Opening weekend: backyard barbecue!

Opening weekend: backyard barbecue. Get out the steel wool. Scrub down the grill rack, the barbecue tools. Strike up the charcoal. Add hot dogs, burgers. Bring on a big bowl of classic potato salad. Cover the table with a checkered cloth, stack up the paper napkins. It’s the first cookout of the season! Keep it simple, pure, traditional.

The key to delicious results is building the bold flavor before, during, and after barbecuing. For example, if you want your rib eye steak to have a blackened exterior and a rare interior, you need a good rub on your steak, a hot fire in proximity to your meat, and a short cooking time.

Ahhhh....Memorial Day Weekend is upon us! For many, it's three days of fun in the sun and welcoming summer. It's great to enjoy yourselves, but keep in mind that Memorial Day is also about remembering soldiers that have given the ultimate sacrifice for our country.

Memorial Day is a holiday set aside to remember soldiers who have lost their lives, although many people also take the opportunity to remember all loved ones who have passed away. The holiday began after the American Civil War. During the war, about 500,000 soldiers were killed on both sides of the battle, and women began decorating graves of these lost soldiers.

Although many cities created local holidays to memorialize the dead between 1864 and 1866, the first widespread celebration of the holiday was on May 30, 1868. A general ordered that flowers and decorations be placed at the graves of fallen soldiers. Special services and tributes were also created to honor the dead. The general asked the press to support the effort.

Originally, Memorial Day was called Decoration Day, and most cities passed their own resolutions making it an official holiday, usually on May 30 or 31. In 1938, congress made Memorial Day a national holiday on May 30. The date was adjusted by congress in 1968 so that it would fall on the last Monday in May.

After World War I, many women began selling poppies in honor of Memorial Day, to raise money for families affected by the war. The poppies were inspired by Canadian Colonel John McCrae's poem, "In Flanders Fields." Today, honoring soldiers on Memorial Day often takes the form of special ceremonies, speeches, and laying a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.

John McCrae was a Canadian physician. He fought at the Western Front in 1914, but was later moved to the medical corps and assigned to a hospital in France. He died of pneumonia while on active duty in 1918. His "In Flanders Fields" is probably the single best-known and popular poem from the war, published in his volume of poetry, In Flanders Fields and Other Poems, 1919.

In Flanders Fields


In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.


We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.


Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.


— Lt.-Col. John McCrae (1872 - 1918)


As I enjoy this time set-aside for remembrance, I want to say thank you to all the men and women that have given me the 'right' to enjoy this weekend. Thank you for your sacrifices...PLEASE OBAMA...bring our troops home soon!!