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The Govener basically locked down the state which canceled our camping plans for this past weekend. Having already taken off work me and Mrs skreef wasn't going to let that ruin the fun. So we setup our own campsite. Sitting under the awning this is the view we get. Enjoyed the fire pit. Walked to a nearby private pond for a little fishing. And of course some camp cooking on the CampChef. A couple different breakfasts. Bacon and pancakes. Sausage and French toast made with homemade bread from Mrs skreef. Grilled cabbage marinated with a balsamic vinaigrette homemade from 18 year old balsamic vinegar. Corn risotto and chicken thigh parts. A beef stroganoff type dish along with a personal Pan cookie. And lastly a sweet Sunday breakfast. Peach Slump made from the last of my frozen peaches from last summer. Yup not a bad weekend for camping in the backyard.

It was sunny here too although it was windy. Decided to fire up the KK for a cook right after I put the snow blower into hibernation for the summer. Started this last evening, guess what it is for? and now there are two. Getting dressed. Ready for the KK. Baking. Baked. Since it appears that spring is here I've taken down one of the ODK screens and put it away. It's the start of good things. I let the KK cool down to 350F and baked some Molasses Cookie, aka to me as Ginger Snaps. Love these things.

I think the family that sold it to me did an intense inside cleaning. There were strands of industrial grade steel wool stuck in the grates, so I assume that was what got them so clean. After my one cook the grates have got a good patina. Also, the inside walls of the 23 darkened up considerably after my first cook. I would imagine the previous owner gave the inside a good scrubbing, too. I would not have thought that the inside walls would clean up. Below are start of the cook and after pics showing the change in color. Also, when I was done cooking the pork, I opened the vents and raised the temp to 500. Then I noticed two areas on the dome vent where steam was coming out of tiles. Afterwards I don’t see any problems with those tiles...

Boudreaux and Thibideaux were doing some salt water fishing when a boat pulled up nearby. A guy is decked out in nice scuba gear and sits on the edge of the boat. He then falls into the water backwards and continues his dive. Boudreaux says "Hey Thibideaux, why do those divers fall backwards into the water?" Thibideaux says "Boy, you sure are dumb. If they went forward, they'd still be in the boat." Howdy people! Long time no see.

Tonights dinner , twice smoked spiral ham with a pineapple bourbon glaze and baked potatoes .

That's one option, for sure, but involves spending $$. However, it sounds like your nestling the Dutch oven down in the charcoal basket, taking up precious real estate. You don't need to do that. Just set the cast iron pot on the top of your full charcoal basket. You should have enough clearance to be able to put your lower grate in to set up for an indirect cook. I use both of those charcoals and have no problem with a long (12+ hour) cook without having to reload. Once heat soaked, the KK is very efficient in maintaining temperatures without burning a lot of charcoal.

It amazes me how these gun-toting idiots can't identify their true enemies. As far as I can tell, they actually vote for their true enemies. If they ever figured that out, at least we'd come out of this crisis with better gun control.

@tekobo thank you. I’m currently trying to decide what to plant but I think I’ve landed on the following herbs - basil, rosemary, thyme vegetables - cucumber, zucchini, kale, red & yellow peppers strawberries our landscaping plan already calls for pineapple guava trees, passion fruit trees, lime, orange, lemon and kumquat trees @jonj thanks I definitely will if everyone is interested. It won’t be fully fine till all this corona virus stuff is done though. The hot tub is stuck on the loading dock at the factory and we special ordered these lime, orange and lemon trees that are called espaliered citrus which grows more like a vine in a wall those citrus trees are at a business that’s shut down so we won’t have that or the passion fruit tree till after this is over. But we’ll be 90% of the way there and we’ll be able to “shelter at home” on a side note the turf got done last Saturday and my 4 & 2 year old finally got to go outside and play and run around. It was a joyous occasion

I hope you give us the photographic tour of the space once you get everything in place. After the rain, of course... 😎

Loving your plants @Troble and your vegetable boxes are giving me ideas about what I can do in my home garden. Looks like you are going to have lots and lots of fun!

A nice sunny day here yesterday (unlike the cloudy day today), so back to the grill. Another one of those bigass country style pork ribs - Cuban mojo marinade this time, rubbed with Sucklebusters BAMM Indirect, 275F with hickory and cherry wood chunks (leftovers from the smoker pot that didn't burn up). Plated with drunken black bean (awesome!) and yellow rice. Not authentic, but a big dollop of guacamole on the side. While I was having my mojito on the deck during this cook, an owl began to hoot very loudly from my neighbor's evergreen in his backyard. I couldn't see it for the foliage. After a couple of choruses, it got a reply from another owl down at the bottom of the hill. Next thing I know, the owl from down below had flown up into a tree in my backyard and the ensuing conversation got a bit more intense. Territorial squabbling I suppose. I ran and grabbed my camera and managed to get a picture of the owl in my yard before the squabble ended and they flew off in there separate ways. Friends that I showed this picture to have said that it's a Barred Owl. I guess they are fairly common around here. I hear them a lot, but rarely get to actually see one.

