Joe and Jamie's Blog

Yesterday was Eric & Marie’s pot luck dinner. It was a great get together and all the food was delicious. I played video games all night, had some beer and ate all kinds of delicious food, couldn’t have gotten any better.

I spent two days thinking what to make for this dinner. I didn’t want to do chicken since I figured everyone else would, so I planned to go with beef or pork but I was stuck between stir fry or something else I didn’t think of yet. I surfed a few recipe sites for pot luck dinner ideas and came across one for some nice spareribs. I instantly printed out the recipe and headed to the supermarket.

The ribs are easy to cook and the sauce is fun to make. Everyone liked the ribs so this is a definite keeper in the recipe book and I will be making them again soon.

I enjoyed all the dishes at the dinner. There was sesame chicken, curry chicken, chicken pot pie (see what I meant about the chicken!), a bunch of stuff crammed in pizza dough (can’t remember name but they were good), some salads, fruit, and chocolate cake for dessert. Sorry if I forgot anything. I can’t wait until we do this again. Marie mentioned something about maybe every month we do this, could be fun.

In case you want it, here’s the recipe I followed:

Potluck Spareribs

Ingredients

• 6 pounds pork spareribs
• 1 1/2 cups ketchup
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup vinegar
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 teaspoon ground mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper

Directions

1. Cut ribs into serving-size pieces; place with the meaty side up on racks in two greased 13-in. x 9-in. x 2-in. baking pans. Cover tightly with foil. Bake at 350 degrees F for 1-1/4 hours or until meat is tender.
2. Drain; remove racks and return ribs to pans. Combine remaining ingredients; pour over ribs. Return to the oven, uncovered, for 35 minutes or until sauce coats ribs, basting occasionally. Ribs can also be grilled over medium-hot heat for the last 35 minutes instead of baking.

Yesterday was Jamie and I’s five year anniversary. Can’t believe its been that long already, but there are many more years to come. And for all of you out there that keep asking, NO, I don’t know when I will “pop the question”. We both need to get a few things in line before that happen but don’t worry it’ll happen.

We weren’t supposed to give gifts this year to try and save some money for Christmas but I don’t listen and got Jamie this nice ring from Tiffany that she happened to like in their holiday catalog.  Amazing how women just love that little blue box. I gave her the gift outside the restaurant, didn’t want anyone in there to see me giving her a ring and think that it was an engagement ring and start a big hoopla.

I took her out to Shadows on the Hudson in Poughkeepsie. We haven’t eaten there before and always heard good things about the place. Shadows was surprisingly busy for a Monday night in this economy, but that is probably because the place is very nice. The food was delicious and the choices bountiful. I couldn’t get enough of this raspberry mojito drink they made there, very tasty. I opted for the duck and Jamie had some prime rib, the girl does lover her steak. Somehow we made it to dessert and ordered the berry shortcake. Boy was it huge and delicious. We barely ate half of it, but it was by far the best shortcake dessert that we have ever had.

So here’s to many more years of her somehow putting up with me….

I’ll be nice and keep his age secret, although I think he wouldn’t mind, it’s my mother that would kill me!

This past Saturday was my father’s birthday. Typically Father’s Day and his birthday fall on the same weekend, but since Father’s Day was a week early this year we had to celebrate them separately. It’s not so bad, just more cake and ice cream for everyone.

His major gift was the NASCAR tickets given to him on Father’s Day (it all stems from the days typically being together), so we had to just get him a little something to open with cake. He likes cigars and the lottery so it was one stop shopping to Smokes-4-Less over by Marist College. I like that Smokes-4-Less best because it is bigger than all the rest and has a walk in humidity controlled cigar area. I picked him up some various styles of the Romeo & Juliet cigar brand that he enjoys along with a bunch of scratch-offs.

We went out to dinner to the newly opened Red Robin on Route 9 near the new CRM building. I have had the pleasure of eating at a Red Robin before so I knew how great the burgers were. We went a little early because that place is still packed with about an hour wait if you go at the “typical” dining time, even though it has been open for a few months now.

Here’s the classic overly decorated Hannigan ice cream cake. I have no clue how it started, but regardless of who’s birthday it is we get an ice cream cake, with or without regular cake as well. It’s a good tradition, I love ice cream cake.

It was so nice out we decided to enjoy the evening outside. We had cake, ice cream and coffee while he opened his gifts. Afterward Jamie and I kicked around the soccer ball till dark.