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We're having a 2 day "heat wave" here - low 50s, before the rain and snow come starting tomorrow. So to celebrate, last night was pork cutlets (Sweet Heat & Garlic 101), with a grilled pear (Pineapple Head). Direct, main grate, 325F, peach wood chunks. The grilled pear went into a warm salad of wilted spinach, toasted pecans, shallot/bacon grease/grainy mustard viniagrette. Side of wild rice done in the InstaPot.

The moral of that story is: It is so much easier to get a KK than a sofa.

That's observant @tony b If Only !!! The deal is I was allowed a KK provided Mrs RD gets her sofas.(3). So, after multiple visits to various showrooms-, it was settled that we were gong to get the "Duresta Coco" sofas - as in my avatar. I would have liked leather but was quickly put in my place. Loads of fabric samples were ordered. That seemed quite easy. After a while Mrs RD thought the arms were a bit big, and so then the decision was made to get the " Duresta Waldorf " models instead. Cue more fabric samples coming through the post. Then we went to visit Mrs RD's delightful 94 yr old mother, - and realised that her mum had the same model sofa (this one = 35 yrs old flock & tassels etc) I thought it looked familiar. Mrs RD was suddenly not too keen on the "Waldorf", as it looked a little dated, so she changed her mind back to the Coco. On Friday we had a 430 mile round trip to the Duresta factory and showroom. This was simply to finalise the fabric choice. Being a longish journey, made longer by the British love affair with traffic cones and the blocking off of multiple lanes of long stretches of motorway for no apparent reason, this journey was going to take eight or nine hours or so and therefore Mrs RD kindly offered to share the driving. Sanitized and face masked we had a vast showroom to ourselves. Mrs RD decided she didn't like the Coco after all. I didn't catch the reason - as I'd suddenly become light-headed, felt slightly sick and my ears were ringing. Fortunately there was no shortage of places to sit and rest. So, we are now apparently going to get the " Greenwich" model. And we are going to a local showroom tomorrow to see more fabrics - there's a choice of 600. I think we've got most of those as samples already and I'm seriously thinking it would be much better just to stitch the damn things together and throw them over our existing sofas. The offer to share the driving consisted of Mrs RD moving her car out of the way so I could get the bigger car out, and ten hours later moving it back again.

Doesn't everyone?? 🤣 Actually, I have 2 different brands of it in my cupboard. Plus, 3 different ones of actual Worcestershire sauce, one is bourbon barrel aged and only gets used for Bloody Marys!

As a wife, this made me laugh. The Husband and I have long wanted a sofa from the Roche Bobois Mah Jong range. The key feature of this range is that you mix and match different patterns. It is the definition of the absence of decision making. We got their app, picked out a load of fabrics and made up a sofa. When we looked at it in the cold light of day we realised how awful it would look and toned it all down to a range of finishes that we thought we could live with long term. So we made a decision. Sort of. We like the result.

Resurrecting this thread for chili-heads since it is starting to be that time of season (in DFW at least). Your last 15 minutes or so toss in 4 or 5 peppers from a can of peppers in adobo sauce. Stir around a bit, then fish them out before serving. Adds a fantastic smokey undertone and pending the the size of your batch of chili some heat as well! Skipped all the BS and went straight to my secret ingredient

What I love about this is not just the helpful tip, but the presumption that KK'ers who run out of Worcestershire are likely to have an ample supply of Chinese Black Vinegar.

Ahaaa We have a cunning plan !!! Yes Tony - I think you're right but when Dennis let us know that the bronze wasn't available we went for the Henry Ford option.

All ya'll crazy! Good thing that Dennis doesn't offer 600 tile choices - some of you would still be trying to make up your minds!

