Country Bob's BBQ All Purpose Sauce

While I was in Europe, I got an email from a guy who wanted me to try his BBQ sauce. Now let me tell you something about myself. I love BBQ sauce. I put it on my french fries, fish sticks, and anything else that makes any sense. In fact, as I type this, I am dipping kielbasa in BBQ sauce. I'm a BBQ girl. I want BBQ served at my wedding. I love BBQ sauce, plain and simple. But oh, it is hard to find one I love. Once upon a time I went through gallons of Michelbob's sauce. (Alas, no one can tell me if their sauce is gluten-free).  So when I got home from Europe and there was a box of two bottles of Country Bob's All Purpose Sauce, I tasted it right away. Out of the bottle it was good. I smoked a pork butt, pulled it, and dressed it in the sauce. Delicious. In fact, every time I brought my camera to the table to take a picture of the sauce in action, I would forget until I had finished everything on my plate. This stuff is good. And the good news? It's gluten free. Unfortunately I couldn't find anywhere where it is sold in the Northeast, but they have a pretty good online store, and I am absolutely going to order at least a half of a case as soon as, well, as soon as I get around to it. We polished off the first bottle in a week, and will break out the second bottle pretty soon. This stuff is good. 

Ouch.

So...I know I've been on vacation for a while, and now I'm back, but I haven't been here. Where have I been? Oh let me tell you. I was all ready to start updating the dozens of posts I have in my head, and the air conditioning was finally installed in the office so I could bear to sit on the sticky vinyl chair in front of the computer for more than 3 minutes at a time. I was getting back in the groove of working, which was a little tough after a month of vacation. Life was back to normal. Then, last monday, I was riding my bike home, excited to check out some wedding planning stuff my friend Erin had emailed me while I was at work. Half of a block from my house, I got in a bike accident, with another bike. I went straight down onto my knee, and smashed down my tibia. I spent the next five days in the hospital, with a painful, long surgery right in the middle of that. Now I'm home, with nurses and physical therapists coming in and out. I have the most wonderful fiance who is taking such good care of me. I won't be cooking for a while. I can barely stand hobbling from my bed in the living room into the kitchen to brush my teeth. It will be a long recovery, and a long summer, and I will try to keep up here but if I don't, forgive me!! I hope everyone is having a better summer than I am, and happy 4th of July!

hello from america!

I am home! I've been back for about a week, which obviously means I have lost all motivation to write a big post detailing our trip. I'm sorry. Maybe later, but right now I'm kind of obsessed with doing important wedding research on the internet. And grilling. And people have been over almost every night since we've been home. But I'll do a quick recap. First we went to Budapest, then Slovakia, then back to Budapest, then Croatia, then back to Budapest, then back to Slovakia, then back to Budapest and then home! Everywhere we went people cooked for me, which I am really thankful for. I had wonderful, wonderful food everywhere, for the first half of the trip I only ate in a few restaurants, which were terrible.

However, there was one AWESOME restaurant in Budapest that had a whole gluten free menu, Etna II. Etna II is an Italian restaurant, with pizza and pastas and soups. Alex loved it, and so did I. We had pizza, as well as gnocchi, tiramisu, and soup (they keep wheat out of their soup until you order it, so you can get the beef vegetable pasta soup without the pasta). If you are ever in Budapest, absolutely go there!!

It is really good to be home, head over to my Flickr to check out more pictures with some info because I can't even think about anything I'm so tired from work.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

engaged
Originally uploaded by jill elise

I know I'm long overdue for a post, and a long one about what I've ben doing, eating, and seeing for the past month (almost) is in my head, and will be written when we get home (this weekend, Thursday is the day but I'm not making promises I won't keep) but I have big news! Alex proposed!!! And, obviously, I said YES!!!!
It was perfect, while not as dramatic as Lizzies sky-diving proposal (see her blog for details, and congratulations again!) it was perfect.
We were in Croatia, and we went off on a romantic bfgf trip to the beach that included a long stroll down unmarked roads that we hoped were right. The beach was not so much a beach as a rocky place to swim and play with sea urchins (which are everywhere, you have to wear shoes when you swim) but it was beautiful and totally empty, we had the whole cove to ourselves. We splashed around and played in the water and were crabbing, which is something I taught Alex about because it's something we used to do as kids. He ran to check what time it was because we had to be somewhere at 6, and when he came back he was holding his string for catching crabs and asked me to pull it in because he thought he'd caught something. I pulled it and attached to the string was a little red box, with a ring in it. He got down on his knees and proposed, then after a lot of kissing I said yes, and I didn't cry like I thought I would. I did jump up and down like a little girl a lot, though.
So, big news!! We're going to get married next year, probably in May. I can't wait. The ring is a symbolic one, while beautiful it is from a little souvenir shop in town and won't last forever, so I'll get a real ring when we get home.

