Normally I'm quite on top of blogging about the Secret-Secret Geography Club, and yet I forgot all about July's Southern BBQ. I don't know how I could have possibly forgot about it...the food was AMAZING.

Dan took care of the chicken and ribs, and spent all day smoking them with applewood on a low heat. The chicken was my favorite...it came out so tender and juicy and smoky. It was like eating a juicy, non-leathery piece of jerky (if you could possibly imagine that).
Right beside it are my famous cornbread muffins. I raved to everyone how I made the best cornbread and how it was sweet and tender and moist.....and then in my brilliant baking skills I left out the honey! They were not sweet, nor moist....quite crumbly, dry and bland actually. I swear Secret-Secret Geography Club humbles me in my cooking abilities every month. Every other day of the month I'm a great cook and I make these fabulous things and I get all high and mighty on my horse and then the day rolls around for me to show off these cooking skills to other foodies who will appreciate it and I go and botch it up. Awesome. Then I get on my hands and knees and beg for their mercy and explain to them how it's supposed to taste. Anyways, a little humbling never hurt anyone.

I also made an Apple-Walnut Coleslaw which was a nice change from regular ol' coleslaw. Although I do love a good regular ol' coleslaw. Lindsey made grilled corn wrapped in bacon (heavenly!). They were sweet with a slight smoky flavor. She also made homemade baked beans, which I had only ever had from a can, never from scratch. Oh my good gracious! Loved those beans! Our whole meal was quite pork laden....pork ribs, bacon on the corn, bacon in the beans....mmm, artery clogging goodness.

Lisa made some traditional Southern drinks and we sipped on citrus sun tea, and fresh mint lemonade. LOVED the lemonade! Fresh mint adds such a perfect fresh taste to almost anything.

To cap off the meal, Lindsey made a Sweet Potato Pie and I made a Peach Cobbler, neither of which I had had before. Surprisingly Sweet Potato Pie tastes just like Pumpkin Pie. Only we couldn't do the tradition Canadian way of serving it, and put a big dollop of whipped cream on top. We stuck with the traditional Southern way and topped it with pecans. But still very tasty. My Peach Cobbler was decent. I'm all about mixing of textures. I love a crispy, flakey crust of a pie mixed with the soft fruit, or a crunchy oatmeal topping of a fruit crisp. Cobbler has more of a moist, cakey topping which tasted good, but didn't really play up the mixture of textures like I prefer.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is I was quite judgmental of my dishes this month, and didn't feel like any of them were a big WOW. I'm going to try really hard next month not to screw anything up :)

Speaking of next month, I kicked ass at Rummoli that night so I got to pick August's country....GREECE. I've been waiting and waiting to do Greek food so I am quite excited. I've been experimenting with dishes already, and think I have come up with the perfect Keftedes (Greek Meatballs). Fingers crossed that I will have people puckering their lips and saying "Oooh Kindra! These are SOOO good!" We'll see.