tony b

I'm all over a good shepard's pie! Not all English food is bad. I even like mushy peas!

Can't even fathom that much snow right now. It was 62F today and I wore a t-shirt outside. Crazy weather for February in Iowa! I took taking advantage of the nice weather to cold smoked some nuts (almonds and cashews), and clean the top damper area with Zap & a Magic Eraser. Then fired up the grill to cook some veggies (tomato & onion w/garlic) and chicken breasts for dinner. They went into empanadas, they got baked on the KK. Sorry no pics, as I was enjoying the wonderful weather and a nice adult beverage (Hopslam!) And with the continuing nice weather, tomorrow is some other needed maintenance; the spring for the lid needs to be tightened up a bit. Still pensive about fixing the missing tile and regrouting, as the lows at night are still getting down into the 40s.

Good deal. But, their shipping charges aren't too bad. I buy from them a couple of times a year. I used to follow their advice and stored the fruit woods in the veggie bins in the bottom of my beer fridge, but I've kinda stopped doing that. I haven't noticed a big drop in aroma, but the wood has been stored in my garage where it's been colder than fridge temps until this week.

Not used it myself, but Fruita Wood does carry orange and nectarine, if folks are curious to try it. My standards are peach, apple, cherry on pork or chicken, in pairings with pecan, maple, or hickory. Beef is mesquite, bourbon barrel, post oak or pecan - usually in some combination.

Rough MacKenzie, but that cheesecake would surely help out on the attitude. Tell your friend that we were all duly impressed with the artwork!

Sweet!

Nice!

Rumor is a great looking dog. A well deserved win and now off to retirement. Bet those puppies will run you a pretty penny!

Yeah, fish sauce is pretty pungent stuff!

@Aussie Ora - can't wait to try the Bush Lamb seasoning. I've got a rack in the freezer that might need to get thawed out this weekend, seeing as how we're having a pre-spring weather moment here (60s this weekend) and I dare not take advantage of it!

MacKenzie's having a "white out!"

It's supposed to be in the 60s this weekend and above 50 for the next week. Picked up a 2 pak of Baby Backs at CostCo yesterday. I foresee lots of grilling over the next week!

I feel for you MacKenzie. We've been having a spring teaser this weekend. Been in the 50s and sunny. Crazy for February. I'm hoping the Rodent is wrong and it really is spring already!

Love spring rolls. Haven't done any for a long time now. At least working with rice paper is a lot easier than working with phyllo in my book! @dstr8 -

I was going to Berkeley when Montana and Clark hooked up for "The Catch" in the NFC Championship game. http://www.nfl.com/videos/san-francisco-49ers/0ap2000000146412/8-The-Catch We were all going crazy. My friends and I took the BART over to downtown and joined in the celebration. I've never experienced anything else like it in my life!

Was at Mellow Mushroom today and got my stromboli fix. Since it's an "off menu" item, they are kinda winging it when they make one for me - so there was a tad too much yellow mustard, but it was good nonetheless.

You're gonna have fun with what's headed your way, too!

Hurray, Bruce actually does cook!! But look at how shiny and white the inside of that grill is - gotta work on that, son! Excellent tri-tip. I'm kinda the same way. Love the convenience of the pre-marinated meats from Trader Joe's (just did a Burgundy Pepper boneless leg of lamb over the weekend in the rotisserie basket), but sometimes the flavors are a bit strong and you can't do much with it to fix it.

As the saying goes, "It's like trying to teach a pig to waltz. You waste a lot of time. It's frustrating for both you and the pig, and the pig never does learn to waltz!"

Don't look "overcooked" from here either!

Love a good stromboli. Fell in love with them at a "Mom & Pop" Italian spot in San Jose (DiMaggio's) back when I lived there. Unfortunately no one around here has one on the menu. I can simulate one down at Mellow Mushroom, but choosing the right fillings for the calzone. They kinda freaked the first time that I ordered it and asked for plain yellow mustard as a filling!

Thanks for the tip, Charles! It still cracks me up to see all the "American style" items from Down Under! Put some Bush Tomato seasoning on my cheesy scrambled eggs this morning - yummy. @Aussie Ora - In both cases, the base blends had the same stuff in them, I just wanted to amp up that particular flavor. In the case of the cauliflower, I wanted a bit more of the lemon myrtle flavor than was in the Bush Spices with Mountain Pepper. Similar with the Taz pepper; I wanted a bit more Native Pepperflake to balance out the heavy sea salt, plus the blend had Sea Parsley in it, with I thought would be good on the spud - it was! Not trying to mask the native spices, but to actually highlight them a bit more.

Paul, you'd be down with this spot. They have a beer drink called the "Mexican Ashtray." A Tecate beer in the can, rolled in house chile spices, with a lime wedge dusted in chipotle salt on the top. It's surprisingly good! Just wish that they'd use regular Tecate instead of "Light."

Thanks, Charles and Paul! Put the Bush Spices w/Mountain Pepper and a little Lemon Myrtle on the roasted cauliflower tonight. Might have been OK, but I drizzled on some Balsamic vinegar when they came out of the oven. Overpowered the spices. Next time, roasted carrots with the same spices - no Balsamic! But, I did a hasselback potato with the Tasmanian pepper salt, with some extra Native Pepper seasoning. That was nice. Mountain pepper has a very unique flavor. Spicy in kind of a anise/fennel or nutmeg kind of way, but more subtle.

You didn't say, but I have to assume that the bun was homemade? Just went to the W-S site, no more Sriracha Burger Bomb. Consider yourself lucky MacKenzie!