BBQ Withdrawal

It's the middle of winter in Michigan, so I have plenty of reason to complain about the weather. I had to shovel my way up the stairs to the driveway, before I could even start to clear the driveway off and try to get the car out of the garage. I could easily babble on about this, but you know what? That's not my complaint about living in Michigan, at least not in this post.

I grew up in the South, so barbecue has always been a large enough portion of my diet that it may as well be its own food group. In the town I lived in while going to high school, barbecue joints were the only thing more common than Churches of Christ, and I'm still not sure which one was approached with greater religious fervor. Like I said, barbecue was a big part of life there. In fact, I assure you this won't be the last time I talk about barbecue on this site.

Here's my issue: There is nowhere, and I mean nowhere, to get decent barbecue around Kalamazoo. It's bad enough to suffer through the winter, but at least we know summer's coming. Summer is beautiful here, even though it may only last 30-45 days each year. The lack of barbecue lasts all year long, except for one weekend a year. You see, one weekend each August, the city of Kalamazoo plays host to Ribfest. Several rib vendors from around the country come and sell ribs and compete to see who has the best ribs. Now ribs may not be my barbecue preference (I'll cover that subject another day), but I still end up looking forward to Ribfest for most of the year. I even go more than one day during the weekend, so that I can try the ribs from all of the vendors. It ends up being a fun weekend, but it unfortunately just serves to remind me that I can't get it any other time.

I can handle the cold. I can handle the snow. But I'm not so sure I can handle the lack of barbecue much longer. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have snow to shovel.

Until later...