Plant delivery today! Rain in forecast all week do not sure when they’ll get planted but for now my front yard looks like a forest

I have made these and like them a lot. Hamburger Buns https://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/beautiful-burger-buns-recipe#reviews 170 to 227g lukewarm water* (I used 180g.) 28g butter, at room temperature 1 large egg · 418g Unbleached All-Purpose Flour 50g sugar 1 1/4 teaspoons salt 1 tablespoon instant yeast *For best results (a smooth, slightly soft dough), use the smaller amount of water in summer (or in a humid environment), the greater amount in winter (or in a dry climate); and something in between the rest of the time. TOPPING 43g melted butter INSTRUCTIONS Mix and knead all the dough ingredients — by hand, mixer, or bread machine — to make a soft, smooth dough. Cover the dough, and let it rise for 1 to 2 hours, or until it's nearly doubled in bulk. Gently deflate the dough and divide it into 8 pieces. Shape each piece into a round ball; flatten to about 3" across. Place the buns on a lightly greased or parchment-lined baking sheet, cover, and let rise for about an hour, until noticeably puffy. Brush the buns with about half of the melted butter. Bake the buns in a preheated 375°F oven for 15 to 18 minutes, until golden. Remove them from the oven, and brush with the remaining melted butter. This will give the buns a satiny, buttery crust. Cool the buns on a rack. Yield: 8 large buns. (92g or 93g for 8 buns or 82g for 9 smaller buns.) · For slightly smaller buns, divide the dough into 12 pieces instead of 8. Bake the buns for 12 to 15 minutes, instead of 15 to 18 minutes. And how about "slider buns" — about 3" in diameter? Divide the dough into 24 pieces and bake for 12 to 15 minutes.

Planted that in the ground last spring. Didn't do anything to it this winter. By the middle of summer it should be about 4' tall x 4' wide and maybe 3' deep. Rosemary for life at this point. Now if it could only be eaten as a vaccine for the beer virus I'd be set.

Nice outing and camp cooking! You know you could have gone to the beach, as your Governor just ordered them re-opened.

That looks much better. One cautionary note about those steel wool scrubbers - as you noticed, they come apart and leave pieces stuck in the grates, which can find their way into your food if you're not diligent in wiping the grates down with a wet rag afterwards. Not fake news, folks have ended up in the ER after inadvertently ingesting pieces of metal into their gut.

If you haven't noticed lately, but guns & ammo sales have jumped up during the pandemic. That's all we need right now, is some gun-toting idiot to go crazy in the Walmart over a roll of TP! And, the NRA is filing suits in states that have forced closure of gun shops as "non-essential" businesses.

@tony b that’s why we did the remodel we have a lot of space but it wasn’t designed well or opened up ever. There a lot of space to cover

@Basher it’s called a Chinese orchid I took a picture of the plant list happy to send it to you

The KK cold smoker will take up no room in the charcoal basket and give you lots of smoke.

When I posted that I knew you were going to like it. When it was cooking I didn't think it was going to come out right. I was pleasantly surprised with the results. Definitely going to do that again.

