The Feast

Let me tell you a little story.

It begins in about 1981 - give or take. I discovered the man my mother was about to marry and spend the rest of their lives with barbecued.  And he barbecued a LOT.  I had never, in all my 12 years of life seen anyone who would BBQ everything and anything. The standing joke in our family was if he could, the DadUnit would BBQ spaghetti.  We didnt' tempt him.

Because of growing up with BBQ as the main appliance in the Wraspir household, I'm a big fan of anything BBQ'd. And now I too am a BBQ'er.  I watched the DadUnit for years as he mastered the grill. His most beloved accomplishment were his BBQ ribs with the MomUnit's BBQ sauce. Which the DadUnit eventually played with and eventually came up with a tangy, delicious version of his own.

We joked that his BBQ ribs was my dowry.

Because of now being spoiled by the DadUnit's ribs, I can't appreciate ribs any where else.  I had dinner at the restaurant the NieceUnit works and while they were good, Blueberry and I compared them to the DadUnit's ribs.  Puck seemed to really get into them.

I, on the other hand, have never EVER BBQ'd ribs. I think I may make some for a Sunday dinner in the future.

The other favorite BBQ treat everyone, but me, seems to like is pulled pork. While not BBQ'd, necessarily, on an actual BBQ, it generally has a BBQ sauce. I've tried pulled pork a number of times, and feel like I should like it, but just don't. Everyone says I've just not had the best pulled pork by (insert their favorite here).

Blueberry talked me into meeting her for lunch yesterday in downtown Seattle. I picked her up at the courthouse and we headed down 1st Ave to Pecos. 

Its a very small outfit with just two windows. The line, though, is not small. Blueberry and I were there at mid day and the line was non-stop.  Very little sitting outside too, but people made due.  Scooting over to let strangers sit next to them to enjoy their messy lunch.

And messy doesn't even really cover it.

See that spork there? Yah, you need it for sure. There's no way you could pick up with masterpiece and eat it.

Now, I didn't get the pulled pork. Instead I opted for the pulled beef.  The sauce comes in several different degrees of heat and I opted to start light and mild.  Glad I did. It was just right. Blueberry, meanwhile, got the medium and was sniffling the entire time saying, "God I love this."

I'm still not a convert to loving pulled pork, or beef, but Pecos was pretty darn good. The sandwich was easily 1/2 lb of goodness. I'm not joking either. It was beefy and hefty on the portion.

What this has to do with the DadUnit and his BBQ is as we sat Blueberry and I reminisced about the BBQ ribs.  While we were stuffing our faces we were dreaming of those ribs.  The DadUnit doesn't BBQ anymore - which saddens me to no end.  But I promised Blueberry yesterday that I will do what I can to master the ribs.  I will become the rib master that the DadUnit was.  I might need some help eating them though. Anyone want to join me?