So. This might be a lousy idea but I am putting it out there for your thoughts. My KKs may be "devanned" on Tuesday next week and may be delivered to me on Thursday. I have a camera on a tripod and I could rig it up to share the unboxing with you, my KK friends. Time zones could be a problem as could getting the internet connection to work reliably outdoors but I thought maybe a zoom meeting that you could dial in to to see the new arrivals could be nice for those of you waiting for a KK and others who just want to be nosy. I don't want to post a public link on the forum but do direct message me if you are interested and I will update you when I know more about timing and feasibility.

Made a care package of pulled pork sandwiches for the 11 teachers at my kids preschool. Each bag had a bottle of BBQ sauce, bag of cole slaw, bag of pulled pork and bag of Hawaiian rolls. cooked 3 bone in pork butts on my 32 KK. Took a lot longer than normal and had double drip pan on lower grate. Started at 215 for 6 hours, then took it up to 245 for 7 hours, then wrapped and finished at 275 for two hours. Finished in broiler for extra crispyness

Well it finally arrived cheers mate. I will definitely make sure the tag continues on .give me a few days .love the rubs remember the the last time I was in the states my sister took me and the crew to famous daves Sent from my SM-T835 using Tapatalk

Delicious dinner today. I used one of the rubs that @tony b sent to me: Sure Shot Sid's Gunpowder Seasoning. A winner for me. Tender rump steak, cooked on the Argentinian grill.

That happened to me a while ago nuts is the new normal. Thanks for the Lonely Planet link- they are great guides- we still have the first one we ever had - " South East Asia on a Shoestring" we used it have ing worked in Australia for a year and came up through Malaysia and Thailand. I would have bought that one too , but that would kind have cornered Mrs RD. Just getting the one guide gives her the opportunity to tell me off for not getting the right one. The cat's out of the bag I'm afraid Paul. Mrs RD knows that there are 600 different fabrics - at least the choice has been narrowed down to 580 - she's ruled out the leather ones that I like. @tekobo, now I like that idea : I've shown Mrs RD and I think we could be onto a winner here.

Bloody oath you nailed it with that Sent from my SM-T835 using Tapatalk

Need to pass on the dry ice for the smoke machine - it's too valuable now keeping the vaccine cold!!

Super cool!

I need a job at the school.

This is a great recipe, actually it's the best grilled chicken recipe I've ever tasted. Be careful, this stuff is very addicting. It's from a good Q friend of mine, Brian S., on another board we're on, it's overwhelmingly the most talked about recipe on there. It's based on the chicken you get at the roadside chicken stands (if you have any in your area). I hope you enjoy it. ROADSIDE CHICKEN 1 cup white vinegar 1/2 cup veg oil 1/4 cup worcestershire sauce 1 TBS Sea or Kosher salt 1 TBS white sugar 1 tsp garlic powder 1 tsp onion powder 1 tsp white pepper 1/2 tsp celery salt Mix/shake till well dissolved. I put mine in a old worcestershire bottle with the shaker top. You can marinade the chicken in the sauce for up to 2-8 hrs before cooking. If so discard marinade and make fresh for the cooking sauce. I apply the sauce every 5 min to both sides and turn every 5-10 min. Apply one final coating 5 min before removing from the grill. You can't put too much sauce on while grilling. It will build up a nice layer of flavors. I usually add one small piece of apple wood while grilling also. Note: If you are going to marinate the chicken first, then leave the oil out for the marinade process. Make up a fresh batch for basting the chicken with the oil in the sauce. I highly recommend marinading for the max. time.

Carne Asada applied to a Sirloin flap or known otherwise as the Bavette steak. A piece maybe unfamiliar to some but similar to flank when cut against the grain. Anyhow, this marinated for 2.5 hours but, time was short..I do believe a longer rest for 6-8 hours would have been better. No complaints. 3 little piggies as an accent cooked over oak. Asparagus and pasta with green onion.

Errr, and your point is? Worcestershire sauce is essential for devilled lambs kidneys (only Fergus Henderson's recipe will do) and Chinese black vinegar is essential for dumplings.

