snowangel

Becca is right on, I think. Perhaps fifi and Varmint will weigh in with their opinions. In general, when I've had it on buns, the flour is quite refined. This is not the time for a chewy or crispy crust, nor is the time for unrefined whole grains. Don't forget to serve =Mark's South Carolina Mustard Barbeque Sauce and cole slaw!

Eliza, putting recessed lights in a dry-walled ceiling is a bitch. Plain and simple. You have to cut the holes and run the wires between them if you want them to operate on a single switch. (unless there is crawl space up above.) Moving one of the pendant lights so they are even is also a tremendous amount of work. New hole, moving the electrical stuff, etc. Do you like the slanted ceiling? If not, consider dropping it. I'm amazed at all of the awful lighting fixtures that were so prominent in the 60's and 70's.

This is a pretty decent diagram of beef cuts. How big are the briskets you are used to getting? The last monster I smoked was 19 pounds, although they are more often in the 12-15 pound range. This is a picture of the 19 pounder, pre-smoking, so you can get an idea of what this american cut looks like: I've never smoked on a gas grill, and I can't recall it being discussed much on eGullet. I am a big fan of my trusty Weber Kettle. I have the 21" one , and do have the hinged grate (essential). If you are interested in some info about smoking meat on the Kettle or Smokey Mountain, there is also a lot of info here, and I could point you to some great topics. Finally, if you haven't read Klink's course on Smoking Meat at Home and the accompanying Q & A, please do!

Bumping this one up, as we can expect a freeze within the next few weeks. I know about drying herbs. I tend to leave the rosemary in the garden where it freeze dries. Middle of winter, boots on, out in the garden and push the snow away and snip what I need. Parsley is cheap and easily available, so I just buy fresh. I also know that I've had good luck by finely mincing (or in the food processor) basil and mixing it with a bit of oil, laying it out on plastic wrap and forming into a log and freezing it. This works very well, I think, and the oil keeps it from freezing so hard that you have to thaw it to break off a chunk. This is also the only way I've found to preserve Thai basil and it's distinctive taste (which gets lost when it is dried). Will this work for other leafy herbs like sage?

My folks, too, hate their halogen lights. The bulbs can be funky, and expensive. Have you looked at IKEA? They have some really cool under counter lighting. I don't advocate the rope lights. One of my kids had them in their room, and when a light goes out, you pretty much have to replace the entire rope, and depending on where you live, they are not available year round. I don't have a slanted ceiling in this kitchen, which makes lighting much easier. I'm embarrassed to say that I haven't replaced the main kitchen light (I have a galley kitchen which is quite small, and is is one of those flourescent fixtures (4' long) with some sort of transluscent cover (Paul calls it a 4' cloud fixture) which is great, now that I've fixed the switch. One of the things you need to think about is the holes in the ceiling from the existing fixtures. Should you remove and replace them, and don't choose stuff for the same places, you will have ceiling repair to do. If it's a sprayed ceiling with that popcorney stuff, add another $300.00 to the bill. Have you thought about doing the electrical yourself? Map out the circuits (don't trust the tabs on the box). Turn everything on (and plug stuff into every outlet). One of you is at the box, the other inside. Turn a circuit off, figure out which outlets and lights are attached to said circuit and write it down (in ball point, not felt tip, which can bleed). It is possible to do this alone, but it is a nasty job. Then, just turn the circuit that is attached to the fixture you want to replace, and it's pretty easy. Electrical is color coded, and the instructions included with lighting fixutres is usually very explicit. Doing it yourself gives you a great sense of pride, and really extends the budget. Edited to add: Rather eclectic collection of 70's lighting you have! Have you thought of under soffit lighting?

The Nabisco guy at the grocery said the other day that they don't stock Stoned Wheat Thins in my zip code. So, some companies at least must be doing some sort of research on what will sell. Of course, they ignore me. But, I can get those marshmallow chocolate cookies year round. And B & M beans. Can't get Go Go Clusters except very occasionally, and they are usually stale, so somewhat disappointing.

Not cooking, but eating. My grandmothers (both of them) always said to eat a piece of pie crust first, and eat the point last and make a wish when you ate the point.

If we continue to have very warm and sunny days, I will eat the first (and probably only) home grown tomato within the next week. The cold and wet June certainly took a toll on us MN gardeners. The price of tomatoes and other warm weather crops at the farmer's market is quite a bit higher than last year.

I want to know who took the first bath in the tub after The Pig?

