June 10 - 11: Girls "Just Wanna Have Fun" Weekend Roundup

We kept pushing vlogging back each day, so we had to hunker down on Sunday to give you this massive weekend anthology.



Pulled Pork (Chicken) Recipe:
Braising Liquid - Prepare enough of this to nearly cover whatever you're braising.
Something Sweet: Could include Brown Sugar, Honey, Wine
Something Salty: Could include Salt, Shoyu (Soy Sauce), Worcestershire Sauce, Miso Paste
Something Sour: Could include Vinegar (Apple Cider, Rice Wine), Wine, Lemon, Tomatoes

A braising liquid should have all three of these components (sweet, salty, sour), but what proportions you like is up to your tastes. I like things on the sweeter side, so my proportions are usually 2:1:1 of sweet:salty:sour. Ketchup is a magical condiment, in that it embodies all three flavor qualities. Explore, customize, make your own, because frankly I don't remember what I put in mine.

Combine meat with braising liquid in something like a dutch oven, set your conventional oven to 350 Fahrenheit and let it cook until the meat falls off the bone or is easily shreddable (around 4 - 4.5 hours depending on the size of your protein. For my 3 pound picnic shoulder, it took 4.5 hours).

Thai Peanut Dressing:
Again, I don't really measure or follow recipes, but here's an ingredient list, in order of amount used (most to least):
Rice Wine Vinegar
Peanut Butter
Shoyu (Soy Sauce)
Sesame Oil
Sugar
Apple Cider Vinegar

Pretend you're making a vinaigrette. Adjust according to taste. Also makes a good pasta sauce if you reduce the amount of vinegar.

I've become a food blog follower, and have been mining their archives for recipes. My go to site is Serious Eats. A problem with most recipes is that you never know if someone's actually tested it out, or it's a theoretical idea. Julia Child often encountered and wrote of this problem. I find most blogs are generally reliable in that the authors have usually tested the recipe before posting. Another site I like for bread baking is The Fresh Loaf, where I found the Pita Bread, and Braided Sweet Bread Recipe.