Internet Magic Friday

Jane Booras is the Editor of numerous newsletters including our Campus Times. She will be sharing how you can find whatever you need - photos, clipart, information, maps, phone numbers - on the Internet.



The thick, lean, boneless pork ribs are in the oven. I’m using my sister’s recipe for ribs, and my mouth is literally watering! She says to start with the ribs in a hot oven (400 degrees) for about 45 minutes. Then turn the oven down to 250 to 300 degrees, pour off the grease (I don’t think there will be much), and bake another hour at the lower temperature. Finally, cover the ribs with barbeque (BBQ) sauce and cook (covered) for the last half hour. Yum. Yum. Oops!

BBQ sauce?

Run to the fridge, then to the pantry. Just as I suspected. No BBQ sauce. OK. Remain calm. There must be an answer. First thing that comes to mind is, go to the store and buy some. First excuse is it’s raining outside. Second, I don’t have any makeup on. Third excuse: I really don’t like bottled BBQ sauce anyway. So what to do?

The answer must lie on the Internet. Surely I can find a recipe for BBQ sauce that can be made with the ingredients we have on hand. Google “BBQ sauce recipes” and a whole new world opens, of course. But I really get lucky, because one of the first ones I find intrigues me with an unexpected ingredient: maple syrup! Click below for the recipe:

http://bbq.about.com/od/barbecuesaucerecipes/r/ble40603g.htm

Don’t really know why I don’t like bottled BBQ sauce. Sometimes it is too sweet, sometimes too smoky. But this recipe looks good. It caught my eye because of the maple syrup. My sister and her husband live on a 50-acre farm in Wisconsin. They call it a “hobby” farm, but it looks like a real farm to me. They have a barn, anyway. This is it!

In the spring, my brother-in-law taps maple trees in his woods. He has the whole sugar shack setup and makes gallons and gallons of delicious maple syrup. Of course we become beneficiaries of this unique delicacy each year and for city folks, that’s a real treat. So I will make BBQ sauce with Gary’s homemade maple syrup!

We whip up the recipe.

OMG, it is delicious! Not too sweet, not smoky, not too thick, not too thin – it’s great. I invite you to try it too. Of course you’ll probably have to buy your maple syrup. Too bad. I sent the recipe to Mary and Gary in Wisconsin. Perhaps they should start a maple syrup recipe cook book to go along with all the many wonderful gifts of homemade maple syrup they so lovingly bottle and give away each year.

See? A few maple trees, a trip to the Internet and a major kitchen disaster is averted. Life is good.

Jane Booras is Editor of the Campus Times Newsletter for Computer School for Seniors (www.cs4seniors.com)