Friday pork chops and shrimp

[Lightning]

Thanks to a points offer on pork at one of the local stores, I got a package of chops plus a boneless pork shoulder.  I also had a package of frozen shrimp that had thawed so last night, I decided to make a bit of a mixed grill.

Two of the chops, the lighter coloured ones, actually got a beef rub that also works really, really well on pork and the other two dark red ones got a barbecue rub that also goes very well with pork.  I made up the shrimp skewers after tossing the shrimp in some olive oil and garlic seasoning.

I cooked the pork chops first, then the shrimp while the chops were resting, then after moving the shrimp over to the cool side so they'd stay warm, I finished off a loaf of bread toasting up some garlic bread.  By the time all that was done, the chimney of Royal Oak briquettes that I started out with was pretty much fully exhausted so I think that was good use of a load of charcoal.  I swept out an impressive amount of ash into the ash bucket this morning when I got the barbecue ready to go again for the boneless pork shoulder which I'll do a separate post for.

The other sides were another round of roasted sweet potatoes which everyone has been enjoying and some steamed broccoli.


And the best part was it stayed mild out well, well into the evening.  Last night was the first night that I was able to eat outside.  I think there have been a couple of other evenings that would've been good for that this season except my work schedule got in the way so yesterday was the first one I've been able to enjoy this year.


Sent from my iPhone using Weber Kettle Club mobile app

[ASpitzer]

That's some good looking food. Well done!

[bamakettles]

Looks so good..... man, that's a big plate of food!  Awesome cook, thanks for sharing.

[Big Dawg]

Super looking plate of food ! !





BD

[HoosierKettle]

Awesome cook!  Ive seen videos of people shopping in Canada and the food prices were crazy high compared to here.  Is that true or is that just certain areas?

[Lightning]

Awesome cook!  Ive seen videos of people shopping in Canada and the food prices were crazy high compared to here.  Is that true or is that just certain areas?

It's insane.  And it's everywhere here.

It would be a serious understatement to say that food prices in Canada have been controversial.

Right now, one of the major grocery chains is being boycotted.  It's being debated in the media how widespread the actual boycott is and whether or not it'll be effective.  Every day in the media there are stories about shrinkflation or bad products at high prices, you name it.  The federal government's competition bureau is investigating the big grocery chains again but everyone is skeptical about whether or not there will be any findings of wrongdoing or any meaningful consequences if there are.  Everyone remembers the bread price fixing scandal from a few years ago and how nobody got into real trouble over that.

Food isn't the only inflation problem.  Housing inflation has been astronomical whether you're looking at trying to buy a house or a condo or find an affordable rental.  If you haven't already bought something and established your initial purchase price, you're pretty much screwed.  Between housing and food inflation here, people's paycheques have been decimated since the rate of pay increases has been far less than the rate of inflation and the standard of living has nosedived.  For many people, it isn't really living, it's existing and more and more people here are barely making it from one pay to the next.  Homeless tent encampments are everywhere.  I mean everywhere.  I've never seen anything like it before, not during the early 1990s recession or the 2008 world financial crisis.

For me, personally, I got into barbecue about 11 years ago after I bought my house and moved out of my apartment where it wasn't possible to have a barbecue at all, and had a yard to do it in.  The upshot is I purchased while houses were still affordable in a few places that were commutable to work so I've set my housing costs, thankfully.

As far as food goes, wow.  I used to shop at the local independent places buy whatever was on sale more often than not because I hate paying full retail for anything if I can avoid it, but now it's all on sale or short dated "enjoy tonight" or to at the independent shops or to strategically collect and redeem points at the grocery chain that's the subject of that boycott I mentioned.  Pork and shrimp show up frequently in my cooking now based on specials.  Beef?  That's an incredibly rare treat now.  I never ever thought buying ground beef to make homemade hamburgers would be something I'd classify as a rare treat but there it is.