Summer in February 2016

Every winter, we have a Summer in February party where we make a lot of summer/picnic style food and eat too much. Deviled eggs, potato salad, 7 layer dip…the works. The small family winter festival also goes by the name Rib and Pierogi Day. If ever there was a weekend to pretend it was summer, this Presidents Day weekend was it.

The low temperature at my in-law’s house Saturday night was -18. I watched the temperature rise pretty quickly Sunday morning and knew I’d be OK working the BBQ pit. I think it was pushing 8 degrees when I got going. And getting the pit going became much easier when we started filling the pit with coals taken from the wood stove in the garage.  Little side note in case you want to do this yourself: in the summer the coals can go directly on the ground. In the winter, the frozen ground thaws and then puts out the coals. In winter, I have this old cast Iron grate that keeps the coals off the ground. Around 11, armed with a pit full of coals and a burn going for future coals, the ribs went in.

Around 2, I moved the ribs to the side and some sausage went in. At 3, everything got wrapped in foil and went for a rest in a cooler. Also at about 3, Aunt Carol began to work her magic frying up a lot of pierogi.

 

A little after 4, we ate, and ate. Here’s a rack of ribs and half (that’s right half) of the pierogi.

It was a good time. This year it wasn’t as desperately needed as in past years, but a Summer in February party really does help to break up the winter.