jbh

Yes, the brand was Sweet Sue. Don't go there. Don't even think about it.

Use a cheap plastic spatula in a screaming-hot pan. The pan's fine; the spatula's a _lot_ shorter.

Where does this come from? I have a friend who's exactly the same way.

I've found "stew beef" to be about as tender as hooves so never buy it any more.

Well...it's sorta food-related... In a northwest Florida town there is/was the annual mullet toss. Shotput with mullet.

In the fwiw department... In my smoker I use a Nu-Temp 701 with three remotes; one for grate temp and two for meats. I don't know about absolute accuracy and these aren't fast-reading, but for the usage a ballpark reading is sufficient. They'll work in an ordinary oven too. BTW, as I found when I nuked a probe, higher-temp replacement probes are available for a quite reasonable price. I've been known to take the receiver in the golf cart (we live in a small community) and do drive-by readings from the Big Green Egg. <g> The Thermapen...it might be sealed with no switches because it'll probably be handled by wet hands, left in the rain, perhaps even dropped in liquid. Just my speculation, but I've done all three. The big Nu-Temp probes will definitely conduct heat into the solid (meat), unduly reading a higher temp than in a nearby area; the difference isn't huge but it's at least several degrees F. But if I'm looking for 145F that's what I want, not an actual 140F overall...so when I get the temp I want I have to move the probe to a new spot, invariably finding a lower temp. The Thermapen of course gives a reading right now, but it's not remote, and as the saying goes, if you're lookin' you ain't cookin'. I first got into this running a photolab years ago; the affordable (a couple hundred dollars vs several thousand dollars) would read in tenths of a degree C or F, but the accuracy was +/- 3F or so and that wasn't remotely good enough; one could either carry on and adjust the process to accomodate the inaccurate therm (uncool) or just continue using the mercury Kodak Process Thermometer which came with certified and warranteed accuracy. At any rate, we're not building rockets here. These things are convenience tools; we could all wing it without any thermometers at all. However, a convenience tool that's seriously inaccurate isn't much of a convenience, right?

Not a disaster, but I once had a cat who _loved_ buttered popcorn. When I made a bowl of popcorn, we'd politely settle down across from each other and mow through the whole bowl, using our paws, kernel by kernel. The closest to disaster was when I didn't share quickly enough and she'd upend the whole bowl...

I guess there's a point of no return... In my smoker I use a Nu-Temp with three remotes; one for grate-level temp and two meat probes. While I don't know the absolute accuracy I presume it's within a couple of degrees; imho repeatability is perhaps more important than absolute accuracy. And yes, the probe itself does conduct heat into the meat, leading to high readings. This leads to step two.. When the Nu-Temp indicates "done," the next step is to go move the probe to another spot _or_ poke the meat with the Thermapen. Or to put it differently, the probe-type therms will get you into the ballpark while the Thermapen will get you toward precision. Do you _really_ need this? No, of course not. But there's a huge difference between a pork butt at 190F and 200F; one isn't pullable while the one that's "done" is easily pullable. Of course you could determine "doneness" by pulling on the bone but that requires experience while cooking to temp works the first time. So...imho these gizmos aren't all the incredibly expensive and can help lots toward consistency; we don't "need" them but otoh we don't "need" All-Clad etc, and better tools contribute toward a better product.

Well..you asked... Drop the Google ads crap. Hosting costs $75/yr tops; if you're paying more you're being ripped. The basic design _including a Wordpress blog_ might go for $500 including some degree of maintenance/updates. _Neither_ of the reservations links worked. IMHO..and you _did_ ask..that site isn't going to be worthwhile in terms of time or money. Good luck! You have lots of people here who will help you...listen to 'em.

