Frontier and Pull Pork Sandwiches

Hilton Head 1996

I had an absolutely fabulous weekend traveling to Denver, Colorado to visit with four of my best college friends. My friend Kita perfectly summarized why it was so great on her blog here.

There are seven of us girls who were and continue to be especially close and we do our best to see each other as often as we can. Whenever we do get together, even when it's been years, it feels like just yesterday we were hanging out in our Ignacio Hall dorm room. It's just so easy to be with them and I feel more myself with these women than with just about any other people in the world. They've seen me at my best and at my worst -- and I them : ) -- and I grew into the adult that I am with their unconditional friendship and support. Of course, I have my family, but they have to love me. These girls have stuck by me even when they weren't legally obligated to - and believe me, sometimes I made it hard. And they are the compass that leads me back to the idealistic, independent, simple college student I was when life gets complicated.

Of course, these days life is a lot more complicated. I was sad and nervous to leave my little guy behind. But I think the time with his dad and his two uncles (who happened to come for a visit) was a very good thing. The pictures that were emailed to me (one is to the left) put me at ease, although I was a little hurt he looked so freaking happy that he didn't seem to miss me at all. But I do think that Damien has a better understanding of how challenging it can be to be the only one responsible for the baby. So that's good.

I wanted to recommend the fantastic airline that took me away to Denver with on-time flights and Direct TV entertainment to distract me from what I was leaving behind. Frontier Airlines is a Denver based company that was similar to JetBlue or Southwest. Casual, inexpensive, no-frills, but well done.

I'd also like to share what we had for dinner in case anyone is looking for ideas to feed a larger group. One night Kita made a delicious pasta sauce that included ground beef (that I think was organic beef she got a Whole Foods and she hadn't even read the NY Times article.) She served it over spaghetti. And the other night, as an homage to a few debauched nights we spent at a BBQ joint in our old neighborhood called Brother Jimmy's, our host Jen pulled out a slow cooker (yay! - another recipe) and made pulled pork. It was so tasty that I also had it for lunch before I left for the airport.

This is how she did it:

Slow Cooker Pulled Pork
3 lb. boneless pork shoulder
1 packet McCormick Slow Cooker Pulled Pork Seasoning
1/2 cup ketcup
1/2 brown sugar
1/3 cup cider vinegar

I think she just mixed everything but the pork in a bowl and then pour it over the pork shoulder that was placed in the slow cooker. Then she set the slow cooker to low for 8 hours. When it was done, she shredded the meat and returned it to the slow cooker until we were ready to eat. Cole slaw is almost a necessary side dish for this meal. I mean, you can't really have pulled pork without cole slaw!

I couldn't find the McCormick packet at the Publix near my house. I have one other to check. And Jen ordered the pork shoulder from her fancy butcher which I think I'll have to do too.

Anyway, this was fantastic and it's one of those dishes that is almost better leftover. When I ate some for lunch the next day, it made having to leave a little less bitter.