Moving right along to the middle of our great country…this week we dined on Kansas cuisine. What’s in Kansas, you ask? Good question. Not much.

Little known fact—the hubs and I traveled cross country almost twenty years ago from Jersey to Arizona so I could work as a travel nurse. One of our stops was in Colby, Kansas. In Colby, there was nothing but wheat fields and a Pizza Hut. Big city folk that we are, we were bored for the 12 hours we were there.

We also lost our cat for a few hours, causing us to panic, cry, put the other cat on a leash to try to find her, and other rational pet owner behavior. I didn’t want to leave her behind and hubby didn’t want to halt our trip to look for her any longer. I

cried about him being a monster and leaving our baby to certain death (we were childless at the time…obviously…people with kids rarely even notice they HAVE pets). Turns out, she had wedged herself into the reclining chair in our hotel room and reemerged right before we were completely ready to give up.

Anyway, that had nothing to do with Kansas cuisine, but a long winded confirmation that we have BEEN to Kansas and did not actually sample any food that we couldn’t have gotten in Jersey.

So, we Googled away to come up with a perfect feast for the state with nothing but wheat fields and arm chairs for naughty kitties to hide in. No, we did not have Pizza Hut. I give you, Kansas City brisket, baked beans, coleslaw, potato salad, macaroni salad and corn.

Yes, I realized afterward that the “Kansas City Brisket” was probably from the better known Kansas City, Missouri, but heck, they’re close enough, right?

Hubby made this meal and I have to say (and not just because I’m behind in the scoring), it wasn’t my favorite. The kids were meh about it as well. Hubs loved it of course because he loves brisket—the sauce was good, but the meat could have been crispier.

But for making brisket for the first time, he did okay. I’m certain he’ll be trying again soon. Here’s a picture of our almost Kansas kitty who lived another 17 years after her brush with death in a recliner: