Flintstone Ribs and Baked Potatoes

I love Tony Roma's barbeque sauce, we discovered the restaurant years ago in Spokane, WA (that restaurant is now, unfortunately closed although there still is one in Kennewick, which is much closer to me, but I seldom get down there) during my last disastrous marriage when we were hungry, driving around bitching at each other because neither of us was "hungry for" what the other wanted to eat. Spokane's Division Street is a miles long succession of restaurants on either side of the street, where we spotted Tony Roma's. It was the first we'd ever been to, but I really fell in love with their bbq sauce. I think I'll make it a goal, maybe this year, to invent a copycat recipe for it-although I can find it at Safeway, because I feel it's cheating to post a food blog with a commercial product in it and call the recipe mine.

So Flintstone Ribs? Anyone remember the Flintstones? Are they still on-I don't watch much television? But there is a scene in the closing where they wheel up to a drive in and order Brontosaurus Ribs. The waitress carries them out to the car, heaves them up to the side of the car and the car tips over...

I get beef back ribs, usually on sale for way cheap, boil them for at least an hour, until they're nearly falling off the bone, then brush the bbq sauce all over them and bake them until the sauce is thick and sticky. They're messy, gooey, sticky things, that taste just terrific. I serve them with baked potatoes, because-you may not know this-baked potatoes are great with bbq sauce on them.

We've been watching the Olympics all week. Watched Lindsey Vonn cross the finish line the other night, with bad form, nearly on one foot due to the pain, and win gold. I'm a skier and had a broken foot in 2006 (not from skiing, just from stepping off my back steps onto uneven concrete), and can tell you that you skiing with an injury isn't a whole bunch of fun. Lindsey, you rock! Apparently Korea hates Apolo Ohno because he's an aggressive skater and he keeps winning their golds. Somewhere in the definition of competition must be the word aggressive. You don't tap someone politely on the shoulder and ask to pass them while skating in the Olympics...they evidently invented toilet paper with his picture on it that is selling well in Korea.

She's so old...I have a 20 year old cat who has always been blind. She's amazing, really. I don't think she hears or smells so well anymore either. She's a lilac point Siamese, always been just so beautiful, but she doesn't take such great care of her coat anymore, so every week or so we have to hold her down, brush her, and cut the hairballs off, a process she strenuously and vocally resists, and I dislike doing it, but if we don't she develops golf ball sized snarls that we eventually have to shave off anyway.

Taking her photo is pretty challenging, because you just get her in the frame and she moves, plus I have a years old camera that waits a few seconds before the photo "takes", seconds in which she moves. 

Don't Sweat the Petty Stuff

I was off work the last two days with a sore throat, it's raining in the mountains so the suck factor for skiing is off the charts, Ron wasn't sure he could come over (he lives in Seattle-the wet side-and I live in Central Washington-we met three years ago online) due to his work schedule, so rather than pout about not skiing (yes, I could ski in the rain but it takes a lot of the fun out of it) and the possibility of not seeing Ron for the weekend, I decided to drive over to his place for the holiday weekend. Normally in winter, I ski and he drives over to the dry side.

I texted him that me and the bird-Bruno, who is female, but I didn't know that when I got her until she laid eggs last summer-were on the way over. I feel like kind of an eccentric old maid traveling with the bird, but if I leave her, she's totally neurotic when I get home. He texted back to ignore the mess in the kitchen and the rest of the house, for that matter. Hmmm, so he lives like a slob when I'm not around...I entered the house cautiously, expecting to find Armageddon. Gee, the bed wasn't made and there were like six dishes and a bunch of silverware in the sink. It took me all of five minutes to clean it up, then I popped some beef short ribs in to boil and will bake them with barbecue sauce and do some oven baked fries before he gets home.

So what about the petty stuff? I've been reading "Food for Thought" written by Brittany in Texas, whose beloved passed away less than two years after they were married and in one post she said she would have paid less attention to the petty stuff. I'm paraphrasing, but it got me thinking about the stuff I nag this guy about. I've been married and divorced three times, both of us have been single about 10 years (and not unhappily), and before I met Ron, I can't say I believed in love, or love at first sight, or soul mates. I believe in them all now, from the moment I met him.

So what do I nag him about? He's a total packrat and I'm not, and I've told him I don't want to buy a house big enough to house all his crap. Alot of it is even his kids' crap. He understands that and is willing to part with some of it, but some of the things he wants to keep-I think are just dumb. His first computer. Probably he's had six since then, like the rest of us, but apparently this one really means something to him; I think he had to fight his ex-at that time first-wife to buy it. Double-dumb. But after reading Brittany's account, I decided this was indeed a petty thing. Let him keep the damn computer, shove it in a closet somewhere, and get on with living our life. Thanks, Brittany, for the insight. I'm nearly twice your age and don't mind learning a lesson from a younger babe!

The dinner is pretty simple; I seldom cook anything difficult, unlike EatLiveTravelWrite, who has spent the last few weeks doing battle with macaroons, her accounts of which I have thoroughly enjoyed. Boil spare ribs until they're tender, about 2 hours. Slather them in Tony Roma's bbq sauce, which is mercifully available at Safeway, since there is no TR in Yakima. Probably to qualify as a food blog, I should invent a bbq sauce, but I'm not doing it tonight! Bake until they're sticky and gooey.

Slice potatoes into wedges, coat with olive oil and seasonings-at Ron's house, that will likely be garlic salt and pepper, maybe some paprika, because he doesn't have near the spice collection that I do (he sometimes cooks with cream of something soups-GASP!!), and bake until tender, about 20 minutes. I'll post photos after he gets home, because I can't find his camera. He doesn't take it to work, does he?