Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Not so wordless...

50% said their Kitchen was cluttered.
25% said the "other room" was cluttered.
25% said the Garage was cluttered.

New survey is up.

I did some leg quarters & thighs on the grill, with fried yellow squash & green beans. Yummy...not bad for a white boy, as I have had plenty of practice fixing this grub.

This weekend will be all about barbecue.

Ribs & pulled pork.

Woo-Hoo!!!
B.D.

Tuesday, August 29, 2006

And the song goes...

In the words of the song from Hee Haw.

gloom..despair and agony on me...
deep dark depression and constant misery...
if it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all...
gloom.. despair and agony on me...

I sucked last night. No if ands or butts about it. That was the worst series I have ever bowled.

I couldn't find my butt with both hands last night.

It's a good thing I can cook better than I can bowl. We came in third out of 32 teams, but still I didn't show up at all. I got hammered by Julie's team.

Ok, so women rule.
I hope you're happy now...

What's for dinner tonight?
Cold Crow...

B.D.

Monday, August 28, 2006

Battle of the Sexes...

"It's show time..."

Tonight...my bowling team vs. Julie's bowling team.

Men against the women. It is only fitting that we battle it out the last night of this league, seeing that we met in this league the first night and she kicked my butt, now 6 yrs. later...

It's show time boys, we are in fourth place right now out of 32 teams and Julie's team is breathing down our necks.

It's pay back time...

(and if we...and I said "IF" we get hammered, then I will be brave enough to admit women are better then men...)

"NOT..."

Woo-Hoo!!!
B.D.

Saturday, August 26, 2006

Weekend Report

I cut the grass today, as the rain we got made it jump 10 times in height in about 2 days. I have never seen grass grow that quick, it was grass meets steroids. Anyway...it will be a low key weekend, just a few things to do around the house. I may do some ribs tomorrow, as I am starting to work on a different bbq sauce recipe.

Hopefully I will hit it in one or two tries...
You never know about these things.

Skill or luck...(or a little of both)

Enjoy your day!!!
B.D.

Thursday, August 24, 2006

Thursday 13...

1. I had to buy another patio table umbrella.
2. It got tore up from Saturdays storms.
3. Oh, I forgot to tell you we had a wicked storm come through Saturday.
4. The power went off 5 times.
5. I got plenty of practice at re-setting the VCR.
6. And the TV's.
7. And the clocks.
8. The grass has shot up 3 inches since the rain.
9. The Tomato plants are about done.
10. We had a great dinner last night.
11. Home grown fried yellow squash.
12. Home grown snap green beans.
13. Grilled chicken thighs.

And plenty of cold beer.
(Hey...beer and chicken go together...what can I say.)

(GGG)
B.D.

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Tuesday, August 22, 2006

And the woman said...

What is it with women and headaches ?
Julie came home and went straight to the Advil.

"What's wrong honey?" I ask, being in my ever dutiful husband mode.

"Headache..." Short and sweet,which means...back off babe.

OK then...

And how was your day?
"It sucked..." But at least I don't have a headache...yet.

B.D.

Saturday, August 19, 2006

Weekend Report

The new survey is up, sorry it took so long. There are a few of you with very talented tooters. That's all I'll say about that.

What's up today?
Some yard work, some chicken patrol... (???)

The chickens are starting to get brave again by coming back around and if they start digging in the mulch again...

Well let's just say... it won't be pretty.

Enjoy your day!!!
B.D.

Friday, August 18, 2006

A Sad day...

It is a sad day, I found out that our neighbor had to put their Golden Retriever to sleep today.

He was 14 years old and just like a kid to them. Our animals are like adopted children, we love them and feed them and take great joy at their undying love and affection for us.

Golden Retrievers are a special breed, very loving, very devoted, and eager to please their masters. Sweetie, our black lab, is the same way. She is one of our children.

Very loving, very gentle and she loves everybody, man, woman, child, she does not discriminate in showing her love. My heart feels bad for our neighbor, it is a sad time for them. I have had many dogs in my lifetime and a lot of them have grown old with me. It is never easy to have to put a dog to sleep. Your heart breaks for having to make that decision.

Although a dog is not of your flesh and blood, they become a family member and spending that many years with a cold nose and a wagging tail, when you have to put one down...

