An Art Director’s Barbecue

Lori is known around the office for planning incredible parties. From elaborate murder mystery events to an intimate dinner party with friends, her thoughtfulness, eye for detail and chef’s palate take every event to the next level. Recently she planned her family reunion and we convinced her to let us showcase it, because Art Director/amazing chef + family reunion = the barbecue of a lifetime!

It’s all in the details:
For her family reunion, Lori created a restaurant-style barbecue named after her grandfather Rudi. She had tee shirts, menus, napkin rings and mason jars printed with the logo/artwork she designed. She used cookie sheets for the rib platters and red baskets for the corn muffins. Her red and white ramekins, terry cloth napkins, checkered tablecloths and tray liners completed the look.

Barbecue 2.0 – The menu speaks for itself. It’s all homemade and delicious.

Eats:
Fresh sweet corn
Cilantro coleslaw
Hand cut French fries and sweet potato fries with chipotle honey aioli sauce
Drunken baked beans made with pulled pork, bacon, and Fulton’s Sweet Child of Vine IPA
Slow smoked ribs with bourbon barbecue sauce
Grilled chicken topped with bacon and sweet apricot barbecue sauce
Burgers and hot dogs for the kids (who ended up eating the “grown up” food too, it was just that good)
Three flavors of corn muffins: jalapeño bacon cheddar, rosemary Parmesan and sweet kernel corn
Key lime cheesecake with blackberry sauce
Cookie brownie sundaes

Drinks:
Lemonade
Iced tea
Root beer
Fulton’s Sweet Child of Vine IPA (She had to introduce her Iowan relatives to our neighbor’s fabulous brew!)

If you started wishing you were related to Lori part way through this post, join the club! Also, she said she’d share her genius recipes if you ask nicely.