as if once in 24 hours wasn’t enough… April 17, 2010

…why not go twice??

...

so last night lovely-friend-t and i set off to discover unchartered territories

(or really, just to enjoy some outdoor-music-and-perhaps-a-bag-of-popcorn at the fridays-after-five charlottesville festivities…) –

what we found was a SEA of what-felt-like-millions of people – babies, the elderly, so so many dogs, women with children on leashes, drunk drooling people – i mean, you name it, they were there…

and the ‘band’, whilst loud, included an electric guitar and a bobbing-flute.

not really my cup of tea, unfortunately.

and needless to say — me + large unruly crowds = not so much fun.

so what do we do, you might ask?

GO EAT. duh!

AND EAT WE DID

(sorry these pics are so grainy - we only had the wee blackberry to snap these shots!)

yes - the cup is larger than my head. never EVER a good idea to eat anything bigger than your own noggin....

so we stumbled to belmont bbq – a lovely little local landmark – a teeny tiny building housing some of the yummiest bar-b-que i have ever tasted (and being raised in the south, i-do-know-me some amazing bar-b-que…) – moist, tender, super flavorful, and so darn juicy you almost didnt even need the gallon-of-sweet-tea that so lovingly adorned the tables…

they smoke their own meat.

they make their own side dishes.

they even brew their own tea.

but perhaps MOST excitingly – they offer a meal…called…. THE SLOP BUCKET.

and you best believe that is what tyler and i got

(we have come to learn to trust our instincts and order the most-strangest-thing on the menu. this technique has yet to let us down…)

so many layers of love...

the slop bucket included the following:

1) a GINORMOUS (see above photo) white styrofoam cup (i know, i too wish it had been biodegradable…one fight at a time, friends…)

2) layer 1: cheesy hashbrown potato casserole

3) layer 2: the most succulent pulled pork you can imagine

4) layer 3: BBQ baked beans

5) layer 4: cole slaw

6) all smothered with sauce of your choice (and they have both tomato and vinegar based sauces – BEST OF BOTH BBQ WORLDS!!!)

so last night t and i shared said-slop-bucket. it took us about half an hour, but we were finally able to polish it off. luckily we had walked to dinner. even with the 30-minutes-of-cardiovascular-exercise exerted to get us home, i still had to take a tums to quell the intense feeing-of-fullness.

and yet, this afternoon, yours truly bellied up to the counter once again to have YET ANOTHER bucket-of-slop for lunch. why, you might ask. stupid, you might say. oh HECK no. AMAZING. (this time i had learned…i got the small. and though i gave it a valiant effort, i didnt feel but so bad when i couldn’t lick the ‘vat’ clean…)

close, but no cigar.

(lovely-friend-laura had it as well. she is also a new convert. one by one they fall!)

i figured i needed to get as much amazing bbq in as possible before i head out on the great-american-journey. there will be LOTS of time spent in the north/northwest – and i’m scared i will long for the days of roasted pig and sweet tea.

in those moments i’ll just lovingly remember the slop bucket, and all will be right in the world…

such words of wisdom!

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