Well I got spoiled rotten on my birthday yesterday. My sister Mary, who is no slouch in the kitchen herself, made me the best birthday dinner. She was assisted by husband Tom, who I suspect is vaguely more useful in a culinary manner than Sammy. The night started with three kinds of dips and three kinds of chips for appetizers and present opening. I never knew my nephews had such good taste in sweaters or I would have opened my presents with slightly less greasy fingers!
For dinner we had this great barbeque that you make in the crockpot. It’s definitely in the cookbook and it’s definitely delicious. We also had (swoon) macaroni and cheese just like we used to have when we were little with a beautiful cheese crust.
Mary made a yummy cornbread with cilantro. It was fat and buttery, just like I felt at the end of the night. Cole slaw and watermelon were the perfect sides. I ate tons of everything!
I confess I encouraged Sammy to buy a cake. He mentioned that he had managed to get his hands on that famous mayor’s husband’s recipe for a chocolate cake. I had an immediate and horrifying vision of what our kitchen would look like after such an encounter. To make a long story short, he bought a perfectly acceptable ice cream cake. We observed a weird but charming family tradition where everyone puts a ring on a candle before the birthday person blows out the candles so we all get a wish. I still don’t have a horse in my back yard so I can’t endorse it’s success!
It was almost a perfect birthday. My men took me to lunch at Brown’s and we thought Matt Hasselbeck was at the next table. We got all excited and Richard found Matt’s picture on his iPhone. For about 15 seconds we were in celebrity heaven, then the guy stood up and was, well…. short. Never mind, lunch with my guys was all the birthday thrill I needed. I guess it was a perfect birthday after all.
Ingredients
3 lbs pork tenderloin or roast
1 can real Coke
18 oz bottle of barbecue sauce
Directions
Put pork in crockpot. Pour Coke and barbecue sauce over.
Cook on Low for 8 hours.
Remove from cooker, and shred with fork. *see note
Serve with sauce on cornbread or on buns.
* You can put meat without sauce in a casserole and broil in the oven to get some nice brown pieces. Serve sauce separately.
