Recipe for a Happy 4th (or any summer meal)!

For me, all holidays revolve around food. I don't know what you all are making for dinner or the picnic, concert or fireworks show you'll attend but I'm bbqing spare ribs. I'm slathering baby backs with a home made rub courtesy of a Bobby Flay recipe, letting them absorb that overnight and then basting them with a grilling sauce over a very low flame on the grill three shelves up for several hours. I'm making home made potato salad, cole slaw and probably some kind of corn bread. All recipes are old and tried and true.

We used to attend a fireworks show and take a picnic basket of food. Every July 5th we would pack a big lunch and take out our ski boat and spend the day on a lake. It has been a tradition for years. This year, however, the incessant rain has interrupted those plans. Instead, my husband and I celebrated the beginning of the long weekend last night by attending an outdoor concert with Diana Krall.

We went with two friends, driving to Meredith, NH on Lake Winnepesaukee where we had dinner at a wonderful restaurant called The Lake House at Church Landing. After an incredible meal that included appetizers of mussels in a cream saffron sauce, crab cakes, and the house salad made with Gorgonzola cheese, we had entrees of swordfish, hangar steak with grilled peaches, and a perfectly done medium rare slab of prime rib. We were stuffed so we rolled ourselves out of there and drove on to the concert venue, Meadowbrook Outdoor Pavilion.

It was, after a month of rain, a perfect night with the moon out, some clouds, mostly stars, warm breeze. We enjoyed fresh squeezed margaritas during the performance and the acoustics were fantastic. I never realized what a great musician she is until I watched her play. Great backup group consisting of an electric guitarist who looks like Clapton but plays like Wes Montgomery, drummer/percussionist and bass player. It was like being in a large club. Very intimate.

I'm currently reading a biography of Julia Child, a Penguin Lives series, by Laura Shapiro. It is FASCINATING and makes me feel a whole lot less embarrassed about my love of food and my own cooking! Can't wait to read her autobiography now.

Anyone looking for a good rub? Here's the Bobby Flay recipe from "Grilling for Life":

Espresso Rub

1/4 finely ground espresso beans
1/4 C ancho chile powder
2T Spanish paprika (sweet paprika)
2T dark brown sugar
1T dry mustard
2 tsp kosher salt
1T ground cumin
1T fresh ground black pepper
1T dried oregano
2 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp cayenne

Keeps in a jar in a cupboard up to one month although I've kept mine a lot longer.