A Double Celebration

We celebrated Tingting's 22nd Birthday today.  It seems like only yesterday she was new to our family and we were celebrating her Sweet 16. Since that time she has become our daughter. People sometimes say wow 7 yrs, she must be like a daughter to you.  Our response is always that she is not at all LIKE a daughter, she IS a daughter.  In good times and bad (man, can she be crabby) LOL.  I tease her all the time that she is my Chinese slave, the only problem is that it is us waiting on her hand and foot! LOL

We planned a special menu and invited all our closest friends and family and we also got to meet Tony's Mom, Marlene, and brother, Joshua.

Ting loves Barbecue Ribs and Frank makes the best around.  He uses this recipe, and his own homemade bbq sauce.  We use this sauce all summer long, on ribs, chicken and pork chops.  Try it...you will never use store bought again.

Frank's Special BBQ Sauce

2 c. Ketchup
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. worcestershire sauce
1 t. hot sauce
1 t. lemon juice
4 cloves garlic, minced

Mix all ingredients together.  Slather generously on meat of your choice during last few minutes of cooking allowing to carmelize.
Print Recipe

You can find the recipe for Fried Chicken here and Baked Beans here.  I used store bought cole slaw and the fruit salad was a mixture of strawberries, blueberries, blackberries and raspberries.  I also put out a bowl of Watermelon and I had some hot dogs and buns on hand in case I started running out of food (I didn't).

The Roasted Red Skins are a very common side dish for us.  In the winter I roast them in the oven as I did today.  In the summer, I throw them on the grill.  They are easy and delicious.

Roasted Red Skin Potatoes

3 lbs. baby red skin potatoes

1/4 cup olive oil

salt and pepper to taste.

Cut potatoes into even chunks (leave small potatoes whole, halve medium potatoes and quarter large potatoes) so they are all uniform size.

Toss with olive oil and seasonings.  Roast at 375* for 1 hour or more, until potatoes are browned and easily pierced with a fork.  Print Recipe

  

This Rice Salad is one of Ting's favorites.

It is a great side dish for grilled meals and a great potluck dish as well.

Rice Mingle Salad

adapted from Kitchen Fare, International Menus Cookbook

3 c. cooked rice, cooled

2 green peppers, chopped

1 English cucumber, diced

3 tomatoes, seeded and diced

5 green onions, white and light green sections, sliced

1/4 c.chopped parsley

1 c. olive oil

1/3 c. rice wine vinegar

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 pinches kosher salt

1 dash white pepper

In a large bowl, mix together rice and vegetables.  In a small bowl, whisk together oil, vinegar, garlic, salt and pepper.  Pour over rice mixture and toss to coat.  Chill before serving.  Print Recipe

Dinner is served

  

And Enjoyed.

By all.

After dinner we all visited for a bit and then we sang Happy Birthday and cake, provided by Amy, was served.  While we were singing, Tony dropped his fork and knelt down to get it.  While he was down there he pronounced his love to Tingting and asked for her hand in marriage.

She is not very happy!!

But she did say yes...

Many times!!

Her ring is beautiful!

We are so happy for them both.  And we are happy that Tony proposed properly.  You know it is not easy when you find out you are going to be grandparents and your daughter isn't married. We were not sure what we were going to do but THIS was always an option LOL.