Lillie's North Carolina Chopped Barbeque (Page 479)

• Date: Saturday, February 3, 2007 -- 11pm
• Location: Somerville, MA
• Kitchen: My Apartment
• Dining Companion: Matty
• Recipe Rating: B+

Pulled (or chopped) pork is one of my favorite foods so I figured it was about time I made the recipe from The Book... This barbeque was good. Matt declared it as good as the pulled pork at The East Coast Grill. I'm not sure about that, but it was good. I made some cornbread, baked beans, and corn, and we had a big ol' barbeque feast. The sauce on this pork was a little too spicy for me (see entry below). My biggest complaint about this dish though was that the pork was not as tender as it could have been. This was the same cut of meat that I made the amazing Georgian Pork Stew from a few weeks back. That method resulted in extremely tender pork. This braising/roasting method did not produce such a tender result. It was still good though and I'm sure once I move away from The East Coast Grill I will be making this one often to satisfy my cravings for chopped barbeque.

The problem with setting goals for the week is that when I don't finish them in a timely manner, I end up sitting at my desk at 11pm on Sunday night, trying to get everything done. I just finished though, so now I am having a celebratory beer to relax before my goals for next week kick in tomorrow morning!

I am glad this weekend is over. It was trying in a variety of ways. It did have some high points though. In particular, I somehow convinced Jacob, Marco, and Ronen to go ice skating with me at MIT on Friday night. It was really fun. Marco and Ronen came willingly (and I think they had a good time!) but I practically had to drag Jacob there. When he left he requested that next time he get to choose what activity we do to cheer me up! Oh well -- I had fun anyway! Skating on the MIT rink always reminds me of going to the roller rink when I was a little kid. I think it's the music... I loved the roller rink. We used to go there on class field trips sometimes. When I was in fourth grade, the boy I had a crush on asked me to couples skate with him -- it was a big moment for me! Not too surprisingly, they don't have special "couples skate" songs at the MIT ice rink. It's probably for the best...