I agree with Kris. We need to talk about flour. Everything I see is cake, AP or bread, and there is very rarely a mention of how much protein is in each flour. For the "ideal" flour, any ideas on how to combine any of those to come up with the "ideal?"

Chris, thanks for the abbreviated tutorial. How much pepper?

Ah, that explains it. I'm smoking over indirect on a Kettle.

Why bone side up? I always do fat side up so that the melting fat bastes the meat.

Bags packed. House clean. Backpacks for the kids first days of school (Tuesday) are ready. Clothes for first day of school laid out. Fridge cleaned out. I had intended to leave much earlier this week, but now that Diana is entering high school, had not anticipated the requirements of HS sports. Weather looks mostly good. We are opting to take Paul's Taurus SHO, not the Bronco due to fuel prices, which here in MN are nearing the $3.00/gallon mark. The other mothers and I let the kids pick the menu. I will not be smoking. They want burgers. They want chicken. They want tacos. They want cinnamon rolls for breakfast. We are making the kids fairly responsible for several of the meals, and it is time they had starting the Weber and grilling lessons. The mothers have set a KP list. I'm curious what it will be like up north. Some of the trees here are starting to yellow, and I'm sure we will see some leaves down at the Cabin. Come Monday afternoon, dock out, a tear or two on the deck as we bid a fond farewell to the bestest summer every. Come Tuesday morning, a leisurely piece of toast and cuppa on my deck at home. You will hear loud cheering from the Minnesota direction as the mother's "sadly" send their kids off to schoo.

I got one 19 lb. brisket on my one Weber Kettle. I had to cut it in half, separating the flat and the point, and did have room to stick some chicken thighs in between them. Points take up less room, in an odd sort of way, because they are thicker, provide more meat. Anyway you can get more points than flats? What about smoking one a day in advance? They reheat beautifully wrapped in foil in a low, slow oven.

I really should take pictures. It has been a profusion of sweet corn (best ever at the stand on the south side of US highway 10 right on the city limits of Elk River and Ramsey, MN, close to Furniture and Things), green beans, and tomatoes. Tonight, I humored my family and cooked a mess of bacon so we could suppliment the corn and beans with BLT's. Also, we have been privy to a weekly lug of Colorado peaches, which we eat, whole, on the deck. Elbows perched on the railings, juices dripping down onto my yard. I could eat like this every month of the year. I have friends who are thinking ahead to braising. I, myself, love those meals best where all sorts of juices, be they peach, tomato, butter, hamburger on the grill, run down ones arms and stain one's t-shirt, rather than that indoor chopping and oven stuff.

What would a dorm say about one of those neato keeno induction burners? I see lots of possibilities there.

Hmmm. Potstickers just might be in my future, as might be ravioli. Come a week from Tuesday, the kids go back to school (yes, I love them, but their first day at school is my favorite day of the year), I should dig out that Atlas pasta maker that I got when I got married and has been used twice and put it to a use other than a door stop.

It all depends on where you live. Most states' Dept. of Ag. have some sort of guide, as do large local farmer's markets.

Kinda reminds me of when we moved the outhouse at our cabin (so that the door didn't open to the lake). We capped of the drum with the "stuff", topped it with some dirt, and for the next few years, voila, a few tomato plants would sprout.

Before I get busy and upload my photos and give my report, an unhappy Spaghetti and Meatballs on a Stick customer showed me what it is. Overcook some spaghetti. Mince it up. Mix it with a mess of ground meat. Shape it into something resembling a large turd. Bread it. Deep fry it. Paint it with crappy "marinara" sauce that more resembled warmed up tomato paste. I advised said unhappy customer to toss it and save valuable State Fair Stomach Food space for something worthy.

Talk a bit more about the blueberries, and where they grow. In northern MN, they are a late July/early August thing, and mostly found way, way up north In Our Secret Blueberry Spot. We've had several of these secret spots, and they tend to pop up a couple of years after a granite ridge has been logged off.

Thanks, Jason, for telling me just what I should fix for dinner tomorrow night! Beautiful.

I have a way cool compost pottery thing, so I use that as a garbage bowl (veg only!) and it goes into a compost heap.

Melissa: Dishwasher. If it is going to be on an outside wall, it doesn't need to be quite a quiet if it is going to be on an inside wall. When I bought my last dishwasher, I discovered that most now have stainless interiors. But, do like I do and bring along the largest and most cumbersome items when shopping. The sales people look at you like you are odd, but quickly understand that you know what you are looking for.