The MATH of Ribs

Played the hoy last night. I was playing super tight and not really feeling it. I lost a lot of my stack when I had J8 os on a T98os board. Ep guy makes a smallish raise. I call with my draw and bottom pair. At this point I said to myself, he is playing this like he has KQ. Turn comes a dooming 7 and I bet out. He smooth calls. I suppress the warning bells in my head. He only has 2 pair, right? K comes on river. What can I beat? Not much. He bets out 3/4 the pot and I think for far too little time and pay him off. I am a big ass donkey. Need to trust my gut and fix a leak.

I play with a short stack but have time to maneuver. Fold, fold and more folding. Hover around 1k and finally get to where the blinds start to hurt. I decide to push with Q2 in sb when folded to me. He insta calls. Knew I was dead. This guy was playing tighter than me. I figured my steal would be good. He flips up AJos and board comes J2J2Q. My full house blows and ighn.

Had some family over on Sunday. Neighbors came too. We had a mixed grill of ribs, chicken, mushrooms, onions and corn on the cob.

I bought baby back ribs cut the slab in half and boiled them on a low boil for about an hour and fifteen minutes
With about 30 minutes left, I started a simple bbq sauce.
1 cup ketchup
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons dark brown sugar
3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

Simmer that for 30 minutes or so.

Pull the ribs from the boil and make sure to get most the water off. Use a brush to spread the sauce on one side of the ribs. Put that side down on a medium heat grill and spread the rest of the sauce on the other side. All you need to do here is add a little crustiness to the ribs. Flip after a few minutes and repeat. I got this from robbiesrecipes. Check it out. Cool site.

The chicken, mushrooms and onions I marinated in a simple balsamic marinade.
3/4 cup virgin olive oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
4-6 garlic cloves finely diced. (I used garlic powder)
salt and pepper

Marinated them for about 4 hours and grilled em up.

For the corn, I soaked the ears in the husks for about 2 hours in cold water. I then put them straight on the grill at medium heat for 20 minutes or so. The husks will burn but the corn is o so good.

The best part is the grill. Well for me anyways. I have been married for over 11 years. We registered for a little gas number then and it lasted a few years. Then I traded a buddy a futon for his grill. Another gas number, a little bigger and newer. That one finally crapped out on me. It had the old burner system with lava rocks and all. The grates were disintegrating.

Now I will not debate the merits of gas vs. charcoal here. I like both, but my family situation demands gas right now. For this purchase, I did the most extensive research on one single item that I have ever done. I was gonna go with the old eye test at Walmart and buy a Brinkmanns. Waited and went home and found out on the tubes that this model breaks down in 2 years. I finally settled on a Weber. The one I wanted was $700.00. Mrs. Thunder wasn't too keen on spending that much. I told her I would make her a deal. She research grills that night and tell me which one to get. Next day I went to Sears to look at theirs and almost fell for the eye test again. Called my wife and she looked up Kenmores and found out they look awesome but perform like crap. She finally relented and told me to get the grill I wanted. About time, we have a $1200 sewing machine that hasn't seen light in the second Bush administration. All I want to do is purchase an grill that we will use at least 2 time a week for 8 months a year until the Mayan calender runs out in 2012 then, I am sorry to tell all of you , we are all fucked. Someone should ask McCain and Obama what they are gonna do about the world ending at the end of their first term. Hope they have a town hall debate close to me. I am so going. Gonna ask that question and beg not to be tased. Come on now, don't go a get all upset. Don't think about end times, just drink a little more and put it in the back of your minds. Sorry to stir the pot. And really, there is a very good chance that the Mayans were idiots or lazy and just didn't finish out their calender. Moving on....

So I went to Home depot and bought a Weber. Just not the one I wanted. I went a step down and only spent $400. Nice solid grill that will last. The wife was happy and I love the damn thing. Almost slept out on the deck.

Side note, we originally went to get a grill a day earlier. Instead we bought a new front door on a whim. I tore the old one out and put the new one in on Sunday. Mowed the lawn. Helped make a head board for my youngest. Set up a bigger bed for my oldest. Cooked my wife's family a meal. Removed old landscaping ties and built a new retaining wall out of stone. Make all the meals we eat. Helped install two screen doors. All this in the last two weekends. Do nearly all the dishes. Went to a party last Saturday night, didn't get laid. Whats new? I think there is room underneath the grill cover.

RCJH

MT