Redneck Southern Pit BBQ

I went home for the Thanksgiving holiday. Here's the thing about home....its a small small small town up near the Nevada/Arizona border. When I say small I mean ssmmmmaaalllll.
Example, when I was in High School it was impossible to ditch class. Every time I did, I saw someone my parents knew. That person would inevitably report back to my parents with innocent inquiry,
"I saw Kate at Jack in the Box today at lunch!"
Ugh.
While growing up there were two or three places that offered palate pleasing meals but none like what opened a few years ago.

Redneck Southern Pit BBQ

(Pause. Take it in. Love it.)

I've started to get healthy within the last few months which have led me to a 90% vegetarian diet. But the moment that I head up over the last hill to get to my parents, my mouth starts to water with thoughts of perfectly smoked pulled pork, cheesy mac and cheese and pasta salad with perfectly balanced mayo and mustard dressing.
My carnivorous side starts to roar and will not shut up until I satisfy it with a meal from Rednecks.
The issue that I have with most restaurants is the lack of consistency. Not here.
At Rednecks the mac and cheese stays perfectly creamy each time. The beef brisket has a rich and robust flavor. The pulled pork is moist and tender with a slight twinge of smoke to flavor the meat. To top it all off is Ma maw's peach cobbler and don't forget the ice cream. You will be bombed with an almost custard texture, juicy peaches and sweet cinnamon. They plop ice cream on the steaming heap of heaven and place a plate on top. This makes the ice cream melt just the perfect amount so your not eating ice cream milk but a soft mound of sweet cream with each bite of caramelized peach cobbler joy. That's pretty much what it is, joy in your mouth.

Get some fried pickles while your at it! Or a giant baked potato with enough toppings to last you two meals! Add baked beans! Buy some loaded freedom fries! It's all amazing.

I love this place so much that I actually hesitate to tell you about it! I want my special meat treat to stay mine. But I also want to share the magical BBQ that exists in my small hometown.

The experience isn't just culinary by the way. The same thought and precision that went into the food was also applied to the decor. Where else can you walk into a restaurant and immediately feel as if you've walked into a family BBQ picnic someplace in the south?

So next time you make your way through the 'blink and you'll miss it' town of Kingman.
Stop.
Park.
And eat BBQ joy.

http://www.rednecksbbq.co/

Liberty Market

While others were out trolling the beaches, running away to a pine top destination or barely escaping arrests in Las Vegas, I spent my Memorial Day in town. For a few reasons actually.

1- I hate traffic, sitting in traffic, driving in traffic and getting cut off in traffic. I much more prefer the open road, free of all things blood pressure rising.

2- My sister's mother in law was in town visiting and I love love love her.

3-My friend's daughter was graduating from 8th grade and somehow I made the super exclusive list to this memorial day party (Loved the hot dogs, btw)

This weekend was the first in a long long time that I didn't really have any specific errands, except get my car looked at and the oil changed. By the way..... and this is VERY important for you all to know.....Wal Mart sucks. Seriously. Hang with me for a moment and we'll get back to the relaxing part. Did you know that when Wal Mart says that the check all fluids, they actually mean they will check all the fluids EXCEPT for the antifreeze and the brake fluid. Now, I'm not really a 'car person' per say but I kind of think that these two fluids are just a tiny little bit important. Luckily for me, I avoided this errand until today so I was fairly relaxed up until this afternoon.
All I did this weekend was enjoy a little free time. I played a ruthless card game of a version monopoly, which goes much faster than the board game version. I did a little shopping with the aforementioned mother in law, sister and my brother in law. Oh, and I also made time for a stop at my newest obsession.....frozen yogurt. I know I'm coming late to this party but there is something about 100 degree's outside that really has started to make me crave a tangy frosty concoction. And while this weekend was lovely, it wouldn't have been complete without a stop to taste some of the best local flavor that Gilbert has to offer. In this case, it was Liberty Market.

I've been to this place a few times before but never for breakfast. This morning, I met up with my sister, the BIL, his mom and their next door neighbours (who ,btw, are just as cutthroat as the rest of us when it comes to that monopoly game. Don't let those innocent faces fool you.). The food at Liberty Market is like gourmet farm food. Its fresh, delicious and inventive. Since we were meeting a little later, I made the stupid decision to eat a snack when I woke up at 6:30 this morning. Which meant that when we all met up, I wasn't as hungry as I should have been. It didn't stop me from ordering a bowl of granola and it sure as hell didn't stop me from trying the potatoes.
Liberty Market (the building) has been in some sort of existence since Gilbert was a framing district of roughly 800 people in 1935. My Great Grandfather raised his family in the nearby city of Chandler (as family lore has it, he was actually one of the first Mayors.) And I used to hear stories of the area while I was growing up. Hearing how your grandmother used to come to Gilbert when it was a dirt road, right in front of Liberty Market, and where the town would throw down wooden planks to create a dance floor, kinda makes you have a new appreciation for the place.
The dusty road has been paved and the market no longer deals in just flour, eggs and milk. But when you walk in the historic district of Gilbert you can almost smell the faint waft of farm land. That very distinct scent of wet alfalfa that has been laying under the sun all day and finally received a cool shower just as the summer night hits and the young kids come out to the end of the road to dance under the stars... not realizing that less then 30 years, the road will be paved and 20 years after that.....those in the know will come to Liberty Market for the taste bud pleasing offering of wood fire pizza's, delicious fresh gourmet sandwich's and desserts that make you want to skip the entree all together. There's so much that I can say about the food. You have to go once for breakfast, once for lunch, once for dinner and once just for the coffee bar.

