By Mid-February, and I received my vaccine — both doses now complete, the household fully vaccinated, the bridge built between the pandemic and whatever comes after. The bridge is not a return to normal. It is a return to something — something that includes hugging Joy without a mask, something that includes having more than three people at a table, something that includes the library at full capacity, which is not full capacity but full possibility.
Joy. I visited Joy on Saturday without a mask for the first time in a year. I walked into Magnolia House and Joy saw me and she ran — not walked, ran — and she hugged me, and I hugged her back, and the hug lasted a full minute, and the minute was the longest and the shortest minute of the year, because the hug was a year's worth of hugs compressed into one, and the compression was both abundant and insufficient, and both were true.
Mrs. Patterson stood in the doorway and cried. Ruth, who had driven me, stood in the hallway and cried. I cried. Joy did not cry. Joy laughed. Joy's response to reunion is not tears but laughter, because tears are the language of the complicated heart and laughter is the language of the simple one, and the simple heart is fuller, and the fuller heart laughs.
I brought peach cobbler. Joy ate three servings. She said, "More," and I gave her a fourth. The "more" was not about the cobbler. The "more" was about the being-here, the being-close, the being-without-glass-and-mask-and-distance. The "more" was the year's verdict: we survived, and the surviving entitles us to more, and the more is the cobbler and the hug and the laughter and the sister who runs to you when the door opens.
I made Lowcountry boil for dinner — the celebration feast, the communal meal, the meal of a woman who has just hugged her sister for the first time in a year and who needs the food to be as big as the feeling. The boil was shrimp and sausage and corn and potatoes, dumped on newspaper, eaten with hands, and the eating was the celebration, and the celebration was the first unmasked Saturday in a year.
The Lowcountry boil was the main event that night, but no Southern celebration spread in our family ever lands on the table without something sharp and bright to cut through the richness — and East Carolina BBQ sauce is exactly that something. I keep a jar in the fridge for moments like this one, because the thin, vinegar-forward heat of it is less a condiment than a punctuation mark, the exclamation point at the end of a sentence that took a year to finish writing. If you’re feeding a table full of people who have earned the right to eat with their hands and laugh too loud, this is the sauce that belongs beside the newspaper and the shrimp and the corn and the feeling that “more” is not just allowed but required.
East Carolina BBQ Sauce
Prep Time: 5 minutes | Cook Time: 10 minutes | Total Time: 15 minutes | Servings: 16 (about 2 cups)
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon hot sauce (such as Texas Pete or Crystal)
Instructions
- Combine. Add the apple cider vinegar, water, brown sugar, red pepper flakes, black pepper, salt, cayenne, and smoked paprika to a small saucepan over medium heat.
- Simmer. Stir to dissolve the sugar and salt. Bring the mixture just to a gentle simmer, stirring occasionally, about 8–10 minutes. Do not boil hard or the vinegar will turn harsh.
- Finish. Remove from heat and stir in the hot sauce. Taste and adjust heat or salt as needed.
- Cool and store. Let the sauce cool to room temperature. Pour into a jar or bottle with a tight-fitting lid. Refrigerate for up to 3 weeks. The flavor deepens and improves after 24 hours.
- Serve. Use as a dipping sauce, a drizzle over pulled pork or smoked chicken, or alongside a Lowcountry boil spread. Shake or stir before each use.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 8 | Protein: 0g | Fat: 0g | Carbs: 1g | Fiber: 0g | Sodium: 75mg