snowangel

Justin, deformities aside, this one one tomato worthy of the sterling. As I reported over here, some of it made quite a nice dessert. We were at the farmer's market today (where I got the corn shown in my dinner! post) and it is an unvelieable bounty. There are melons. Peppers. Beans. Garlic. And more. This is indeed a most wonderous season.

No brisket expert here. But I think I would go with day before or an overnight smoke. Dinner at 7 means it has to be done and holding by 6. I'd want more than 12 hours of time just to be sure. Of course, we all know you can make magic with that kettle. ← Overnight smoke and a Weber Kettle is a no go. I'm smoke on Thursday. That's probably better anyway so I can get the last minute stuff done on Friday! Brisket. Yummm. Mike, find a whole untrimmed brisket or at least the point and do one!

The brandywines are here. In my very own tomato patch (all four plants). This baby weighed in at 1.5 pounds.

I am in possession of a beautiful 13 pound brisket (whole and untrimmed, with a nice fat cap). It's for a party on Friday evening, food to start about 7:00 pm. Smoke on Thursday or do I shag my sorry butt out of bed really early on Friday and get the beast on the grill? It's of a size that I'm thinking that a small butt would also fit... What say the experts?

Don't count on it...but then again, some of us are slower learners than others .

So, just where is that green with envy little face thing? I also love the idea of covering the table with foil. Bravo!

Abra, what a great and fun (if messy idea). This is going to prompt me to try grilling pizza again. I did it once during my recent Three-Way grilling and smoking blog and it was a public semi-disaster. But, I learned lessons. Abra, how wet is your dough and how thin to do get it before grilling?

I love hearing that someone has had fun and success smoking meat on the Weber Kettle (some says it's near impossible, I say it's easy). If you haven't already done so, be sure and visit the Behold My Butt and Smokin' Brisket topics. Brisket would be a nice one to try next! There's also a topic on smoking Ribs (acutally not just about smoking them), but I find ribs to be more challenging than butts or brisket. Start looking for a whole brisket, or at least the point (with all of the fat; avoid the flat). And, if you have any questions about smoking on the Kettle, please let me know. Some call me the Kettle Queen. BTW, in my house, we call leftover smoked butt Pantry Gold.

Oh my, I've been negligent! I just realized that my camera is full of pictures from my heavenly week up north in July, but I will get to that tomorrow or the next day, so this will be slightly out of order, as we are just back from a quick (?) weekend at the cabin. This could have been called "out of adversity come of the best of times" or "I married the greatest man in the world." We headed out nice and early on Friday (1:00 pm, an early start for us given that Paul had to leave work early and works 45 minutes from home). But, I had everything ready to go, and as he stood at the sink eating a piece of cold chicken, I loaded up the Taurus SHO. Since it was just four of us (Peter is at camp), we opted for the smaller vehicle. We're humming along nicely, passing every car on the road, me looking sexy in my Ray Bans, a nice accessory in the front seat. As we approach the Harris exit (not 45 miles from home), the A/C quits working, and all of a sudden we smell a burning smell. The Man managed to coax the car onto the shoulder of the exit ramp, were we sat while he walked to the bait shop at the corner. Number one good thing he did -- when he grabbed a hat, he grabbed is #3 hat (NASCAR fans will understand). As Paul said later, "You meet the nicest people when wearing a #3 hat. We got a tow truck from Rush City, got towed to the auto repair shop in Harris, where the guy confirmed Paul's diagnosis. After a flurry of phone calls, we found out that the faulty compressor was still under warranty. Then, as Paul said "We could either get someone to come pick us up or we could rent a car and head north, and that is our destination!" So, we left the car in Harris (as Scarlett said "I'll think about that tomorrow!" and managed to get most of the stuff into the trunk of a tin can Kia which rented for $20/day and headed north. Right into one of the worst traffic jams we've ever been in. For the next 1+ hours, we averaged 12 minute miles. Oh, we then remembered that's why we got on the road early. Dinner was on the road. We'd fully intended to get to Camp Warren to see Peter (which we did; he's been at camp for three weeks and jumped into my arms when he saw us) and get to F & D Meats to get a sampling of sausages for dinner with corn (that Paul had gotten from our fail-safe corn stand) and a sampling of the 6 kinds of bacon they make. Alas and alak, we hit the road out of Harris not long before F & D meats closed over 100 miles north of us. But, the rest of the weekend was absolutely perfect. It was the first weekend we've been at the cabin with my in-laws (who own the cabin). They have a motor home, which they've parked up there for the summer, just so that they can be up there with their kids. Paul and his dad fished, my MIL and I cleaned off the deck, Diana went tubing, Diana got to fish with her dad and grandfather, and I cooked some wonderful meals. I have only a few photos from this weekend: The first tomato from my garden -- a superlative brandywine. What is it about the first of one's own produce? Morning coffee shot from the deck, before I headed to the dock. Three generations fishing. A dad, his dad, and the daughter. They caught a nice northern (which according to regulations on this lake, is catch and release), some very little sunfish, and a mess of really fun-to-catch bass. I knew my in-laws intended to come home last Friday, but stayed since we were coming. Knowing this, I brought more food than I would have for the four of us. So, for breakfast, one morning we had bacon and scrambled eggs, another morning bacon and waffles. The bacon was OK -- since we missed F & D Meats in Virginia, I got some Eliots Up North bacon at the IGA in Orr. I got two packages -- the regular and the double smoked. I didn't realize until I purchased it that the double-smoked had "smoke flavoring added." Oy. I usually smoke my own bacon, and this is a no-no in my book. I was so looking forward to trying more of the bacons at F & D so I'd have some ideas for variations on what I make...another weekend! Lunches. Sandwiches, hummus/pita/tabouli, fresh Colorado peaches, watermelon, tomatoes. Dinner on Friday was an on-the-road feast. We started with a box of Target brand Ritz-bits crackers (the PB variety). Did you know that a food can have less than 0 grams of fat? I'm not sure how this is possible, but that was what the box said. Washed that down with a Nalgene bottle of water. Then we stopped at the Lemon Tree in Cloquet for beer and also got a bag of Cheetos (not good car food; way too orange), a can if sour cream and onion Pringles, a couple of slim jims and and big bottle of Squirt. I can honestly say that after than 4.5 hour turned into an 8 hour trip, a cocktail at the end of the road never tasted so good! Dinner on Saturday night was a feast. Steak, the best sweet corn we've had, fresh green beans from my favorite vendor at the farmer's market (they pick them nice and small), some roasted very small new potatoes. Gin and tonics for the adults. We'd had a tough week. We got news that a very close friend (Paul has known him since 6th grade) has lymphoma, and I've been working double-time to get things ready for a party for 40-60 this coming Friday, and we were reminded just how good it is to get away to a place where the only requirement is to do what we want to do. That, for me, includes a very therapeutic morning and after-dark-just-before-bed swim and taking time to remember how much we enjoy each other and how much we love this place. So, we drove home today on back roads, the only car on the road in remote locations, savoring the essences of the weekend, ready to take on the challenges of the coming week. By the time we stood on the deck, cocktails in hand, the challenges we'd faced earlier in the day had melted away. I've said it before. Just call me the luckiest woman ever!

