Friday was soaked in patriotism.

Well, when a weekend runs away from you, it really runs away from you. I've had a much more interesting than usual diet this weekend so it's taking me some time just to process it all. First up to bat on Friday was sort of a repeater, though. I reheated the last of the leftovers from the co-worker's birthday party, chicken wings and a little rotini.

Everything reheated very well in the oven while I whipped up an appetizer to take to a 4th of July barbecue. It was a pretty standard bean dip. Garlic sauteed in butter till soft, add the beans, some red pepper, some chili powder and some cinnamon, then dump in a shot of tequila or vodka, stir vigorously, and then serve. I added a layer of avocado to the top of the bean dip, then heavily salted the avocado with Adobo and sprinkled it heavily with lime juice.

At the party I served the dip with tortilla chips. Not a stunning blow of creative culination, i know, but it got the job done. The picture here shows it's mostly devoured state.

Then, of course I ate burgers and hot dogs.

The weather prevented us from grilling outside, so we settled for grill-pan burgers and foreman grill hot dogs.



That orangy sauce is "Gold Rush Barbecue Sauce," as created by my friend while working at his parent's restaurant in New Jersey. I doused my burger in it, slathered it on my hot dog and had to muster up a lot of restraint not to start taking hits from the bottle. There is probably some crack-cocaine mixed up in there. You can also see a squirt of tartar sauce running the length of the dog under the lettuce and onion. This is very advanced condiment pairing and is not advised for the faint of gut.

Yeah, a few of these↑ , a shot of this↓,

Not really a pair I'd recommend, but an entertaining diversion from the meat pile. Mmmm... meat...

And then, what better way to celebrate being American than a nice big slice of home-made apple pie. Looking at this photo of the pie, you might assume people started eating it with their bare hands in a lusty frenzy to revel in the glory of America's do-it-yourself grit, home-made wholesomeness and can-do attitude, and then added the spoon later in photoshop to hide the signs of their gluttony. This is only partly true.