I Suck At Pulled Pork

On Saturday, my BFF (Kerry) invited my friends and I up to Salem. If seeing my BFF weren't a good enough reason, sweetening the deal was the fact that Kerry was making dinner for everyone. And everyone knows I sure do love to eat.

Anyway, one of Kerry's specialties, aside from grilled cheese and baking, is pulled pork. Now I suck at pulled pork. My friend (Marc) thoroughly enjoys her pulled pork. I'm not exactly sure how the plans got set into motion, but Kerry decided to invite a bunch of us to have a pulled pork dinner.

And it just so happens that my friend (Joanna) was also back in Massachusetts. Hooray! Joanna lives in Oregon. As she could not come back for Christmas, she chose to fly back this past weekend instead. It was actually a nice coincidence because the week before, Karen and I thought about Joanna because we saw her picture hanging at the 99 Restaurant in Quincy.

Anyway, Karen, my twenty two month old daughter (Briana) and I picked up Joanna and my friend (Jen) in Quincy. It made for a nice ride up to Salem because I don't get to see Jen or Joanna that much. And apparently, Briana seems to love Joanna. She kept playing with Joanna in the back seat. (She tried to steal her iPhone the last time too.)

Needless to say, it was good to hang out and see everyone on Saturday. In addition to us, my friends (Marc, Kelley, and Andrea) were also joining the shindig. Sadly, Kerry's friend (Sam) could not join the festivities. Sam "I love [insert food here]" was a little under the weather. I poke fun at Sam only because when I first met her, she said that she loved every single food that was being served, even the obscure ones like quinoa. I thought that was pretty funny.

The pulled pork dinner was good. Interestingly enough, Karen and I discovered that Trader Joe's makes a deliciously sweet corn bread. It was awesome as far as corn bread goes. Well, Karen and I enjoyed it. Of course, I enjoyed everything: the pork, the green beans, the mashed potatoes, etc. As a tidbit of information, I found out that Jen loves green beans. She was hoping that green beans would be served... and what do you know? They were!

Before we dove into the ice cream for dessert, we had fun just hanging out amid the free MMA fight that night. Among the topics of discussion that I remember: the SodaStream soda maker and strokes. For anyone curious, Jen's brother (Bill) got a fully operational popcorn maker. I think it was either the popcorn maker or the SodaStream... and popcorn won. As for strokes, that topic came about because it was a concern for Andrea. Andrea was afraid that she may be exhibiting warning signs for strokes. Of course, I think it's the booze that's causing her slurred speech, but that's just me. Just kidding.

All in all, it was a great night. Surprisingly enough, Briana was actually good for the entire night. I had my doubts, but she was good. Briana crashed on the ride home, but she didn't miss much... just a discussion about the Amazing Race and Jen's warm behind. The former was about how Joanna was my original choice as a partner for the show. One of the reasons was that Joanna knew how to drive standard. Sadly, I don't know how to drive standard. As for the latter, that had to do with the seat warming option in our car. Fun stuff.