Ms. Chick Goes to Washington

Chicks in Charge will be making an appearance at the Beltway BBQ Showdown in Landover, MD., next weekend, so I had to do a little practicing this weekend. Actually, only two of the Chicks will be there – myself and Mary Ann and we’re cooking on two tiny Weber Smoky Mountain bullets so it’s going to be a challenge.

So Friday night, I decided to practice ribs with a recipe I’ve made exactly zero times from a world-famous competition cook I took a class from (for free – I’m a writer so I got valuable knowledge for the price of an article I wrote for him). They turned out pretty spectacular, if I do say so myself so I’m assured of crashing and burning in Landover because I am now overconfident. Alex actually ate warmed-up leftover ribs and said they were the best he’d ever had. That’s a complete curse.

The problem with the Chicks is we are four Type A women who always want to have the last say. So we overthink everything and then second guess ourselves relentlessly. I’m starting to get to the place where I need to just go on my instincts and forget all the multitude of tips, recipes, techniques I’ve stolen from a myriad of really good competition cooks. If nothing else, we’ll have a good time, drink a little too much wine and smoke too many cigarettes. Whoo-hoo!