Summertime gatherings at the Henderson household almost always include hamburgers and hotdogs off of the charcoal grill. And I have a recipe for hamburgers that is so good (and easy!) that it's almost sinful.
I'd like to say that I came up with this recipe, but that wouldn't be true. The recipe belongs to my Grandpa Remke (Big Papaw), who passed away in July 2003. Grandpa Remke was proud of his grilled hamburgers and rightly so. When he made them, there usually weren't any leftovers. Everyone in our family loved them.
The smell of one of these hamburgers evokes memories of my girlhood spent running up and down Limestone Road in Bartlesville, enjoying my grandmother's beautiful flower garden, and good times spent with my father's family.
When Dwayne and I began dating, he would regularly join our family for these summertime gatherings and all the way home, he would comment on how good the hamburgers were. Finally, one summer, I asked Grandpa how he made his hamburgers and he showed me. I'm so glad I asked, because even though Grandpa is gone, his hamburger recipe lives on.
To make Grandpa Remke's hamburgers, you will need: 2 pounds of ground beef (73% fat), 1 small white onion (minced), and 1 bottle hickory-flavored barbecue sauce. Place the beef, the minced onion and approximately 5 tablespoons of the barbecue sauce in a large bowl. Mix all well with your hands, until onions and sauce are well incorporated in the beef. You do not want to put too much barbecue sauce in the mix or the burgers will fall apart on the grill. If the hamburger meat is too saucy, add more beef and onions and mix well.
Form into hamburgers and salt and pepper on each side of the patty. Grill on a charcoal grill until done. Allow to rest briefly so that the juices distribute evenly in the meat. Place cheese on the burgers, if you wish. Place burger on a white, wheat, or sesame bun. Add dill pickles, tomatoes, red onion, and lettuce. Condiments can include mustard, mayonnaise, ketchup, or more barbecue sauce.
We like our burgers with potato chips, baked beans, potato salad, or pasta salad. The recipe will make 6 to 8 hamburger patties, depending on how generous you make your patties. You can easily double or triple the recipe. Be aware that due to the high fat content of the beef, the burgers do shrink up, but the fat is absolutely critical for a juicy hamburger.
Our neighbors love these hamburgers, and in fact, the teenaged son of one neighbor talks about these burgers throughout the year. In fact, when he left here Friday night, he left with a doggie bag including two hamburgers to enjoy later.
Thank you, Grandpa Remke, for the recipe and for all of the wonderful memories I have of you. I love you!
Claremore's annual Independence Day fireworks display took place last night, and the Henderson's enjoyed an unusually temperate evening in the company of family, good neighbors, and friends.
When Dwayne and I purchased our home in May 2002, we hadn't the foggiest notion that from our front yard, we would have one of the most advantageous views of the annual fireworks display staged from nearby Claremore Lake. With the exception of two years - one when the city did not have a fireworks display because of budget constraints, and one when the Henderson family enjoyed Independence Day while on vacation in St. Louis, Missouri - our family has hosted a very simple "come who may" celebration on our front lawn, complete with hamburgers, hot dogs, and all the trimmings. And like all holidays where hot weather is the rule, ice cream is requisite.
Each year, I worry that no one will show up to our little fete. Each year, I lament the heat and the mosquitoes. Each year, I wonder how many of my tax dollars will have been blown up in 30 minutes and if there might be a better way to expend those funds.
And each year, in spite of my doubts, I have the best time. The sheer joy on the faces of those who show up - and each year I am surprised by the numbers who come out to celebrate - combined with my own "ooh-ing and aah-ing" over a display that each year turns out to be more beautiful and lovely than the year before, makes for an evening that becomes ever more precious to me.
And each year, while watching the "rockets red glare," I think about freedom and what it means to me. I think about the fact that there are people on God's good earth who have never known the deliciously liberating taste of freedom. And I remember, if only for a fleeting moment, that at the same time the ultra-conservative and the ultra-liberal are raiding our free airwaves with their messages of divisiveness and discord, on this day, we gather together proudly as Americans, enjoying the simplest of pleasures and thanking God that we live in nation where the choices are vast and the opportunities are still far better than anyplace else in the world.
So, as you finish off those fireworks this evening, or you watch an organized display in your city or town (if you haven't already), remember these thoughts on freedom and give thanks to God that you live in a nation where democracy is the order of the day:
"None who have always been free can understand the terrible fascinating power of the hope of freedom to those who are not free." - Pearl S. Buck, "What America Means To Me," 1943
"Freedom is not a gift received from a State or a leader but a possession to be won every day by the effort of each and the union of all." - Albert Camus, "Bread and Freedom," 1957
"The only freedom which deserves the name is that of pursuing our own good in our own way, so long as we do not attempt to deprive others of theirs, or impede their efforts to obtain it." - John Stuart Mill, "On Liberty," 1859
"When I found I had crossed that line [to freedom], I looked at my hands to see if I was the same person. There was such a glory over every thing; the sun came like gold through the trees, and over the fields, and I felt like I was in Heaven." - Harriet Tubman
America: it's not perfect, but it's still better than any other choice we have.