Avenue Sea in Apalachicola was definitely superb, on my absolutely-must-return list. That a restaurant of this caliber is in Apalach complete begoggles me! Be sure and visit the bar first and give Shellie the bartender some business; things have been slow in Apalachicola lately. She introduced us to her friend Ann, who has a screw loose in her head...literally. You can feel it wiggle. As for other places... We had dinner and breakfast at the Wakulla Springs Lodge. I'd best describe it as competent and workmanlike, not spectacular but better than the run-of-the-mill fish house and since Wakulla Springs is out in the boonies it's a worthy choice if you're staying at the Lodge. On that subject, the Lodge is _very_ nice, "Old Florida," no in-room TV even, and the Disney version of Florida is a bazillion miles away. On down to St. Marks; we stopped at a fish house directly at the end of the main road, can't remember the name for the life of me but if you pass Bo Lynn's and go straight you'd drive straight into it. Good smoked mullet. Go back out on 98 and head east to the turnoff south to the lighthouse and enjoy the drive through the salt marshes down to St. Marks Light. Listen very carefully; you'll hear nothing more than the waves sloshing and lots of birds. On to Apalachicola. We took a side trip to Alligator Point just to have a look; many houses are gone into the sea. Painted on broken concrete was "You can't fix stupid." Heading westward, past Lanark and Carrabelle, _every_ house and lot has a "for sale" sign in front of it. Vacation homes, weekend rentals, full-timers, they all want to sell before the next hurricane comes in. A sucker's bet. The first night in Apalach we went over to Boss Oyster; it was OK, a good _real_ grouper sandwich with a proper huge hunk of fish, fried lightly. Strikes me as a nice lunch place. The menu was chock full of various oyster concoctions, things that IMHO you probably shouldn't do to oysters, but whatever floats your boat. The next day was off to Cape San Blas and St. Joseph Spit (the state park). Last time I was over thataway there wasn't one single structure past the Eglin AFB radar station; now there's beaucoup beach houses etc. We tried, back in the day, but now it'll take a good hurricane. Anyway, the only place open was Conehead's, where we had a decent cheeseburger and fried-fish basket. OK typical beach-joint fare. We went over beachside to enjoy the first gale of the season; we used it call it Sand Blast for a good reason. On the way back to Apalach, we stopped at Indian Pass Raw Bar, where us turistas disturbed the locals butt-sitting out front but we chatted and of course found common ground. Indoors, fresh oysters, saltines, Tabasco and Coronas; _perfect_. The next day on the way home we stopped at That Place on 98, where I had crab cakes and my wife had oyster stew for the very first time. The crab cakes were more crabby than cakey with a little zip of cayenne and the oyster stew was the simple oyster, a litle juice, heavy cream and butter. Very good and absolutely correct for the location. If you're thinking about Florida and the Redneck Riviera, the Big Bend is a worthwhile trip. You can't go wrong unless you order something weird like steak or chicken...

Note to self: never, _ever_ look at these pics while having pizza for breakfast!

> nothing better than a hotdog at 2:30 a.m. when you're wasted. That's for sure. I have vague recollections of a hot dog from a street vendor after closing time in Key West...and then discovering that the tide had gone out and my boat's deck was about 15 feet below dock level. Obviously I made it down there somehow....

> Doesn't everybody serve slaw on their barbeque sandwich??? I've encountered slaw on Que in only one BBQ joint in Florida, and the operators of that place hailed from North Carolina. While I was a little surprised at first, the slaw was a great contrast to the NC-style thin peppery sauce. Since then I've surprised many Que-joint operators by dumping my slaw on my sandwich, I suppose because more often than not the barbecued pork itself has been mediocre.

> Definitely, the same thing applies to chile peppers. Thanks. I came across a recipe that called for infusing oil with peppers for a couple of weeks but I didn't think it may be such a great idea. --- jbh

I understand that garlic in oil sitting out at room temperature is a superb medium for botulinum; should I be concerned about chile peppers in a jar of olive oil? Thanks. --- jbh

How about this; a quick grilling at nuclear temps on the Weber for browning and grill marks, followed by indirect heat over a drip pan till done. You get the best of grilling, baking to doneness and a pan to deglaze.

Last night I reduced "chillable red." I made a passable imitation of grape jelly, which of course wasn't the goal....