This is what my Fourth of July looked like. My dad spent hours smoking chicken and ribs in a process that involved dry rub (which included, of all things, powdered lemonade), apple juice, and some kind of raspberry-honey glaze that resulted in meat so tender and sweet that it hardly resembled its bland counterparts that are oven baked or even grilled. We had watermelon cookies and peanut butter pie. And Toomer’s Corner lemonade and tailgate tea. A perfect meal that ended with a not-so-perfect fireworks show and a traffic jam, which we made up for by coming back to my parents’ house to shoot off our own fireworks, causing the dog to break one of my mother’s flowerpots and creating what are sure to be burn spots in the front yard that my father will discover this morning.
