safely in the coach (courtesy of Baby Kay and Becky, Egg Roll's wife). Egg Roll (aka Bob) and Dale were busy cooking none other than egg rolls and sweet potatoe fries for our dining pleasure and as usual, they were both delicious (thanks guys!) We had a "ride about parade" prior to the birthday

celebration. Now this did not compare to the grocery cart parade we had in Memphis but it was still fun. As soon as the parade was over the girls (Erin & Claire) got the banner that Baby Kay made and walked around the area where the cooking teams were to round everybody up and then we wished Dr. Father Vivian a BIG HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

After this it was time to go home, rest up and get ready for the big day on Saturday.

Now, back to The Sassy Sows - we were expecting great things from our ribs that day. The color was perfect, the flavor was perfect and the tenderness was perfect. I must apologize for not having a photo of the finished product but I was too busy to stop and take one and my "official photographer" Baby Kay was busy judging. Come to find out we did not make finals but after all was said and done we came in 4th which is not bad considering the competition that was there. I have to congratulate Ubon's for taking the #1 spot in whole hog - Beeve, job well done, hog was wonderful!!!

Also, congratulations is due to Mark and 10 Bone team for taking the #1 spot in shoulder and ribs - we apparently didn't take Mark thru the drive-thru liquor store enough (and that is a private joke)! Here's the Grand Champion photo - we are very proud for you I can not end this post without showing you a photo of the winning tropical drink done by our friends at Diamond D from Newton, MS. The name of the drink is the Blue Sunomi and here it is - Tracy outdid herself this year by adding the goldfish - I would love to come up with a drink to compete with her next year but I'm not sure that I can get this creative - I'm taking any suggestions that you readers want to contribute. Her father-in-law Mike came up with the actual drink recipe and he said that there is nothing in any bartender guide that duplicates it so it is a one of a kind. Tracy was kind enough to give me the recipe so we can have this any time we want but we will never enter it in any contest - EVER!

Congratulations again to all my friends - hopefully we will all be competing against each other soon. And many thanks to Donna, Regina & Findley and their helpers for taking on the job of orgainzing the contest and taking such good care of the teams and judges - we appreciate your efforts more than you will ever know.

The Bet

After this weekend the score remains Linda 1 and Brett 2. Unless miracles happen in Oxford and Starkville I'm thinking that the bet could be decided at The Egg Bowl. Both teams have rather difficult remaining schedules (with the exception of 1 game each) so I'm not looking for any either one of us to jump out with a huge lead over the other one.

I never thought that MSU would be doing so bad this year - we didn't lose that many players from last season. We can't seem to find an offense anywhere. Yesterday we started Carroll as QB and then late in the game switched to Lee. Now Lee did get us one touchdown on the board which made losing a little less painful. There is a lot of work to be done. Come on Bulldogs, PLEASE don't let me down.

Ole Miss started off good yesterday but in true Rebel fashion gave away their lead and the game. GO REBS!!!

Good Times In The Delta

I left Jackson Thursday morning headed to Indianola. It was a perfect day for a ride thru the Delta - sunshine and good music on the radio. I love riding up there when the cotton is starting to bloom and the farmers are working in the field.

Thursday night The Gin Mill was having their first annual blues contest. They had 5 bands signed up to participate. The winner was Mark Massey Band from Senatobia. Friday and Saturday night the band entertaining us was The Legends of The Blues from Tupelo. If you ever get a chance to hear either one of these bands take it - they were both good.

Friday afternoon I did find time to go check out the BB King Museum. It was buzzing with people trying to get ready for the big party that night. I highly recommend that everyone go check it out but be sure to give youself plenty of time. They have a lot of things to look at, videos to watch, music to listen to and things to read. I'll definitely go back again as I didn't have enough time to spend there.

Kay, Pat, Donna, Tacy, Alexis & Anna Beth came up Saturday afternoon. While at The Gin Mill I got to meet a lot of interesting people - Sonny Payne was one of them. He is the host of the radio show King Biscuit Time. He has been doing this for 40+ years. In fact he had to leave early Saturday because he had to get back home to do the show. I think by far the most entertaining group that we met was the boys from Chicago - Paullie, Eric and Sammy.

I have never met a guy that owned more shoes than me but I think I have now. One of them (I will not reveal which one) has to have matching shoes with every outfit. Now I'm not dissing this by any means. I just find it quite interesting and no, he is not gay! They had a long drive on Sunday - 10 hours to get back home. Thank goodness I only had an 1 1/2 hours. After being in Indianola for 4 days, working at the bar/restaurant and virtually getting no sleep I could not wait to get back to my house and on the couch for a long nap. I'll rest up for a day or two and then I'll be ready to go again - not sure what the next adventure will be but I'll keep you all posted.

Kubbee, and Meatpies and Wine....OH MY !!!!!!!

This is my dear friend Natalie, aka "Crazy Lady", not because she is insane but because she would have to be crazy to keep up the pace in her hectic life of family, church, friends, grand kids, church, community, a full time job, church, and Dirt Cheap..........She has been promising "the girls" a Lebanese cooking demo for over a year now.....to teach us to properly prepare kubbee (aka; kibbee, cubbee, heaven in a ball) and meat pies, and the only way to learn is "hands on" because the recipe goes like this......
6# lean, lean, double ground beef that you get fresh, fresh, fresh from the Sunflower by calling D.C. the butcher and saying, "I'd like 6 pounds of Natalie's kubbee meat, please"....
He will know exactly what to do. 5 cups #2 wheat, ice water, onion, salt, pepper, allspice and cinnamon......no measurements or directions to go by, you have to go learn how to do it....and Natalie's the Kubbee Diva of the Universe (only now that Big Nat has moved up to higher ground did Baby Girl get this honor.....)


We finally settled on a night to gather and gather we did.....wine, cocktails and appetizers were first on the list of steps. We can't do anything without eating and drinking !!! We started off with a toast to the evening and our hostess....





Being Episcopal I thought the Trinity was onion, celery and bell pepper but I found out from the Kubbee Diva that the Lebanese Trinity is lean meat, onion and wheat. Add the spice and work the mixture until it is right....you take a bowl of ice and water and dip your hands into the water mixture and work the meat.....over and over until ready to place in pan, layer with filling (more meat, onion and spices cooked till very brown), then more meat on top, score and bake....or make into balls and bake or fry (we baked ours).......

The raw Kubbee must be eaten to adjust the seasoning and that is the best part. You place the raw mixture on a plate, top with the hot filling, add a dribble of extra virgin olive oil and eat with pita bread or flour tortillas......divine......









While waiting for the dishes to bake we proceeded on to make meat pies, rolled out biscuit dough with the cooked filling in the middle, crimp and bake until golden brown and serve with Lebanese cheese (like sour cream, but thicker, get at the Mediterranean grocery store)....



Delicious......by this time we are getting a bit full....... we also had heart of palm salad with red bell pepper and peppercorn ranch dressing my Big Sis brought and Natalie made her traditional salad with garlic, oil and vinegar dressing...both were wonderful................

The evening wrapped up with promises of round two demo to learn how to make Tabbouleh (wheat, mint, & tomato salad) and unleavened bread..........and more Kubbee !!!!!!!!!!

Everyone enjoyed the night immensely and we went home fat and happy !!!




The Lebanese Connection