Epic Failure

Why do I put myself through it?
All the time it took and all the money spent for the graduation party is gone now. I felt it was a complete failure. Others say it wasn't, but they are just being nice.
On the menu was Ribs, Pork Butt, Chicken, Grilled Corn, Grilled Squash, Stuffed Mushrooms, Stuffed Peppers, Baked Beans, Potato salad, two or three more things and a table full of deserts.

You can pick up on something is wrong when people put their plates in the trash upside down. No, really believe me when I say it. Most folks don't want to be rude so instead of eating the food they will cover it in a paper towel and throw the plate in the trash upside down so no one will see them throwing food away.  

First off about twenty folks that said were going to be there didn't show. We still had a good crowd of around thirty five come by.
Second, I messed up the potato salad, I never mess up potato salad. The wife saved me by making a potato salad casserole out of my mess, it was a hit.
Next, people said the chicken was not done and threw it away. I checked and I thought it was. I smoked it

at 250 degrees for four hours, the meat gauge read 190 to the bone, the juice ran clear and so about twenty pieces of chicken were thrown in the trash. It was pink because of the smoke, not because it was not done.
This picture here was when I first put them on. They ended up looking so good.   

Next, when I cooked ribs in the past I usually over cook them and they fall off the bone. This time I did things a little different and did the 3-2-1 method by smoking them for three hours, wrapping them for the next two and then finishing them off unwrapped and caramelizing the bbq sauce for the last hour. I thought they tasted out of this word, but some folks took one bite and trashed them.   

The pork butt was cooked to 175 degrees because I wanted to serve it sliced. At 190 it would have been dried up pulled pork. I found about four pounds of it in the trash because they said it was not done. I thought it had the best taste of all and was amazing. All because it was not burnt up I guess it was not done.

Next was my fault again. I was so busy trying to serve I forgot and left the squash and corn on the grill and did not serve it till it was to late. Thirty ears of corn and about forty packets of grilled squash went uneaten. That one is on me. The wife sent as much home to people as she could and the rest is in the ice box. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

The beans were good. Not much of that was left. I guess it was the only eatable food there so everyone ate their helping of them.





The girls all pitched in and helped. They did a great job and had a good time. Even tho pealing potatoes is not fun, they made it that way. The one on the left is Boppy. She is the one that graduated Friday night. On the way to graduation she said she was nervous about graduating. I told her she needs to be nervous about tomorrow and she asked why. I said because it is the first day of the rest of your life. On the right is Wee. She really did not want to be pealing potatoes as you can tell from the look.  

A storm rolled in about 3:00 AM and woke me up. I didn't put everything up and spent the next few minuets running around in the pouring rain trying to pick up as much stuff as I could. I lost my shade cover and a few more things to the high winds and the down pour. They didn't say anything about rain. Stupid, Stupid, Stupid.

I told Wee next year we are going to Chucky Cheese and will not be having a BBQ. This one will go down in the history books as an epic failure. I can count on one hand and have four fingers left over on how many times I put on a bad BBQ.
Other than that, the Mini Farm was a hit, the animals were spoiled. Everything looked great.