Sunday, June 18, 2006

low and slow

There are times when I wish I could have back all the money I spent on foolish things as a teenager. For example, I joined the Mystery Guild, the Literary Guild and the Columbia House Record & Tape Club. Some of the books and tapes were pretty good but I bought a lot of stuff I didn't need.

One of the better cassette tapes I bought comes to mind every year on Father's Day. It was a recording of an elderly Groucho Marx doing stand-up at Carnegie Hall. During the show, he sang about Father's Day.
I taught the song to my own children so that they would sing it to me every year:
Today, Father is Father's Day
And we're giving you a tie
It's not much we know
But it's just our way of showing you
We think you're a regular guy

You say that it was nice of us to bother
But it really was a pleasure to fuss
For according to our mother, you're our father
And that's good enough for us
Yes, that's good enough for us!
This year we are celebrating Father's Day by smoking a pork shoulder on the Pitmaster Deluxe. It will be my first taste of pork BBQ since joining LA Weight Loss. Now that I've reached my goal weight and the maintenance phase of the program, I'm allowed to eat some fattier foods. The portion size will still be a lot smaller than what I would have consumed a year ago. We'll freeze a bunch of the meat and save it for a few weeks so that I don't eat the leftovers on consecutive days.

I've lost 60 pounds and my wife has lost 56 so far. She's going to lose another 14 or so. I recently wrote that several friends and blog readers have asked to see a current picture of us. For the sake of comparison, you might want to look at my October 30 entry to see us in our Halloween costumes. We had been losing weight for about a month and were pleased with our progress. At that point, we could only dream of getting to where we are today:



To prepare the pork, my wife used a basic dry rub recipe from Kent Whitaker's "Smoke in the Mountains Cookbook." She substituted Morton Lite Salt and Splenda Brown Sugar for their more fattening counterparts. She also made a mop using an old bottle of sparkling grape juice, applesauce and some Big Bob Gibson's BBQ sauce that she found marked as a close-out item at Food City. Once we can't find any more Big Bob Gibson's locally, we can buy some Stubbs or Williamson Bros. sauce which are a little thinner and spicier but still very tasty. Here's a look at my pork shoulder and my wife's chicken cutlets just before their final mopping:

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6 Comments:

Anonymous Emily from table "FIF" said...

You should try the Sticky Fingers sauce. They sell a couple of different brands at Food City. I might be biased because I worked for the restaurant that produces the sauce, but I still think it's the best!

6/19/2006  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Congrats Frank!!
hope you Enjoyed your BBQ!!
as much hard work you and your wife have put in to your weight loss goals You both deserve to splurge!!
That is a good picture of you and your wife!!
Have a Great Day!

6/19/2006  
Anonymous Pam Mc said...

WOW!!! You really DON'T have an ass! LOL Anyway, you both look great and congrats on losing the weight. The BBQ looks wonderful too. Keep up the good work you guys.

6/19/2006  
Anonymous Jere said...

I didn't need to see that picture from the 80's Halloween party again...ugh. But it does make me feel good.

I also like the Sticky Fingers sauce and spied that at Food City the other day. But since the BigBob Gibson's was on closeout, I thought I'd better grab it...in fact, I may have taken their last four bottles. (And I did try the mop mixture on the chicken - and it was delish.) But pulling the pork was torture. Can't wait until I am on maintainance!

6/20/2006  
Blogger jess said...

you guys look amazing. seriously. I've never known either of you that slim.
back from NH. will post about that huntley family fuster-cluck soon.

6/20/2006  
Blogger Frank Murphy said...

Here's an update. We tried Sticky Fingers sauce and liked it quite a bit. We now usually get the Memphis Original flavor. (3/3/07)

3/03/2007  

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