Only tears will remain for that which is lost...

B.D.

Thursday, August 17, 2006

And the man said...

If you will notice, some blogs are doing wordless Wednesday and 13 Thursday. I can do this too.

Well maybe not the Wordless Wednesday...but I can do the 13 Thursday.

1. I love my wife.
2. I love my kids.
3. I love my black bear.
4. I love cooking on the grill.
5. I love to read.
6. I love BD's girls.
7. I love to cook barbecue.
8. I love bowling with my wife.
9. I love the outdoors.
10. I love peace & quiet.
11. I love God.
12. I know God loves me.
13. I love my readers.

That's my 13 Thursday...
B.D.

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

What was on the grill...

Now as most of you know, I can only experiment with things every so often. Julie will express her opinion when I try something different. Sometimes it works...sometimes it don't.

Case in point...

I did some boneless-skinless chicken thighs tonight on the grill...I hit the mother load with this experiment. I marinated the thighs in the Newman's Olive Oil & Vinegar mix that I have used for other things ( beer butt chicken, hot wings, pulled pork) and it was a hit. I let them marinade for 2 hours and then grilled for 40 minutes. This was requested to be put on the keep list and I got smacked...

Score one for me.
Woo-Hoo!!!

B.D.

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

A recipe is a recipe...

A lot of people ask me things about cooking...why you ask?
Because people respect my opinion and my view on cooking.

Some try to add too many ingredients to add flavor, which in turn takes away from the meat or the dish being prepared. You should never try to cover up the original flavor of the meat or dish. What you add should only enhance the dish and not take away or cover up the meal.

Say what?

Simply...don't over spice to reach the level of flavor you want. All meats have their distinct flavor and texture and you should never try to cover up that flavor. You want to enhance that flavor, not mask it. When grilling or frying or baking or roasting or whatever is being done, just keep it simple. Use the KISS method..."keep it simple stupid."

Now if you royally screw up, than yes, cover up, and be prepared to have Pizza Hut on speed dial. If you look at some recipes, they have everything but the kitchen sink in them. This is a mask within a mask that will cover up any screw ups that are made... my saying goes...

Simple math...
Simple technique...
Simple rules...

Simply...Delicious.
B.D.

Sunday, August 13, 2006

Weekend Report

As I said below, we are going to revisit some recipes posted years ago. This was the very first recipe posted at the "Grill." It still stands up well to this day and is fairly simple. Now time does vary from grill to grill, so the time below is not written in stone. Just keep an eye on it, this will burn some because of the honey, just don't char it too much. Chicken breast tends to cook quickly, so you should do fine.

Here is the original recipe.

Honey-Dijon Chicken

8 skinless-boneless chicken breast halves (see note below)
1/2 cup white Zinfandel wine, apple juice, or apple cider
1/4 cup olive oil or cooking oil
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup Dijon-style mustard
4 cloves garlic, minced
Ground black pepper & Salt to taste

1. After washing, place chicken breast in a resealable plastic zip lock bag. For the marinade, in a small bowl combine wine or apple juice, oil, honey, mustard, garlic, pepper and salt. Mix well. Pour marinade over chicken and seal bag (removing as much air as possible) Marinate in the refrigerator for 8 to 12 hours, turning bag occasionally.

2. Drain chicken, discarding marinade. Place chicken on pre heated grill on medium heat. Grill for 12 to 15 minutes turning once, or till no longer pink. (170*F) Makes 8 servings.

Note: A friend asked me if you could use bone in chicken breast. Yes, you can use bone in chicken breast with skin or thighs or Leg quarters. Just up the cooking time a bit. You could also use this on whole chicken if you want to do a rotisserie style bird.

My updated note: I do not marinade breast over 3 hours. I think 8 to 12 hours is way too long and they will be mush by the time they hit the grill.


Enjoy your day!!!
B.D.

Friday, August 11, 2006

It went that-a-way...

Dude...where have you been?

Our computer did a crash & burn.

It went belly up...
It went ka-boom...
It went "see ya..."
It went "sorry about your luck..."
It went ker-splat...
It went "screw this..."

It died...

We had to buy another processor.

It has taken over two weeks to recover some of our saved data off the hard drive from our old computer.

Where have I been?

In computer limbo my friend...

B.D.