Are you sick and tired of reading 8 straight posts from my recent San Diego Anniversary vacation?  If so… sorry I’m not sorry!  There is just so much good stuff to share and I’d like to tell you this will be my last San Diego post, but it won’t.  I already have a post scheduled for next Wednesday to wrap up Itz WIAW San Diego Style!

Ever since I can remember, our family nickname for Justin was “Boy.”  I’m not sure where it came from or how it began.  It could have something to do with the fact that he is the youngest of the four of us, or that my parents occasionally had trouble spitting out our correct name.  Stephanie!  I mean Lindsay!  Jason.  Justin.  Samson.  Wait, who are you?  [Samson was our family dog growing up.]  Regardless, it stuck throughout Justin’s college years and now he insists we lose it.  At least in public.  I’m not allowed to address him on Facebook as “Boy.”  He never said anything about the blog though…!

Boy is the type of boy (ha) that is a hit with everyone.  Especially my mom, my sister, and me.  When he comes in town, he brings an entire laundry basket and you better believe my momma has those clothes washed, folded, and ironed within 24 hours!  Also, whenever he would come home from college the house was fully stocked with his favorite food.  The rest of us never got that treatment.  (We were so deprived, I tell ya!)  It must be that he is the baby of the family because this is how it has been forever.  My curfew was midnight; Justin’s was…. whenever he felt like it.  I got in trouble for cursing; …it was funny when Justin did it.  My room was a disaster and I got yelled at for it; Justin’s room miraculously got cleaned when he wasn’t even there.  Exaggeration?  Nah.  Just my momma’s favorite.  And I’m only ok with it because I’m my dad’s. True story.

Anyway, now that Boy is all grown up (and a mere 18 months younger than me), my sister and I still oooh and aaah over everything he does.  That picture above is of Justin and his girlfriend, Dana.  Is that not seriously the best picture ever?  Our last night in San Diego, he invited us over for dinner when he was cooking ribs.  We were in for a treat!  I had no idea he could cook like that!  I was very impressed.

When we went over to Justin and Dana’s condo, Justin had already begun the process.  He had his hand-mixer going to prepare his twice baked potatoes.  And somehow I think that is so cute of him… his little hand-mixer and his little green bowl!  Haha.  Check out the feast:

And now the masterpiece:

I’m easy to please, but even Jonny was impressed with the ribs!  Boy’s secret?  He boils the ribs first, then puts them on the grill!  The meat literally fell off the bone and left us all licking our fingers!  Also [not pictured] was roasted vegetables and a salad.

We got to meet and dine with Dana’s older brother and sister-in-law, Julian and Astrid.  Astrid has the cutest blog ever, My Daily Doodle.  She is incredibly talented and I think one of her “doodles” would make an awesome gift.  You can customize and order the individual doodles, so it’s a very fun and different idea to give as a personalized present!

All in all, Chef Boy [not Boyardee!] impressed me once again with just another one of his bazillion talents!  I know I’ve said it before, but Jonny and I had the best time with Justin and Dana in San Diego and we are anxiously awaiting their next trip to St. Louis or ours back to Cali… whichever comes first!  That pretty much wraps up our San Diego trip.  For now anyway…

What is your specialty item in the kitchen?  Boy’s is ribs, but he is pretty much a grill master!