So after the longest, hottest, driest Summer and Fall I've experienced here in the Atlanta area it has finally rained and turned cold. So it's time to cook up a pot of chili! The recipe is nothing fancy, just Carroll Shelby's mix and his basic recipe with a couple of additions. Ingredients: 2 lb. ground beef 1 4 oz. can of tomato sauce(I use unsalted) 1 packet of Carroll Shelby's chili seasoning salt and cayenne pepper(included in the mix box) to taste. I add a jar of Neumann's Medium Salsa, pureed a few seconds in the blender to eliminate the chunks. YMMV on the puree but I think the salsa throws in an extra twist to the basic recipe. I also add in a can of Bush's low-sodium Red Kidney beans, rinsed well. These are optional, I know chili purists don't put beans in their chili but I like them. Whatever floats your boat. I usually use a mix of 1-1/2 lb ground beef and a half-pound of country sausage or ground pork but I didn't have either so I went with the recommended 2 lb of ground beef(85/15) for this cook. Methodology: Brown the ground beef in a large skillet(I only do 1 lb. at a time) and place the cooked beef on several layers of paper towels to drain. I don't like big chunks of ground beef in my chile so I pay attention during this phase and break up the chunks with a spatula. But that's just me, if you like chunks go for it. While the beef is browning, puree the salsa(if you wish) and put it in a large pot to start heating over medium-low heat. Then add the tomato sauce, chili seasoning, salt, pepper, and 1 salsa jar of water. Let this come up to a slow boil while you're browning the beef, as soon as the first pound of beef has browned and drained, throw it in. Follow with the second pound of beef when it's cooked and drained. At this point your chili will be pretty thick, you'll want to simmer it for a couple hours to integrate the flavors so you'll need to add another jar or so of water. Now's the time to add the beans after rinsing them well in a colander or strainer. Once the chili has come back up to a slow boil drop the heat to a simmer, cover with the lid open just a bit and stir every 10-15 minutes for at least an hour or until you reach desired consistency. The longer you simmer the more the flavors develop so I usually go for 2 hours. All's well as ends well, first pot of the season came out great! Now I just have to put the leftovers away and clean the pot. Best, Bill

I used to buy different guides unitl I worked out which I most liked the recommendations from. Pre-tripadvisor I used to rely on the Time Out guides. I don't know if they still produce paper copies but my Time Out Sydney guide from 1997 remains one of my prize possessions. It guided me for food, shops and a place to live when I spent a year working in Sydney. We mostly rely on local knowledge and tripadvisor now. The latter is good because you can also get a sense of the reviewer as well as the review. We have gone to some places on the basis that a reviewer we didn't like picked out a feature that they hated and we knew we would love. As for sofas, be careful @RokDok. All the second hand Mah Jong sofas we have seen on eBay look awful. Someone was left unsupervised to pick what they wanted at will and their lack of taste shines through. The set you picked out above looks like fun. We went for the kenzo takada range to tone things down for our setting.

What a nice Christmas present for the teachers! That’s a great looking cook, thanks for posting it.

@RokDokalways been a fan of Lonely Planet country guides https://www.lonelyplanet.com/mexico they do a good job of providing historical info as well as budget, moderate abs high Eve accommodations and dining for all places. I used this extensively on my RTW trip and I still purchase an updated Lonely Planet book to this day if I’m going on a big international trip. It’s a excellent starting point and resource i don’t know how you survive that couch fabric experience that would drive me nuts

Let's not forget Purple Crack!

A good substitute is Chinese Black Vinegar.

Love that license plate.

I'm looking forward to the pictures of this assembly of KKs being shepherded in via a man on crutches. I feel the scene only wants for some dry ice and exultant music.

'Fraid so Basher - it'll be travelling light and cheap most of the time interspersed with the occasional bit of luxury - somehow it's always not me that organises that bit.

Stage One : An extra Xmas present for Mrs RD.