The Henderson Family planned to get out of town for Spring Break 2009. Then Jaderbug broke her leg in an unfortunate trampoline accident on March 8, 2009, so vacationing in March was out of the question. We decided instead to go in May, after school was out.
Jared has been asking for years to go to the beach on vacation and we discussed a variety of places where we could go to enjoy the beach. We have some neighbors who own a condo on the beach in Alabama, so I called to find out where they would recommend that we stay. Little did I know that they let friends and neighbors use their place (they also rent it out!) and we were soon hooked up with a place to stay in Orange Beach, Alabama.
Because we were so ready to be someplace other than Oklahoma, we decided to leave Memorial Day Weekend. The week before we left was nutty. My father had surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff mere days before and had been staying with us up until Monday of that week, when he was given the green light to resume his normal routine at home by himself. Jade's graduation to Pre-Kindergarten was Thursday night, and Jared's graduation from fourth grade was Friday morning. The last day of school was Friday and Jared was sad that he was leaving his elementary school permanently. He was in tears by the time I picked him up from school Friday afternoon.
In the spare moments I could find that week, I packed, shopped, and got the van ready for our trip. And had a mammogram. Nothing like smashing your boobs before subjecting them to swimsuit season!
On Friday evening at dinner, I began questioning the sanity of our plan to leave the day after school was out. What had I been thinking? I stayed up well past midnight finishing up the final details...and I needed to be up at 4:30 a.m. to help Dwayne get it all packed in the van. I also prepared fruit for breakfast on the road and sandwiches for lunch. By 6:30 a.m., we were locked and loaded - sleepy kids in the car, tunes on the iPod, and a host of movies for the DVD. We were finally headed out of town. We stopped briefly on the Muskogee Turnpike to eat a light breakfast and then continued on into Arkansas.
We stopped for lunch outside of Pine Bluff, Arkansas at a park where the kids could play and run off some steam. Then we continued on into Louisiana with its bayous, oxbow lakes, and colorful scenery. We came out at Tallulah and got onto I-30, headed towards Vicksburg and Jackson, Mississippi. At Jackson, we headed south to Hattiesburg, stopping there for dinner at what turned out to be a really good Thai restaurant.
As night fell, we made our way into Mobile, Alabama with storms blowing in off of the Gulf of Mexico. Soon afterwards, we turned south, headed towards Gulf Shores and Orange Beach. I was driving during this leg of the journey and ran over a dog in a town north of Foley.
Yes, I killed the dog. I hit him with both tires, so at least it was quick and painless. The accident was unavoidable. It was either us or the dog. I picked the dog.
It was 10:30 p.m. by the time we got to the condo, but what an oasis after the 13-hour car trip we had just endured. It was beautifully decorated and well-appointed. I expected nothing less, as my neighbor has exceedingly good taste. We were on the 8th floor of the building and the ocean stretched out for miles and miles. Dwayne opened up the doors to the balcony and I felt my stress melt away in the sea mist.
We spent six glorious days in Orange Beach, alternately playing in the white sand, swimming in the ocean, and swimming in the pools at the condo. We chased crabs at night, hunted sea shells, ate fresh seafood, and reconnected as a family. At night, Dwayne and I would sit on the balcony, enjoying adult beverages, uninterrupted conversation, and simple things like holding hands.
On the way out of town, Jared told Dwayne that he had gotten his first kiss in the swimming pool from a little girl who literally chased him all over the pool on Wednesday and Thursday. They had some uninterrupted "guy time" in the front seat to talk about the mysteries and intricacies of women, and I did my best to tune it out, because all I wanted to do was go back to Orange Beach and hunt down the little hussy!
We stopped briefly in Natchez, Mississippi to get a gander at the Antebellum homes. If you've never been there, you must go. The homes are gorgeous! They reek of southern charm and hospitality. I can just see southern belles sitting on wicker chairs in their frilly party dresses on the front porches sipping iced tea or mint juleps, back in the day when men were debonair and chivalrous and women were ladies in the true sense of the word.
After a brief overnight stay in Texas, we were home on Saturday, rejuvenated if not a little tired from the drive home.
If you'd like more information about the condo we stayed at, please email me. I'd be happy to share the details.
