Ribs and potato salad: favorite recipes from Grandpa Russ

Though I was born in fitness-obsessed California, land of kale salads and year-round swimsuit season, there's nothing I love more than a great big plate of ribs.  While I enjoy a fresh quinoa avocado salad like any Californian living in the age of Whole Foods, sometimes I need something a bit more red meat-oriented to satisfy me.  From a young age, I developed an appreciation for a good plate of barbecue, aided by my grandfather Russ who is famous for his ribs recipe.  

The chef himself!  Pictured above with my cousin Celia

He was nice enough to make his famous ribs for me as a farewell before I left California to do some traveling.  Any quick visit home can become overwhelming as you try to consider everything you should do, not to mention your favorite home cooking to eat while you're in the area.  But without me even asking him, my grandpa knew exactly what I needed at the dinner table!  Before leaving the country, what I needed was a big old American plate of ribs.  

And he didn't stop at the ribs!  Rib dinners always include the famous family potato salad as accompaniment, a salad that has been around for so long that at this point, it tastes definitively  like my childhood.  

The potato salad process follows a similar routine each time.  Russ always makes two potato salad bowls: one with green onions, for the whole family, and a smaller one for himself without the garnish.  And we do the same for him!  (He'll only eat onions if they're cooked into a dish, but never on top!)  There's always enough potato salad for everyone to have a generous scoop, and then some.  Baked beans, coleslaw, and watermelon are the usual suspects when it comes to sides.  

For this particular meal, we also ate plentiful amounts of guacamole as an appetizer, as this is a requirement before any transatlantic journey away from the state.  The guacamole is my mom's famous recipe, and it is the stuff of legends.

Mom's famous guacamole

As if it couldn't get any better, we enjoyed the leftover beer kegs from my brother's recent wedding.  It was the perfect culinary sendoff!  Thanks to my family for gathering around to enjoy some ribs.  You are the best!