Super Bowl this year just didn’t hold the same interest for me. With the Seahawks out of the running our gathering became more about the party than the bowl game. As usual I served a half time meal and let everyone know we were having pulled pork sliders, coleslaw and salad. We got a little help from Costco with the pork. I could have gotten out R2D2, our smoker and smoked our own, but why?

Well, here’s the why. I bought the thing, the smoker, after attending a fabulous smoked meats party where the host had 3 smokers going with ribs, chicken and sausage. Bob made it look so easy and even told me where and which one to buy. That next weekend Honey and I headed to our local butcher and bought ribs and sausage, the good stuff. We spent the afternoon with it all piled in the smoker, even threw in a hunk of cheese, and let it smoke away. Well the cheese melted; of course it did, and caught on fire. Apparently you’re supposed to use cheesecloth. The sausage was so burned it just had a black outside casing and nothing left in the middle. Mr. Smoker said too hot for too long. Oops. The ribs were a disaster too. It’s kind starting to the sound like the fish stew isn’t it? (Read about that kitchen fail here.) Only there was nothing to salvage.

That’s why getting a little help from our local warehouse store sounded way easier than trying another round with R2D2. And, I am all about the simple when it comes to being a hostess. I can make coleslaw and Honey happily agreed to mix up a couple of vinegar based sauces. My girlfriend offered to bring the green salad. For anyone that asked, I told, ‘bring something to share.‘ I probably should have started an email chain so everyone could chime in with what they were bringing.

We ended up with 8 bags of tortilla chips for 15 people. Good thing honey likes chips and salsa because we have leftovers. The veggie tray we assembled mostly went untouched. And that pork, it smelled so good warming up on the stove as everyone arrived. A few asked if I cooked it ahead of time in a slow cooker. (What’s with that anyway? We always call them crockpots.) I confessed immediately I was strictly the warmer, not the pit master: me and my favorite Le Cresuet pot. And, it made great fried rice the next day. I will share the recipe in another post.

Here’s the lesson. Make it simple and they will come. Or, maybe you will just be willing to host.