Rib fillet Steaks tonight that my son wanted to buy and cook. Here’s how they turned out. Pretty good. This with a truffle butter. With the left over heat we wanted some school holiday snacks. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Wow! That's a large batch of beer (20 gallons!) I'm actually going in the opposite direction and brewing smaller batches (1-3 gallons), as without beer club meeting and other festivals, I don't have an outlet for full 5 gallon batches. If I have to drink it mostly myself, I get bored with it well before it's gone and I'm ready to move onto another style.

Happy hunting!

They are pretty much here in this thread if you go back to the beginning. Most folks use a 2 quart cast iron Dutch oven. Get the cheapest one that you can find. Drill several small holes in the bottom. Mine are 3/32", some folks went with 1/8". I wouldn't go much larger than that and don't drill anymore than 3 or 4 holes max. Space them around the bottom of the pot so that you don't risk all of them getting clogged if they were clustered too close together in the center. The idea is to starve the wood chunks/chips of oxygen to make them smolder and not burn. Putting the holes in the bottom forces the smoke back into the fire where some of the nastier volatile components will burn off and produce cleaner smoke. This is why this pot works so well. The cool part is when you open it back up after it's cooled down, you'll have made charcoal out of the wood! The amount of the wood is not super critical. Obviously, the more wood, the longer the smoke will be generated. For shorter cooks, use less to avoid wasting your wood chunks/chips. Longer cooks, add more. The production rate of smoke is fairly fixed by the 3 small holes - only so much oxygen can get in and smoke get out. Remember, smoke is only absorbed by meat until it reaches about 140F on the surface. So, you don't need to produce smoke for the entire cook. That's why the old BBQ'ers trick of spritzing the meat with some sort of liquid works, it causes evaporative cooling on the meat surface and lowers the temperature, prolonging the smoke absorption. It is essential that the lid be airtight to make the smoker pot work. Remember we're trying to limit the amount of oxygen inside. The easiest way to achieve that is to make a simple flour and water paste in a plastic sandwich bag. The consistency should be like Playdoh. Takes some practice to get the water to flour ratio right, but if it's too wet, add more flour; too dry, add water. Also make sure that you mix it together thoroughly to not have dry flour pockets. Twist up the top of the bag, cut off a lower corner and pipe the paste onto the rim of the lid. Make sure to get a good amount completely around the lid. Then put your wood chunks in the bottom and carefully place the lid on, making sure to seal the outside all the way around with the paste that oozes out. Place the smoker pot directly on top of the burning charcoal to ensure that the internal temperature comes up to smoldering as quickly as possible. Remember you want as much smoke as possible on the meat before it reaches 140F on the surface.

You guys are getting way too fancy for me with these PC recipes but they do sound good! But 15-minute chili? Isn't half of the fun of a chili cook letting it get the whole house smelling like chili after an hour or two of simmering, smelling all the goodness and anticipating when it'll be just right? It is for me and the family! Some things just weren't meant to be done in a hurry, IMHO. Like barbecue and chili. YMMV. best, Bill P.S. And thanks for the recipes! I may get a wild hair and try them some day when I have time. Until then I'll continue making do with Carroll Shelby and Paul Newman.

mguerra, sorry here is part 2 of the recipe, the all important instructions.

Right after I wrote that post I went looking for the recipe in my stack of recipes, no luck. I then decided maybe it was in a book I was reading, " Pressure Perfect" by Lorna Sass. I scanned it as best as I could and I plan on trying this unless someone else does and says it's awful. BTW, I'm pretty sure I'm going to add beans after the chili is cooked. I have read that onions need to be cooked before putting into the PC, raw onions in raw onions out so I will precook my onions.

5698K, this is what chili beans look like and they come in a can.

In that case I loves me some "meat and bean stew" seasoned with a combination of dried chili peppers! So for simplicity's sake I'll continue to call it chili. Whatever floats your boat.

Bill, I'm with you on the chili ain't chili without beans.