tony b

MacKenzie, or should I say Jezebel! Had another lovely G&T on the deck tonight, as pre dinner warm up. I'll post pics tomorrow of the din-din, as today is the last day of the month on my cellphone plan and I've used up all of my data!!! Living on the edge, baby!

I'll bring the serious piggy - what you want - mule foot, red waddle, swabian, berkshire?? It's good to live where the tasty piggies do!

I retired from Engineering for a reason! This discussion is making my brain hurt.

Crazy, nice setup! I have to ask, is the tennis court yours, too? Pool & tennis court - sooo jealous!

Excellent job, even if it was seriously hot outside!

Count me in, too! Had a nice couple of bourbons after dinner last night - beautiful weather to sit out on the deck - Jefferson Reserve (Ocean Series) and Bib & Tucker - both outstanding.

Well done, indeed. I've always contended that ceramics make the best grilled chicken. While it's not impossible to dry it out, you have to actually work hard at it to do so!

Another congrats on setting the date. That's just around the corner, so not a lot of planning time. Is this a casual ceremony, meaning, are folks going to be dressed up for it? If so, you might want to stay away from the messier foods, like pulled pork or brisket sandwiches with BBQ sauce or Buffalo chicken wings. Think about assorted skewers/kabobs. Do all the prep a day or two ahead. Do them in shifts on the KK so there's always some on the table and are still hot. You can do an assortment of different things - meats (beef, chicken, lamb), seafood (fish, shrimp), veggies (squash, mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, onion), and fruits (melons, pineapple, peaches, apples, all work well). Dry rubs keep things neat, but some sauces/glazes tighten up well under heat, like teriyaki or balsamic vinegar. The nice thing about kebabs is that you can just eat them off the stick, no utensils/plates, and most importantly, leave a free hand for a cocktail in the other hand!!

Crazy looking bacon, MacKenzie! I waited until this past weekend (Memorial Day) to put out my tomatoes, herbs, and pepper plants, as we still had nightly lows in the upper 30s the first week of May. Been in the 50s at night since, so - fingers crossed - I'm in the clear. Oh, btw, was on the deck last night having a G&T waiting for the KK to heat up, and spotted a female hummingbird in the neighbor's apple tree.

Bosco, did you have the coals in a zoned cooking arrangement, so the chickens rotated in/out of the hot zone; or, was it just a straight up direct cook directly underneath the birds??

Excellent looking "shot" of espresso! (pun intended)

Sounds like someone might get invited over for another dinner and after dinner drink!

All's well that ends well!! Enjoy you new awesome toy!! Pictures of that all important 1st cook are always expected.

The beauty of Franklin's method is that the pink butcher paper has a much less effect on the bark than foiling, which results in steaming and softening the bark. I was a bit skeptical myself, until the first time I tried it and now I won't do a brisket (or beef roast) any other way.

@MacKenzie - great looking pie. Now that you know how to lattice pie crust, you know how to weave the bacon blanket for a fattie! @Bruce Pearson - when I remodeled my kitchen about 8 years ago, I did not put in a conventional oven, as I rarely used the old one. The KK gets all the big stuff and small stuff works great in the counter-top convection oven (brick lined Cuisinart).

Looks like someone's done this before!! Rookies don't do Fatties!

Great first cook, and it looks like someone is getting the hang of this rather quickly!!

Can't wait for the finished product pictures.

I'll be saluting them at the baseball game today with a hotdog and cold one. Can't get anymore American than that!

Excellent looking cook, @ckreef. But, inquiring minds like ours would like to know - what flavor adult beverage was that in the glass??? Susan, you're looking seriously chill - way to go!

Glad to see that you can still party like a pro, Dennis!! But, the recovery time is a bit longer as we get older, eh!

There's a great pub at the end of the cable car turnaround in San Francisco (the name escapes me at the moment), that claims to be the "home" of Irish coffee. It's a fun experience to watch them in action, as they make like 20 at a time. Line up the glasses on the bar so that the rims are touching each other, move down the line dropping in the sugar cubes, continuous pour of Irish whiskey (they don't stop between glasses, just start at one end and start pouring, moving down the line), followed by pouring the coffee the same way, finished off with the whipped cream on top. On a busy evening, they can't make them fast enough.

Your challenge (pun intended) is to pick which dough recipe you'll use, as you have a complete palate to pick from??

Excellent job. How did the inside of the steaks come out? A cut open pic would have been a nice photo shot.