A BBQ truck review, little chef makes cupcakes and Smash.

This weekend the hubs and I decided to check out the local BBQ truck.  It's been around for a couple of years, oddly parked on the side of the road just down the road from the locally famous F-Mart on Hwy 276 in Marietta, South Carolina.  Friday through Sunday the smell from the smoker signals passing traffic that it's time to get their grub on. It took us a while, but we caved and decided to give it a try.

Where we live, there is no pizza delivery.  You don't "run" out for quick bite.  If you forget something at the store and they don't have it at the F-Mart, you are out of luck unless you want to spend 40 minutes in the car... at least.

So we were stoked to find a good weekend food option so close to home. For $6.00 you walk away with a take-out full of moist, lean BBQ pork, a selection of two sides, a bun and your choice of four bbq sauces.  For sides we tried the mac-n-cheese, beans, potato salad and vinegary bbq slaw. The mac-n-cheese and potato slaw were just like mom's - as homemade as can be.  The beans were just your basic beans, but the slaw was bold and vinegary and different... more like a NC bbq slaw than anything you'll find south of the border.  The sauces: a sweet, a spicy, a mustard and a vinegar based sauce.  I wasn't a fan of the vinegar... too much vinegar and not enough spice.  I actually grabbed two little bowls from the kitchen and mixed a few of the others together. I'm a fan of doctoring sauce. Dan mocked me, and as he shoved a fork in his mouth he declared we would be regulars of the BBQ Hut. It's worth a trip up the mountain for those of you in the city... if nothing else, than for the experience and the view.

My daughter is making her own Valentines (aka cupcakes) this year.  I pulled out the go-to Birthday Cupcake recipe and she measured and poured and mixed and proudly produced 27 cupcakes to take to school on Tuesday.  We tasted one to make sure they were as tasty as they looked.

I have a new obsession that might bump New Girl from top slot on my Tivo: Smash.  The show is about the making of a Broadway musical.  Debra Messing stars and had me at hello. Aside from an awkward scene where she tells her husband why she simply must write a musical about Marilyn Monroe, she is spot on and may have found herself a show post Will and Grace that won't get canceled!  I heard the show called an adult Glee... and sort of have to agree.  Teen angst is pushed aside for adult angst: adoption, divorce, career choices and post college rise to fame with a few dance numbers thrown in.  Love it. And even those with an aversion to spontaneous singing can get into the strong characters and story lines.  Monday nights.  Don't miss it.

And Happy Valentine's Day.  Listen, if you don't have a Valentine, don't sit around moaning and posting sad messages to the masses on Facebook.  Go out, grab yourself some flowers and candy, a good steak, some candles and bubble bath, download some Adele... make yourself a valentine and post it on the mirror.  Who says you can't be your own Valentine?