BBQing Baby Backs for old friends from Santa Maria, Ca.

You know, it truly is a small world. One of our former "across the street" neighbors from Santa Maria, Ca. from back in the 70s gave us a call and said she would be coming to Guam because her daughter, who is in the Air Force, is stationed at Anderson Air Force Base, Guam. She, Joyce, was coming for a visit.

Well, I told Joyce that would be fantastic since we hadn't seen each other since 1980. And of course I told her that we would have to BBQ for her and her family at our house when she came over for a visit.

And that's what we did.

Here are some of the photos that were taken of this occasion:

My wife Lupe (dark hair) and Joyce (former neighbor). You can tell old friends are never forgotten and they are very happy to see each other.

Party area. Outdoors where it is nice and relaxing.

This is where the food will be set up.

I decided on rubbed baby backs and marinaded chicken wings.

The baby backs were rubbed with my special "Rueben's Rub" which contains, garlic powder, sea salt, kosher salt, black pepper, celery salt, onion powder, Ajinamoto (Accent), and ground dry parsley flakes. And I topped this rub off with a liberal coating of Grill Mates Smokehouse Maple rub. Great stuff. Of course I rubbed it all down the night before and let it sit in the refer until the next day.

The chicken was marinated in my Guam soy-based marinade with fresh grated ginger. Click here for the recipe:  http://guamfirehousecook.blogspot.com/2011/04/guams-bbq-marinade-for-beef-chicken-and.html. The chicken was also marinated over night.

Here, Joyce is digging into the Red Rice. This is similar to spanish rice but the coloring comes from annato powder. We mix it in the water we use to cook the rice. Then it is seasoned with a little salt and garlic. You can also see the white rice (Jasmine), baby backs, and chicken in the upper left corner.

Joyce is now spooning into some potato salad. We use red potatoes (a little sweeter than russet) with the skin left on and cooked to a firm consistency, pimentos, green onions, eggs, a little yellow mustard, sliced olives, salt and fresh ground black pepper and of course mayo. Also on the table here is the fresh pico de gallo salsa,  soy based finadene, vegetable platter with ranch dressing and beans.

  

My wife offering beans to the little one.

More of the family and friends "chowing down".

At the end of the night, everyone had full stomachs and were happy campers. Can't you tell?

BBQs are fun but it really is all about who you have fun with. And I feel that it doesn't get any better than seeing everyone enjoying the heck out of themselves when you have a gathering. It makes all the prep worth it. 

Next time Joyce and family come for a visit, we are going to do it all over again, but I will change up the menu. Can't wait.

Until next time....