Tammy, are community meals served every night? If so, how often do you participate? What do other people fix?

What about a Texas Sheet Cake?

What a lovely blog! Alina, one of the things that interests me (and I'm always curious, no matter where the blog takes place) is the price of groceries. What do you pay for thing, like, let's say a dozen eggs? Your cafeteria meal?

Tammy, you really have to get some enterprising young lass or lad to hone their photography skills and get us some photos of the meals! What kind of potatoes did you use? I look at the array at the farmer's market right now, and it's mind-boggling!

You can thank my grandmother. Farm women knew all of the tricks of the trade, including avoiding canning in August when they were busy with the garden, feeding the men in the fields, and hating standing over pots of hot water in August heat.

Another option is to freeze them. I often make peach pie filling, line a pie tin with foil, add the filling, cover and freeze. When frozen, you can just remove the foil package from the pie tin. When time for a pie, make crust, line the pan, add the filling and bake (frozen). I'll dig out the recipe and add it to RecipeGullet! Nancy is right about space with the peach halves. You won't get very many into jars, and they'll get pretty smashed up if you don't have wide mouth jars. And, if you're going to do this, you need to process them in a hot water bath.

Although Tammy regularly cooks for 40, she does these dinners on a budget and documents all of them so nicely for us -- right here!

So, if you've got stuff you've never used, but someone else might use, visit this post about the eGullet Shopping Block Auctions! Someone here just might covet what you don't have space for, and it goes for a really good cause! BTW, there was no really good cause for the butt-ugly, pressed "cut" glass deviled egg holder I got as a wedding present that held 4 (yes 4!) deviled egg halves. Who only devils two eggs?

I almost never get the pink ring, and my stuff of quite smokey. Wonder if the lack of the ring is due to my smoker set-up (ultra low-tech Weber kettle with an oven thermometer and the meat thermometer I inherited from my grandmother? I generally hold temps at 225, and always use a drip pan, filled with water and ice (yes, the ice melts, so let's just call it a water pan). But, I figure, I have such a good time smoking, and an even better time feeding people stuff that they can was poetic about who cares if I have a pink ring. Note: If I get the ring, it's only occasionally, and only with butts or sometimes turkey, but it's not consistent. I wonder if the type of wood could make a difference? Chunks or chips or pucks?

When slicing the hard-cooked eggs in half to make deviled eggs, don't toss the yolks into the drain of the sink.

Good, Dean, that you have so much advice readily available. I'm not sure about the NC State Univeristy system, but here in MN we have "master gardeners" who in order to continue to maintain their status (they are volunteers) need to provide X number of hours of community service. If your system has such a system, don't hesitate to avail yourself of their services. They can provide on-site advice and assistance that not even a web site can give.

Dean, to repeat what everyone has said, ask your extension service for some advice and information. Especially if you kill everything you come across. Make sure that the nursery is reputable, and make sure you properly amend the soil before you stick a tree in. And, don't expect peaches the first year. I've discovered over the years that there is no such thing as not having a green thumb. It's all about loving and taking proper care of the plants and above all, making sure that they are planted in the right location and that the soil is the right soil.

Host note: topics merged so hopefully, Michael or someone with experience will weigh in. And, Bombdog, we look forward to a report on your ham.

I've been working on this, but the task gets more and mroe daunting every day. But, if it helps, in the lower LEFT* corner, there is a search window that allows you to only search this topic. It is most helpful! *Edited to change right to LEFT corner for the search button

Ron, your pastrami makes me weak at the knees. Positively wobbly. Over here you talk about your corned beef and pastrami sandwich at Shapiro's in Indiana. Yours looks better. Comments? BTW, tomorrow's my birthday, and you could get a belated dry-ice packed Fed Ex package out tomorrow...PM me for my address.

I understand the getting together for cooking and pedicures, but please explain the trips to MI!