Sunday afternoon the hubby cooked up a mess of boneless pork ribs outdoors on the gas grill and we invited my dad and brother over to chow down and watch the Titans/Patriots game. It was a glorious fall afternoon, the kind that beckons you to fire up the backyard grill because you know these days of crisp blue skies and custom ordered sunshine are fleeting.

It was all perfect, really, until five minutes into the second quarter when the Titans mentally checked out and went to Bora Bora to escape the snow.

Before the girls came along the hubby was the master backyard pork aficionado. We had a couple of backyard beer/barbecue bashes and in college he would dig a pit in the backyard of his rental bachelor pad house and smoke an entire half pig. It wasn’t uncommon for 200 people to show up for these cookouts. This may not be the Rendezvous in Memphis but his mad pork skillz could make Elvis cry for ‘Cilla to bring him more napkins.

If you’re a Titans fan or a Patriots fan or follow the NFL at all you know it wasn’t much of a game to watch considering it was the most lopsided loss in 33 years. But hey, the snow was pretty in HD. We basically spent a few hours watching the Titans getting the holy living sauce kicked out of them repeatedly by the Patriots. It seemed appropriate to have such a messy meal for such a messy game. Thank God for paper towels.

We had two kinds of finger-licking, get all up in your business with sauce, ribs: honey chipotle and Carolina style. For those unfamiliar with Carolina barbecue, it’s a mustard-based sauce, rather than their standard tomato-based rib brethren. We used Sticky Fingers sauce from Charleston, S.C. We also served an amazing chilled fresh black bean salad as a side dish, although we ended up eating quite a bit of it with tortilla chips. All I can say is fresh avocado and cilantro will cure whatever ails you, including a horrific loss, especially if you wash them down with beer.

Here’s the recipe for the black bean salad. The hubby also added a can of hoppin’ john to the black bean salad and he did not add jalapenos. No need in crying any more than we already were over the final score…59 to NOTHING.

Black Bean Salad Recipe

Ingredients
•    3  fresh ears corn
•    3  to 4 tablespoons lime juice
•    2  tablespoons olive oil
•    1  tablespoon red wine vinegar
•    1  teaspoon salt
•    1/2  teaspoon  freshly ground pepper
•    2  (15-ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
•    2  large tomatoes, seeded and chopped
•    3  jalapeño peppers, seeded and chopped
•    1  small purple onion, chopped
•    1  avocado, peeled, seeded, and chopped
•    1/4  cup  chopped fresh cilantro
Preparation

Cook corn in boiling water to cover 5 minutes; drain and cool. Cut corn from cob. (You can fudge a bit here and add canned corn.)

Whisk together lime juice and next 4 ingredients in a large bowl. Add corn, black beans, and remaining ingredients; toss to coat. Cover and chill 2 hours.

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