tony b

Hey, at least it's rain. We're having a blizzard today. Been snowing for hours - heavy at times and the wind has picked up significantly in the last hour, so it's almost white-out conditions. Very likely won't be using the KK tonight. Will hopefully sneak in a cook tomorrow before the Polar Vortex slams us over the weekend. Highs in the single digits (F) and lows below zero for the next week! And, that's before the windchill factor kicks in. This is usually my breaking point for grilling, when the windchill is in the negative teens. So, take some Aleve for the back and grill on!

Yep, that's the "classic" version that I was reading about that got me going on this. So your friend is ahead of you on this one. (btw - hope her loss of taste is indeed temporary!) Your version based on A. Wong's recipe, with the dried shrimp - is that a version of XO sauce - the other "hot" (pun intended) Asian condiment right now!

Just curious - what's in the pot?

Yeah, I know Mala Market. Good source for all things Szechuan.

OK, had been reading about this latest trend in foodie world - crispy hot sauce from China. It's loaded with fried garlic and onions, to add texture to what otherwise would just be a Mala sauce (chiles & Szechuan peppercorns in oil). I actually ended up trying this one, which is made in the US, as it was getting equally good reviews on Amazon to the "standard" Chinese version. The jar arrived yesterday, so of course I had to try it out on dinner! It went on sauteed green beans and mushrooms. Plated with a nice lemon pepper honey mustard pork chop. Pork chop on the main grate, direct, 350F. Lemon pepper rub to start and then sauced with the lemon pepper honey mustard sauce. OK, now I see what all the foodie buzz is about - this stuff is good! Glad that I only went 3 stars hot and not the 4 star version (which has ghost peppers in it!) Nice heat, love the crunchy texture it added. Will be experimenting more with it. I hear that it's great in scrambled eggs?

Indeed!

Depends on the size of KK. I was too nervous to rock my 23" off the box, so I just bashed it in before rolling the KK of the pallet. I can only imagine trying to rock a 32" or 42" KK off the box!!

happy to see it make it safely to its new home!

Quick dinner last night. Suya pepper pork cutlets, direct, lower grate at 350F. Plated with some curry rice and roasted chickpeas & cherry tomatoes with a dollop of Bomba (Calabrian chiles, eggplant, green olives and artichokes.) Indian garlic naan on the side. Washed down with one of my favorite beers - Hopslam from Bells. Unfortunately, it only comes out once/year and sells quickly.

Hang in the bro!

NEVER let a little snow get in the way of grilling dinner! This is what I woke up to this morning - and it kept snowing during a better part of the day. BTW - this was the 2nd such snow storm in the last week! But, my reward for snowblowing/shoveling the driveway (3 times thanks to the city snow plows that kept damming up the end of my driveway!) was a lovely steak dinner. CostCo prime rib-eye cap on the lower grate, direct, with post oak and mesquite. Served up with Wegman's salt potatoes (wonder how those got from upstate NY to IA?) with garlic & parsley butter, sautéed oyster & button mushrooms and a nice side salad with yummy blue cheese crumbles. And, a very nice Napa cab to wash it all down with! If all the snowblowing/shoveling didn't give me a heart attack, this dinner might! Serious amounts of butter in the sides and a gorgeous fatty steak! Cheers!

Now THAT's my kind of "cold room!"

Nicely repurposed.

Do you actually think he's going to get any sleep tonight? LOL

While the "design" part might be fun, the demolition and reconstruction almost never is! I remember mine like it was yesterday (actually 14 years ago!) I did not have a working kitchen for almost a month. The killer was the flooring contractor kept having issues with the tile order and pushed the whole project back over a month extra! What was supposed to be a little over 3 weeks, turned into 7! Always remember the remodeling mantra - How do you know when the contractors are lying to you? Their lips are moving!

Learned my lesson with this one! Will use 1/2 as much next time!

I made some boneless chicken breasts with the Northern Nigerian Chile Mix (upper left-hand corner bag) for dinner tonight. Simple paste of 1 TB chile mix to 2 TB of oil and a pinch of S&P, marinated the chicken for 30 minutes before tossing in the oven - Sorry, freezing rain here, so no grilling out tonight! OMG! I think she's trying to kill me! And as many of you know, I have a high tolerance for spicy! The flavor is reminiscent of Jamaican jerk, as I suspect there's Habaneros in it, but by the time I'd finished dinner, my mouth was numb! Thankfully, the Viognier that I was drinking came to the rescue! Willing to share some of the spice mix with others who think they are adventurous enough to try it!

Big props to @tekobo - for sharing. I used some of the new pepper soup seasoning (Home Taste) in a bowl of canned soup today. It's good. Did a side-by-side tasting of it against the original one that you sent me. This one is very similar in taste, but hotter. You’ll need: * 6 to 8 pieces calabash Nutmeg * 8 pieces Negro pepper (Uda seeds) * 1 tablespoonful seeds of Aligator pepper (Atariko/Ulima seed) **this makes about 3 tablespoonful pepper soup spice mix Note: some people add dried ginger roots and cubeb peppers(uziza seeds) to their mix, so feel free to add a little if you want to. Uziza seeds are very similar to regular black peppercorns. Use high quality black peppercorns to get as close as possible.

Got a nice package of goodies from Nigeria via the UK today - one guess as to who that benefactor was? Now my challenge is to eat a LOT of pepper soup! LOL! Now for the quiz of the day. What are the spices in the 3 small bags?

🤞

Are you not worried about it being unprotected (uncrated) in the back of that delivery truck. I'd hate for it to show up on Monday and something had banged into it and busted some tiles!

Do tell?

WOW!!

Get a cheap shop vac and put a drywall filter in it. Quick, easy, no clouds!

^ +1