April 2010 Archives

I just booked my camping with the nice folks at the KOA Campground near Memphis, bought my "VIP Pit Pass" to the Memphis in May's World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest. I'm not competing in this event, but hopefully with my pit pass I'll be able to get some good info from some of the other pro teams. Should be a fun road trip! Wonder how many other Canadians are going down?

Ok.. I'll admit it, I felt a little odd not hosting or cooking something a bit more traditional for easter weekend, Usually the week before easter i'm hunting down new recipes to try, curing a ham or maybe even thinking about buying a new bbq.. This year was a bit of an afterthought.. while chowing down on my easter friday fillet mignon, I got a couple of txts to my phone from friends asking if I was in town and hosting a dinner this year. After a quick check of the weather forecast and a phone call to my butcher to see if he had a turkey for me, Easter 2.0 was on! I'm not sure if BBQ'd ribs are a easter tradition for anyone, but I do know that turkey is common as Gasparro's butcher shop had a big list of yummy free range turkeys on order for various customers. I tried a new wood for turkey this time around, something I've never used for turkey before: Pecan. Usually I use apple or sugar maple, but iI was feeling adventurous, and very much non traditional after my previous day's easter picnic. I rubbed the turkey and ribs with dried peppers in a bourbon mixture that i reduced to near powder. The results were great as my little 12 lb turkey was inhaled by my friends in not time at all. We washed it all down with some great local beer from Cameron's, Great Lakes, and Muskoka lakes.   

I dont come from a traditional god fearing family... we worship the sun and prey for good weather. May "two-four" is a bigger celebration than christmas for us, as it usually marks the beginning of the summer, this year however we were bless with a very warm and sunny easter weekend. I had the good fortune to purchase a new little car this spring, just before easter, and my mom thought it would be fun to "meet halfway" at the day-use area of a provincial park and see if we could have a easter friday picnic, What a great idea! There was no fancy 3 course sit down meal at a dining table in the house, just honest to goodness grilling on my little charcoal beast on a picnic table. 2 years ago for easter we went ice skating, no it was really to have sunburn and beach this year.  Found a new vegetable called "asperation" which appears to be a mix of asparagus and brocoli, or maybe it's just baby brocoli, in any case if you come across it, buy it! it's very yummy on the grill and gets a beautiful green colour.  Here's a photo of our easter "feast" served at 4:30pm in our tee-shirts and shorts on April 2nd. That's bean salad, fillet mignon wrapped in my home made double smoked bacon, and that wacky vegetable I found at fiesta farms. 

Caught this great article on the NY Times today, on how to take better photos of food.. the best hint they have there, do away with the flash and use a tripod! Now that summer is back on it's way I'm hoping (armed with my new knowledge) to post some great photos of various bbq things.