Saturday, June 30, 2012

Pork Spare Ribs- Friday Night Dinner Date


My wife Lupe wanted to stay home this past Friday night so I planned a little dinner for our Friday night together. What better way to spend a Friday night than with my best friend and wife with a little BBQ at the same time.

Because it was only the two of us, I dry rubbed a half slab of pork spare ribs with a simple salt, pepper and garlic powder rub. I let this sit in the refer for 6 hours. 

When it came time to grill, due to the rainy weather, I used my little 2 burner gas grill and took care of the ribs muy pronto!! Then I proceeded to grill the cut yard long green beans, sliced eggplants and red hot peppers. Used a little olive oil and salt and pepper on those and added a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese on the eggplants.

Lupe prepared her grilled chicken and mango garden salad. 

Here are a couple pictures of our meal...

Grilled pork spare ribs, green beans, sliced eggplant with Parmesan, and red pepper.

Lupe's awesome grilled chicken and mango garden salad topped off with Asian Sesame dressing.

We had a wonderful time and we really enjoyed our meal. 

We always look forward to our Friday nights together.

Another fabulous Friday evening on Guam!!

Until the next time....

Friday, June 29, 2012

Taco Burger....Talk About Flavorrrrr!!!!

I love a good grilled burger as much as the next guy. I just don't get around to grilling them as much as I do steaks and ribs. But a great burger is hard to beat. 

Wednesday night's has been dedicated as Burger Night at the Olivas household. I vowed to grill up a different burger every Wednesday night. No duplication. I also vowed that I would try my best to come up with a different fry or onions ring recipe to go along with those burgers. I love a good challenge.

Well, this past Wednesday I decided to grill Taco Burgers served up with wedge-cut fries made from red potatoes. I was inspired by the recipe from Food.com. You can view the original Taco Burger recipe from that site here.

Now I modified the recipe just a tad. Here is the recipe I used:

1 lb lean ground beef
1 sausage link of Johnsonville Chorizo (removed from casing)
1/2 cup of my home-made salsa
1 large egg
1 package (1 1/4 ounce) taco seasoning mix

Here's the burger....


I topped off my burger with the regular fixings of lettuce, tomato, onion and mayo/ketchup spread and one slice of Swiss cheese. My wife, Lupe's burger had an extra level of "heat " applied with a spread of hot pepper paste. Here is the recipe for that:

1 cup of hot peppers with stems removed 
1 medium sized bulb of garlic, peeled and cleaned 
4 tbsp of apple cider vinegar
1/4 tsp of fine grain sea salt 
1/2 tsp of onion powder (optional) 

Using a small blender like a "Bullet Blender", add the garlic, salt, onion powder and vinegar and blend until liquefied; 

Add the hot pepper and blend until all the ingredients are evenly reduced to a paste.

My first bite of this burger told me one is not enough. I ate two!!!

So if you want a great burger with a tender, juicy, mellow spicy flavor, this is the burger for you...

Don't forget to check out the Food.com site and the other 14 burgers part of the same article. You'll be glad you did.

Read more:


Until next time....

Sunday, June 10, 2012

2012 Mango Festival, Agat, Guam


The Agat Mango Festival is a very special event here on Guam. This year's installment is the 6th year for the festival. Click here to learn more about this festival on their official site page. 

There is some BBQing going on here, so I am keeping with my BBQGuam theme, but I just had to share these pictures with everyone...

Here is the entryway to the Festival grounds.

Right off the bat you will see a beautiful display of tropical plants and flowers.








Pickled mango is so popular and super tasty.

I tried this homemade jam and it is fantastic!!! I bought a jar.

My wife, Lupe, showing off the goods.





Serving out the mango slushes.













Making the mango bonelos (donuts, fritters)




These were so delicious, people were waiting in line for them. They just couldn't keep them "on the tray".

Open air stage.

This "Slushie" was a total winner.

Lupe with vegetable lumpia (spring rolls)




Are we hungry yet???





My wife, Lupe, enjoying one of her favorites....banana lumpia.







A carved piece of Ifit wood and a coconut crab.

A "kamyo". This is used to grate coconut. The seal is where one sits and the little blade (covered with a small coconut) is where you grate the coconut.

Guam's Master wood carver, Senot Robert Taitano.












Display of the largest mangoes for judging.


Diplay of the most beautiful mangoes for judging.


Agat Bay adjacent to the festival grounds.


Guess who came to party!!!!


Yea Mon!!!





Hope you enjoyed....we did!!!

Until next time....