hello from slovakia!!

breakfast sandwich!
Originally uploaded by jill elise

Hi everyone! I just wanted to say I am having a wonderful time. I have been in Slovakia, in Kráľovský Chlmec. (See map at the bottom). I don't know how to pronounce it either. I have been meeting all of Alexs family, as well as some of his friends. This place is great, people grow a lot of their own vegetables, go to a butcher for their meat if they dont raise it themselves, and make their own wine. I have been eating and drinking a lot. Tomorrow we head back to Budapest, then to Bratislava and Prague, then to Croatia, then back to Budapest, then back home on June 12. I will keep uploading pictures (flickr) and try to write some longer posts later on. Don't worry, I am learning how to cook some things and will post my experiements when I get home!!


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vacation update

soup
Originally uploaded by jill elise

I'm having a great time in Europe, although duh, of course I am. After the longest flights ever, we got here. We spent three and a half days in Budapest, staying with Alexs sister and her husband and kids. We did a little bit of exploring of Budapest but spent most of the time visiting with his family, and then yesterday we took a 4 hour train ride with his parents to the border of Hungary. Then we were picked up by his cousin and driven about half an hour to his hometown in Slovakia. I'd tell you where it is but Alex is busy right now and I don't speak Hungarian. So far almost no one has spoken English so I've had a very quiet trip. I sit quietly while everyone talks and talks and talks and every so often Alex will translate.
Besides not being able to communicate too well, everyone has been fantastic. His family has made a huge effort to make sure I can eat everything. It's pretty great. We haven't eaten out at all, since his mom has been cooking every night for us, except for today when we went to his aunts house, who made stuffed cabbage and then, after we'd eaten all we could, brought out a surprise course of chicken and mashed potatoes (her own chickens, her own potatoes, her own wine) which was fantastic but I was pretty sure I was going to die. The picture I'm posting here is of a soup his mom made, a simple vegetable soup that usually has gluteny dumplings. She found a gluten free flour mix, and used it to make dumplings, so I could eat it. It means a lot to me, as you can imagine if you know anyone who says "oh, it just has a little flour, you can eat it" that they're making such an effort.
Anyway, I'm writing down everything I eat, and posting pictures when I can to my Flickr (flickr.com/jillelise) and will make big updates later on. I just wanted to post this one picture of soup and dumplings because it was so good. Bye!!

Ready for vacation, almost

awww
Originally uploaded by Dana F

I know this is 3 posts in 1 day, but I'm going to Europe with Alex in less than 4 days and I'm absolutely not ready, so this is hopefully the last time I'm going to be sitting down at the computer for a while. I will be gone a month, (!!!) so check out my flickr sometimes (www.flickr.com/jillelise) because maybe I will get a chance to post some pictures. We will be in Budapest for a while, then south-east Slovakia visiting his parents, then hopefully a few days in Prague, maybe Vienna, and a mini-vacation with his sister and her kids (and husband) to Croatia. I know it's going to be fantastic, I hope I can take enough notes on everything to keep everything straight to write about when I get home. While I'm gone, check out the blogs on the right, and have a good month! See you in mid-June!!

happy mother's day!!!

Happy mother's day to all you moms, and especially to mine. She's wonderful and I love her. She taught me how to bake and grow plants (although it took me until just recently to realize I had it in me) and the importance of family meals and is a wonderful, beautiful, loving woman. And she doesn't mind when I call her every single day to talk about nothing. I love you mom!!

My favorite gluten-free friendly restaurant in Philly

I don't go out to eat a lot, because a) I dont have a lot of money, b) it's fun for me to cook and c) I hate the hassle of going out and trying to explain what I can't eat. Not hate, but it's a pain. Last week, John, the man who took in Alex when he first came to America and who he lived with up until he moved in with me, took us out to dinner for our belated birthdays. We went to Coquette, a fairly new French restaurant near where I work that I've been to twice before, with delicious results. When I have looked over the menu, I tell the waitress some of the things I am interested in and ask her if she thinks there is any gluten in them. Both waitresses I have had here have responded knowingly, but still gone into the kitchen to check without me asking them to. And both have been really nice about it. And plus, the food is SO good.
This time the three of us split a seafood tower, which I don't remember what it was called. I forgot I had my camera, and we ate all the oysters on the bottom before I remembered. There were a dozen mixed oysters, a bunch of clams, mussels, half a lobster, and some shrimp, with 4 sauces.
Being new to seafood (read my post on clam chowder) I didn't eat the lobster or shrimp, which Alex said were a little disappointing, but what I did eat (oysters, clams, mussels) were delicious. We ate everything.


I ordered roast chicken with mashed potatoes and ratatouille, which was so good. Maybe the best chicken I have had. And fantastic mashed potatoes.
I almost licked my plate clean. Had we been at home, maybe I would have.