grilling for the 4th

The first July 4th that we The Boy and I spent together, we went to Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco to see the fireworks. It was cold and we had our winter peacoats on. It was also really foggy that night. And extremely crowded with people pushing against one another trying to get a good spot on the pier. When the fireworks started, all we saw through the fog was colored smoke.

And ever since then, The Boy and I have a July 4th pact -- we will never see fireworks in the fog ever again, and will travel the distance to get some summer heat and clear skies.

So, the second year we went to Foster City, about half an hour south of San Francisco. They had a cute little kiddie carnival around a man-made pond and the fireworks were flawless. The third year we went to went to the Shoreline Amphitheater (about 45 minutes south of San Francisco) and enjoyed the SF Symphony as they closed the show with a musical fireworks show. The fourth year we spent apart because I was stuck in Peoria.

This year we spent the 4th at his mother's house in Vacaville, about an hour and a half northeast of San Francisco, and boy was it beautiful weather! I was able to wear my pretty sun dress and The Boy got to spend the holiday with three beautiful ladies (me, his mother and a close family friend).

The Boy wanted to barbeque today and he made up a whole list of things he wanted to barbeque. I just wanted some chicken wings and corn, because I love wings and corn. (see recipe below for Firecracker Wings). So the four of us went to "the most expensive grocery store" in town, Nugget, and got the groceries for the barbeque.

We got wings, LOTS of it. We also got some bratwurst sausages, an already marinated pork ribs, sweet white corn, and Haagan Daz Rocky Road ice-cream. =)

The Boy did the unthinkable -- he actually COOKED for us. Well, okay, his mother and I prepared the food to barbeque, and he just controlled the grilling. He did quite well. I had my bowls of chicken wings and grilled corn to munch on throughout dinner. Our barbeque menu also included an avocado ceaser salad, bruschetta (sp?) bread, and lots of Coco-cola zero.

Surprisingly, I did not suffer a food coma after all that eating (I probably ate about a dozen chicken wings and two ears of corn, in addition to all of the salad and bread and sausage and ribs...). I was good to go to see the fireworks show after dinner.

Firecracker Wings

Ingredients:
-12 chicken wings
-2 tbsp chili powder
-1 1/2 tsp ground oregano
-1 1/4 tsp ground cayenne pepper
-1 tsp garlic salt
-1 tsp ground cumin
-1 tsp black pepper

Directions:
-Place all of the dry ingredients into a ziplock bag, seal and shake to blend.
-Add the chicken wings, seal and shake until chicken wings are evenly covered.
-Refridgerate the bag of chicken wings for at least half an hour, but not more than 24 hours prior to grilling.
-To cook, grill on the barbeque for 20-25 minutes, turning over about 10 minutes into grilling.