Memorial Day

Yesterday was Memorial Day. It's the day the United States sets aside to honor those who laid down their lives in service to this country. My family and I paid a visit to the National Cemetery in Pinelawn NY and paid our respects to our veterans. It's very moving to see every tombstone marked with an American Flag.

These headstones belong to my grandparents, John Cook Hall and Kathryn Veronica Hall. My grandmother was an Irish Catholic and my grandfather a Connecticut Yankee, but from what I hear they made it work.

I never knew my grandfather, but I was very close to my grandmother who lived with us while I was a child. She died of leukemia during the NYC blackout of 1977. My grandfather was working for the US Navy when he died of a cerebral hemorrhage while driving a truck back in 1952. Both are very much missed.

But, back to the great American past time of barbecue, because this is a blog about barbeque after all and I know my grandmother liked to eat, I cooked 17 pounds of Boston butt yesterday. I slathered it with French's yellow mustard and rubbed it with Dizzie Pig's Raging River Rub. I cooked these butts for 22 hours, including time through a torrential rain storm which dumped 2 inches of water on Brooklyn in less than 1/2 hour. How'd they taste? Well, you'll have to come back tomorrow because they're still resting after the cook.