Life of Wry

Settling in for a few days with Matt. Always (always) easy and fun. Breakfast was a Peterson staple: sourdough toast with butter and peanut butter. Then at a lazy pace, mobilized ourselves and Matt and I hit the beach for a walk…(Michael busied himself with his full (always) list of chores).

We’d invited Betsy, Chris & Pam, and Victor & Debbie to dinner so had some errands to run, including a stop (my first) at the famous Beef Palace in Huntington Beach. Whatta trip. There were several life-sized statues of cows out front. Inside, recognizable music from TV westerns played (like Bonanza, for example) and a huge staff of men in red and white checkered shirts were available to fill your meat order. It’s a cash only establishment and the cash registers are the old fashioned kind with large round push buttons and a drawer that opens with a loud ding.

Matt picked out three long racks of short ribs. I bought some cheese for appetizers. The place carries all kinds of accoutrements (pricy). If you’re into meat, it’s a great place to go.

Picked up a few more things at another store, then returned home and Matt commenced to prepare the ribs:

He covered the slabs with an herb mix, and used most of a bottle of inexpensive bbq sauce on each.

Then loosely wrapped them in foil and put them in at 350 oven for at least three hours.

Matt’s quite at home in the kitchen.. loves cooking, never uses recipes, and has a large repertoire of excellent signature dishes. Dogs are always underfoot. Matt’s making dirty rice and corn bread to go with the ribs. Victor’s going to bring a key lime pie (which he’s going to have to make twice because of an evaporated milk-condensed milk flub up).

It was an interesting and voluble evening. After dinner, the republicans gathered in the kitchen to yell about the woke dems, and the rest of us gathered mellowly in the living room. Here’s a pic of Michael (who ate an entire bag of Chip Ahoys earlier in the afternoon and bowed out early with a stomach ache).

After the neighbors went home, Chris suggested we watch The Smell of Success… a really funny movie from about 2011? I recommend it for something very odd.

Here’s another nice shot from the appetizer and cocktail part of the evening…

Just a little of this, little of that.