This time around, the group ordered scrambled eggs, fluffy pancakes, flaky biscuits with perfectly cooked creamy gravy and farm fresh spiced sausage. While it was all so so so yummy, let me tell you about the breakfast potatoes. Warm, soft, cheesy goodness. I mean, that's the only way to describe it. There were diced potatoes, onions, and bell peppers all covered in a light blanket of cheddar cheese....*sigh*
Last time, I went for lunch and had the 'Rancher'. This simple sounding sandwich is a pressed sandwich of tender fillet of beef, layered with caramelized onion, blue cheese, arugula and horseradish aioli. My choice of side? An inventive roasted sweet potato salad that is both sweet and savory peppered with dried cranberries.
YUM YUM YUM
The only thing missing from this trip?? I should have gone back for a Salt River Bar. If you want to know the chocolate caramel salty goodness that is this treat....take yourself to Liberty Market. Or order the Bread Pudding....this version will make you a convert if your not already.

Go to Liberty Market...find out for yourself.

http://www.libertymarket.com/

Heat Wave = Queen Creek Olive Mill

Most people (who don't live in Arizona) don't like the 100 plus degree weather,

I am not one of them.

When it reaches triple digits, I start to relax. It seems that my body tenses up when the temperate dips below 70. It's only until the air starts to sizzle that I relax.

I wait all year for the blistering heat,

the burn on the back of my legs when I get in my car from the seats,

the fact then when I walk outside, little rivets of sweat prickle on my neck

the semi catatonic state I can get when I feel that sun reach my face

Unfortunately, I also get really really really lazy...hence my need to escape to a fun place

Queen Creek Olive Mill always fits the bill!

And usually I can convince my sisters to join in the fun.

Queen Creek Olive Mill is Arizona's only olive mill. Not only that but it's also organic and working to become totally self sustaining. As you walk in from the dirt parking lot into the courtyard patio, you walk past the vegetable garden that's completely organic and pesticide free which is the corner stone of the Mill's philosophy. If you go to their website you can read all about it but what I love is the simplicity of their mission, which states in part

"Our farming practices and the products we offer exemplify our dedication to the environment and the health of our customers"

There's only one olive mill in all of Arizona. Why do you think that its pretty easy for them to not use pesticides for any reason?

You can guess but I bet you might not get it.... (if you do, I'm impressed)

Well, Olive trees have only natural enemy and that's this insect that cannot live in temperatures above 100 degrees. Guess when that bugs life cycle is?

That's right! The dead of summer, which in Arizona reaches 100 at 5am in the morning.

If it's your first visit to the mill, do the tour. That's how come I sound so smart.

They don't have just plain extra virgin olive oil, they have lime and strawberry and vanilla bean and blood orange and chili and chocolate and garlic... just to name a few.

Oh, you might want to try some of their stuffed olives as well. May I recommend the stuffed blue cheese olives? Maybe in a nice dirty martini?

I'm volunteering at a film festival this weekend but that doesn't keep me from thinking about the food at the Mill. The last time we all were there was when a friend from out of town was visiting.

The first thing we did is get some lunch in the courtyard. Even though its was warm, I wanted a panini. I mean really, who wouldn't want a grass fed beef sandwich with caramelized onions, roasted tomatoes and horseradish all on a pressed grilled baguette?? I also got some pesto pasta.

Fresh pesto on twisty cold pasta? Yes, please!!

I'm going to go ahead and say that it was all gone pretty quickly!

We all shared an olive oil chocolate cake after. Olive Oil tends to make any dessert pretty moist and this was no exception.

This cake is chocolate and dense and moist and a fork fight pretty much ensued.

Oh and they have misters so it really helps with keeping the air cool while we enjoy the beautiful scenery outside.

Just so you know, On Saturday and Sunday, they have wine tasting!

And...they just started making breakfast!

I'm excited to try the Vanilla Bean Olive Oil waffles with some berries and whip cream.

If you want to, you can always go online and get some of their products online at

http://www.queencreekolivemill.com/