This is my total cop-out post. For several weeks, I was busy baking up a storm and churning homemade ice cream, and then I stopped. Dead stop. I’ve eaten out the last several nights and been making my way through the mountains of baked goods already cluttering up my kitchen, and thus, have prepared little else for the last week or so.

And, when it came time for dinner last night, I realized that there was nothing suitable already made in my refrigerator. This does not happen. I usually have a buffet of left-overs ready for the nights that I don’t feel like cooking, or that are too muggy to contemplate turning on the oven, but not last night. And so my only solution, apart from becoming even better acquainted with the sushi delivery guy than I already am, was to recycle something from the fridge into a dinner-appropriate meal.

There are certain kitchen tasks that, no matter how simple, always reduce my ego and perception of my own mental capacity to the size of a child. For example, basting a turkey…. It’s quite simple, really. You just dip the tip into some of the juice, squeeze the little rubber-thingy, and distribute the juice over the turkey. Simple, right? But, somehow, I always end up choking on the heat of the oven, bump my head tellingly against the oven door, can’t quite get the juice into the baster (at which point it makes that hideous slurp-slurp noise), jab at the turkey senselessly, causing it to lose far more moisture than I ever intended to put in, and usually give myself a nasty burn.

I remember when I threw my first BBQ… I was so eager to have a few (ahem, 15-20) friends over, serve them my fried chicken, watermelon salad, and homemade desserts, and see a happy late summer day unfold before my gracious, hospitable eyes. It all seemed so convivial…. that is, until my mantra (borrowed from Nigella) of ‘never knowingly under-catered’ turned my party budget into something that more closely resembled my rent.

It was a hard lesson and sad reality…. as much fun as it is to throw a party for our nearest and dearest, it takes an awful lot of money to do it well. And, the fact is, none of us want to host an event and serve our guests Dollar Store crackers and factory farm chicken. We want to do as Ina does and serve Lobster Potpie, Capellini with Caviar, or have an enormous Kitchen Clambake, but these menus are generally far outside of a reasonable budget.

I made a version of these ribs, adapted from a recipe by Nigella Lawson that I can no longer find, the first time for a barbecue several years ago. My friend’s children, Max & Oz, were very nearly refusing to eat anything until they stumbled on a pile of these ribs, and proceeded to munch away contentedly (and quietly) for the next hour. It was quite the endorsement and put these ribs on the short list of group-friendly recipes.

One of the things I like best about this recipe is its inclusion of unusual flavors that require no extra effort to include. Items like five spice powder, star anise, and chili paste in soybean oil are as easy to add as garlic powder, garlic, and mustard, but they open up the spectrum of flavors with no additional effort.