Pork and Veggie Grill with a Veteran- Memorial Day 2012

Grilling for Memorial Day is a true American tradition. Here we have a country style pork rib, marinaded and slathered in sweet, tangy barbecue sauce, served with grilled summer squash and zucchini and asparagus roasted in a tin foil pouch with lemon and butter, and a nice hunk of my wife's home made potato salad. The pork was good, but the asparagus was actually my favorite part- I wrap up a pile of asparagus in a tin foil pouch, season with salt and pepper, and give it a good squeeze of lemon. I top it with a large knob of butter, close it up, and drop it on the grill off to one side where it isn't quite as hot. The squash and zucchini were simply seasoned with salt and pepper, and coated with a little olive oil. I don't know what my wife puts in her potato salad- but it is creamy without overpowering the natural flavor of the potato with lots of other stuff.

All that aside, memorial day isn't just about the cooking- it's about the people that defended our freedom to do such things with our free time. We shared this meal with my father-in-law, veteran of the war in Vietnam. The kids had fun running around the yard, and I got to start a large fire then cook things in it, but it was really his day more than anyone else's.