BBQ Rib Feast

This weekend's outdoor fine art/ arts and crafts fairs brought some of our distant friends in town. We figured last night was good time to have them over for Joe's world famous BBQ ribs. And this time we actually took "before" pictures!
Joe grilled his proud 13" brown trout that he caught in the morning for an appetizer. YUMMMM....
Perfectly cooked ribs! Nothing else to be said.
Salad of fresh lettuce, spinach, and even tomatoes from Amanda's garden.
I had to repeat my layered potato dish from the previous weekend, once again a big hit. And the first Wisconsin sweet corn from a farmer's truck... simply the best. (Kozue! It's here again, calling your name.)
Everything was great. I regret that I didn't take pictures of my plate full of colorful food or the dessert (those tiny little cheese puddings). But we all enjoyed our feast and the evening shared with one another. Even Joe's parents stopped by a little to catch up with our guests.

A Little Plate of Joy

The other night I picked just enough sugar peas from our garden to add in "chirashi" sushi with cooked trout. It is more gratifying to eat something you've caught and grown yourself than I'd imagined... no matter small an amount.
I've been adjusting my sushi rice seasonings... it's getting close.

BBQ Ribs, Again!

A few weeks ago Joe's dad bought packages of spareribs on sale. Since then, we've kept them in our safe freezer and waited until the weather cooled and Dad had a craving for the ribs. Yesterday was that perfect day. Without much time planning, we managed to put together another successful BBQ rib dinner for the entire family. And once again we failed to take "before" pictures.
So we have "middle" pictures to show what we had. Along with the ribs Joe grilled bratwursts for small and big kids, I tried a new layered potato dish which was a big hit, and Joe's dad brought a pot of baked beans. A perfect combination!
Well, we cannot NOT have corn on the cobs!! Even our little guests enjoyed the corn while watching a movie. Only a little moment of peace until the corn was gone and older cousins showed up....
This was our practice run on Joe's family members. We are having guests for another BBQ ribs this Saturday. We'll photo-document better then.

Good Day Fishing!

After a week of unusual heat, this Saturday morning turned out to be perfect. Around 60 degrees with cool breeze. We were glad to be on the stream with Joe's dad on such a beautiful morning. Fishing, of course, could have been better, but we had a very respectable catch. Even I caught a keeper brookie! The biggest was Joe's dad's rainbow trout.
Joe just caught his second brook trout in the photo below.
Like I said, fishing could have been a bit better. No fish at the last hole, surprisingly. The only excitement there was that I almost went swimming. I got wet above my hip boots trying to unhook my lure. Well, the good news is that I got my lure back in one piece, me and the lure!
Now you can see Dad's 14" rainbow trout.
Lastly, I went extra many miles to make Joe's absolute favorite Chinese buffet dish the other day. Stupid me, that afternoon I spent extra time cleaning the kitchen, too, only to cook the chicken pieces in splattering frying oil afterward. I must say I was glad to have the General's chicken. I think Joe was happier.

Japan's Victory!

Tonight we celebrated Japanese women soccer team's victory over pot stickers and cold soba noodle. We were going to watch the last 15 minutes of the game and ended up watching and cheering (and fighting or Kayo correcting Joe to cheer for the right team) for an hour. Unbelievable!! An amazing game. I was really glad we didn't watch the whole thing. I wouldn't have lasted... phew.

This hot summer-like weekend Joe brought home three nice fish. I had to work Saturday.
Our cherries have ripen pretty red. Joe picked as many as he could reach up. I cooked them in light syrup, so we can serve them over our pancakes or waffles some day.

Hamburgoo

It's basically a beef patty enjoyed in Japan. I would have liked to have it with grated daikon radish and citrus soy Ponzu sauce.... At least I served it with sauteed daikon leaves and Ponzu sauce.
And you got to have a bowl of white rice!!

Strawberry Shortcake!

This past week was our hometown Pioneer Days celebration. This little town comes to life with generations of alumni coming home to participate in the very serious soft ball tournament, parade, and such. Since neither of us grew up in this town, we just watch from distance.... But we live in a house of prime location for the firework display, so we had some people over Saturday evening. What's more appropriate than strawberry shortcake to celebrate summer with?!
And this weekend we picked our first bak choy and daikon radish leaves from our garden for cooking.
Such fresh greens in the simple stir fry served with our grilled chicken!
It was the day we finished leftover veggie Thai curry.
The catch of this past weekend (Saturday) below. The biggest one in the middle was Joe's dad's; the other two were MINE!!! They cost me one brand-new lure though....

Happy 4th!

We are having a gorgeous 4th of July weekend up here. Sunny and warm like how summer is supposed to be. We got our Vierling growler filled to celebrate a bit early already! Cheers!!
We went fishing again Saturday morning. Once again Joe's dad caught three nice brook trout on his night crawlers at the same spot as last time.
Everyone is home at Joe's parents' house for the weekend, so last night I made sushi rolls with the grilled trout for appetizer.
To counter-balance the least American dish to celebrate the 4th, I also baked a rhubarb strawberry pie. I adjusted my recipe for my deep pie dish this time. Not too sweet, not too tart. It was perfect. The only problem was we each could only have a small slice, and it was all gone.
A firework display over the big lake tonight.
Happy 4th of July to everyone!!

Rhubarb Pies!

Another post to catch up from earlier this week. Thanks to Phil and Judy's garden, we got ENOUGH rhubarb stalks to finally bake pies (Kayo's favorite). Meantime we had planted a few more rhubarb plants in our garden this year, so hopefully we'll have enough rhubarb of our own next year.
I baked the pies one night after dinner. So next morning we had rhubarb pie a la mode for breakfast. (Don't worry, we ate our oatmeal before the pie.) It had been a while since I made my two kinds of rhubarb pies, and I got carried away putting a bit too much rhubarb. I should have increased the sugar by a lot more... but they were good. Mouth puckering good!
Lastly, our oriental poppy did bloom, I think last Sunday. The only poppy blossom we are going to see this year... because of our rabbit.
Our first day of July turned out to be pretty hot and humid (for our standard). Perfect for the 4th of July. We hope everyone has a wonderful and safe July 4th weekend!

Fishing- Last Weekend

Sunday afternoon we went out to Apple Creek. The fishing was rather slow... until we got to this one spot. Just as Joe's dad gave up on his spinner and was about to change to a night crawler, the bottom side of his case opened and dropped all its contents. While he was picking up every little lure and hook off the ground, I kept casting and casting, thinking it's good practice. Then I realized I had a fish!! My first keeper of the year! Then Joe's dad started casting with night crawlers and caught two fish. Just like that.
The second one was much bigger brown trout.
After all it was a good day fishing.
Better yet, I made sushi with the cooked fish on Tuesday.
We're going fishing this weekend again.