Spicy Apricot Pork Ribs and A Braai Under The Wire

I haven’t been using my grill very much this summer. I don’t  know why, since I love to barbecue. Yesterday, I got a wild hair and decided to grill up a rack of ribs.

Normally, I would do more traditional ribs with a green chile rub and barbecue sauce, but I didn’t have all the ingredients necessary and I couldn’t go out. We were actually trapped at home, since a group of scholars decided to pave the parking lot right up to our front door. Needless to say, I had to make do with what I had and what I had was dried apricots and Sri Racha.

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Heirloom Tomatoes, Chef Justin Wangler, Smoked Fennel and Tomato Soup

Ten years ago I was poking around the vegetables at Tacoma Boys market in Tacoma, Washington when I first saw them. They were all sizes, colors and shapes. Some were green or orange with stripes, some were deep red with green around the core. Now, a decade later heirloom tomatoes are no longer a rarity, but a celebrated part of summer’s bounty. Last weekend Phil and I put on our Mutineer caps and drove up to Santa Rosa for Kendall-Jackson’s 15th Annual Heirloom Tomato Festival.

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Attention Wine Country and Bay Area Readers

 If you are going to be in the Napa/Sonoma area next Sunday you should toodle on up to NapaStyle in Yountville for the Italy Cooks book release party and fundraiser. There will be a ricotta making demo, and Italian wine tasting and book signing. The event itself is free, a the book for signing is $40, with a portion of the proceeds donated to the Oxbow School Pamela Hunter Fund. The event is being put on by by friend Ashley of Media ANT and a few others close to Pamela Hunter who passed last year.

RSVP: Jennifer Flynn jennifer.flynn@napastyle.com or 707-945-1229