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This is one we will remember. This Wagu Tri-tip melted in our mouthes like a prime fillet, but with a more beefy flavor. We ate half of it right off the cutting board and it was really hard to stop. We gave it a quick 15 min dry brine with kosher salt and then rinsed it. Santa Maria style dry rub. Smoked (offset w/divider) for about 90 mins w/hickory @250F to 120F internal. Then rested for 20 mins covered while we brought the pit up to 450F with the dome rack upside down on top of the coals Reverse seared 2 mins on each side to 130F. We cheated the skinny tip over to the cold side to keep it from over cooking. Another 10 min covered rest and wow...

Those look delicious, MacKenzie!

My husband's away for a few days and I decided to try being a vegetarian teetotaller while I was on my own. Otherwise known as drying out and slimming down. The only problem is that my Texan girlfriend was in town for just one night and I had lured her to dinner with a picture of a nice T-bone steak. She arrived with this tea towel for me but quickly got with the programme and we had a lovely evening, sober at dinner for the first time in our acquaintance. I tried out some BBQ recipes from Francis Mallman's Green Fire and they were all a success, washed down with homemade lemonade. I didn't get photos of the fennel and spring onions on the konro grill but this one, shows cooked black beans and broad beans getting some char. It made the black beans a bit crunchy and very tasty. Next came the smashed potatoes, grilled with a fennel seed and fennel pollen topping - intended to replicate the flavours of a porchetta and... it worked! The beans were mixed up with the grilled fennel and spring onions and a bit of vinegar and oil to make the centrepiece salad which we ate with our smashed potatoes. Surprisingly filling. Dessert was one of the weirdest things I have ever made. Grilled stone fruit - I used a plum, a peach and a nectarine - with grilled Raclette cheese! Texan was NOT weirded out. We considered what it might need to lift it. She suggested white balsamic vinegar. It was the perfect match. And yes, I know the picture is not the best but I promise you it was tasty. In fact, I am coming round to thinking that I can eat less meat and still enjoy a meal. Shock! Horror.

Couldn't resist a nacho cook this evening, it is quick, easy and fast since I had a bunch of topping leftover from a pizza cook this last weekend.

There is nothing like a good wilderness camping/canoeing trip.