Organic Durum Wheat! Let us know how that turns out, we weren't happy with our source. I had hoped to at least make it our primary wheat for pasta, but I was just name-matching. We like Hard Red best, mixed down with semolina flour. I ordered our Durum Wheat kernels in New York (my work apartment) and flew half of it to California (our home). At JFK security I was selected for testing, perhaps because this looked odd on the X-ray. As an aside, I used to fly a lot, and I'm no stranger to unusual experiences at airport security. After we moved my Mom from Maine to California, we were closing up her house to sell, and I took responsibility for transporting what we hadn't scattered of my Dad's ashes. Now, we're a bit of an odd family, and these ashes had a storied history. My wife and I were on the phone with my Mom when the box came by postal mail, and she brightly said "Oh, your Dad's home!" He had died from dementia, but the proximate cause was thirst once he couldn't swallow. When I next saw the ashes box, it was still unopened, but there was a bottle of spring water on top. I cautiously asked my Mom if there was any significance to this? No, it was an available horizontal surface. Finally, my family gathered to scatter his ashes from Peaks Island, and my Mom asked that we reserve some ashes for her to keep. We lined a ball jar with some red tissue, and I took the still-unopened box down to the cellar, to my Dad's old workbench. Irish Catholic Mom, woodworking hobbyist Dad. Alter, workbench. Made sense to me. My sister came down to see the proceedings, and exclaimed in shock that I was spilling ashes onto the workbench. "So?!" She then got it. My brother now has this workbench. To fly with the ball jar, I took absurd precautions, and it was wrapped in substantial foam. I was the first bag for a new shift at security, and this really looked funny on the X-ray. "What's in the jar?" the agent asked brightly. People in Portland, Maine are friendly. "My Dad." I'm a bit insulated from how people outside my family take this sort of thing. Normally after any concern at airport security, you're no longer allowed to touch the items of interest. Here, I basically had to spend the next ten minutes counseling the guy, and he stood as far back as possible while I moved the jar to its own bin to be X-rayed again. Ok, back to the Durum Wheat kernels. This experience could well have colored my relationship with that variety of wheat. The Durum Wheat kernels flunked the explosives test. If you've never had this happen to you at an airport before, let me tell you, it's a real mood changer. I was no longer allowed to touch my possessions. I was taken to a room, stripped to my skivvies for a body search while they went through my baggage very carefully. This was before I had learned (in fact, how I had learned) that only a complete frickin' moron doesn't have a dedicated pocket in their carryon for their pocket valuables. My wallet, keys, phone, money clip were loose in the gray bin, and they returned everything to me. Except my money clip. When I asked where it was, the lead security officer flat-out told me I was lying. She was pretty smart; I was struck earlier by her remark that organic grain shouldn't flunk a nitrogen test, was I sure this grain was really organic? But she reverted to form. (I want to say something obscene about Mitch McConnell here, as we're all pretty frustrated in the US right now, but I would be digressing.) I insisted on filing a police report. Then the money clip appeared without apology. It had stayed in its bin until the bin made its way through the rotation, and a passenger spotted it as they were about to use the bin. Honest person, they turned it in, I got it back. Then the TSA made me wait for the police agent to arrive; the fact that the report was no longer necessary didn't matter. Two can play power games. One doesn't want to ask me about emergency preparations, on board a dive ship. The computer programmer in me tends to anticipate everything. After a few minutes of my answer, no one would want to dive. So, yes, like my bread spreadsheets I have spreadsheets for my travel schedules, and I have a very active imagination for what could go wrong. Of course I made my flight.

Since running out of coco char, I have been using fogo or rockwood and have had to refill the basket 3/4 of the way through slow cooks. I use a cast iron with holes on the bottom in the basket for my smoke which obviously takes up room and decreased the amount of charcoal used. Any suggestions on either 1) how to get smoke without taking up this room or 2) any other brand of charcoal that will last longer until I can get more coco? Thanks! Eric

MacKenzie I’m on my way too. Save me a seat.

Mint is great but look out, it spreads like wildfire. You really have to actively contain it.

Post the plant list please Troble. I am interested. That citrus sounds very cool. BTW, Did you know you can do this with any tree? It’s training the tree to grow two dimensionally along a wall through clever pruning techniques. I’ve thought about taking some topiary/ espalier lessons to better understand these techniques. A suggestion for your fresh herb mix- fresh mint. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

If they weren't going to travel with a half barrel of rosemary, they wouldn't need the travel trailer...

Tony I think that was more from the bristles in stainless steel wire brushes. They don’t break down easily. The steel wool is mostly iron and corrodes pretty quickly. However, I do remember reading from Dennis that the steel wool can react to the stainless steel grates and cause pitting in the grate if the wool fibres are left in contact with them. Steel wool is not recommended. PBW is my new favourite. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

concur with tonyb i have also stacked my smoke wood on the lip of the fire ring in place of using a cast iron pot.

Really, I assume you have to stay the distance from everyone else?

While we are hitting the low 70s here today , it is unfortunately short lived. Cold returns on Thursday with a high of 45F and a possible hard freeze (28F) overnight. I'm worried about the blooms on my tulip tree and the flowers that have just sprung up in the yard. Long term forecast says we aren't warming up a lot anytime soon - lows in the upper 20s all next week. 😪

I really doubt that you have an air flow problem. Hopefully, ckreef or others with 19" grills will chime in. I've never tried to get my Guru up that high, as I only use it for low & slow cooks. According to their website, the max temp is only 475F.

The perfect plan and that peach slump is driving me crazy.

Very nice!

Tony, you had an eventful time, didn't you and good eats too.

That’s a funny story syzygies. Do you think the wheat packers could have been shooting rabbits? Or making their own ammo? One think that amazes me about the US is their gun culture and the ease of access to firearms. It can be intimidating for an outsider if you are not used to this. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Wow, it does look like a forest and that means beautiful.

WOW, that's a lot of plants. Your yard is going to be a veritable botanical garden when everything gets done!

Look what came in my mail today, actually it drop a run at the door step. I just ordered this to top up what I already have on hand.

Burgers last night on the 42. I wish I would have had some buns, but not worth going to town and dying over. Hope everyone is staying safe. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I feel like I'm hijacking this thread because still not sure what can I do with my basket splitter on the 21" KK, but below some pics of the bark and the final product.