Rico

JGM, I'm with you. I love BLTs, but I especially love BLTs when they have more letters in them. Like SBLTs. And y'all are killing me with the avocado. Wish I'd have done that. Certainly will next time. Made this one a few days ago with some aioli, because sometimes I like food with my garlic. And Zapp's jalapeno chips.

Well, there was one in the town where I went to school, and I can tell you this: At 2:30 in the morning, after a billion beers and shots, there is nothing better than jalapeno poppers, tacos, egg rolls and a jumbo jack. All at once. Sober, I don't think there's anything there I would publicly endorse ...

Kim, every time I see that smoked lamb, it makes me want to go to the store and get one and smoke it that day. Which is what I'll be doing here in about 20 minutes. I'm not one to complain about working from home on Fridays. Dcarch, I just bought a deep fryer. That tenderloin - wow. So, I attempted three pizzas yesterday, and let's just say I'm out of practice. The first turned into a calzone, more or less, and the other two had too thick of a crust. They were good and tasty, but I expect better. I also need much more practice with the 'peel to stone' action.

I've got a natural gas connection that runs up through my deck to a grill. Do you see any reason I wouldn't be able to use that? Does natural gas burn as hot? And do you have any more pictures, specifically of ... all the cuts you made? I want to replicate this act of genius, but I don't want to waste a Weber in the process ...

Dcarch, I'm on the bandwagon, too. That food looks awesome. And it took me awhile to figure out that those were mushrooms that were smiling at me ... As many people know, it's written in the American constitution that every Fourth of July we are legally obligated to cook huge amounts of meat and drink copious amounts of beer. So I did. The culprit for my mood today: Got both grills fired up at once, the Weber with spare ribs and apple wood, and the Brinkman smoker with brisket and mesquite. The ribs: The brisket: A buddy of mine made some cornbread with all sorts of wonderful cooked into it: And lastly (and leastly) I really like these chips: A good time was had by all ... I am told ...

Kim, if God ate fried chicken, that looks like the type of fried chicken He'd like. And heat or no, fried chicken is the perfect summer meal, because it's so easy to eat outdoors. In fact, with my messy eating habits, I find I'd rather be eating it outdoors than indoors (when it comes to fried chicken, I tend to inhale rather than to chew).

Heidi - I typically just have a slice or two (or seven) of cheese on the side. I always eat brisket sliced, using one piece of Mrs. Baird's white bread at a time to fold over a couple pieces of brisket and applying sauce in a whimsical manner. It's one of the reasons I can't go to Dickey's (not that Dickey's is that great anyway): They have buns and not sliced white bread. I know, it sounds like I don't change anything, but the rub always changes and the sauce does, too. And so does the wood. But that's about it. After the smoking, the cheese separates from a lot of its oil and you've got to dump out a good 1/3 of a cup of the grease that's sitting on the top (from about a pound of cheese). I smoke at around 220-250F, so the cheese is usually a gooey semi-solid at that point. Half an hour in the fridge, though, and it's good to go. Now, with all that said, I've only ever done it with store-brand cheddar; I'm sure a lot other cheeses would respond differently to the process. Regardless, it is delicious.

Percyn, your fare looks absolutely outstanding. To say I'm inspired would be a significant understatement. Barbecue on the docket today. Brisket for seven hours in the smoker along with some jalapenos and some cheddar cheese. I pureed the jalapenos for the bbq sauce. And yes, I advocate the use of barbecue sauce. Also, the word 'superawesomefantastic' can be used to describe many things, but not my camera or my photography skills. I apologize for the fuzziness. The jalapenos. The cheese.

Prawncrakers, each of those three courses looks amazing. Equally. I personally never make three courses as equally excellent - primarily because I feel as if they might become jealous of each other, but also because I am not as capable at cooking. Anyway, my meal last night involved caprese salad, but the important part is that the salad was comprised of the first tomatoes from my garden. The yellows are Jubilees and the reds are Black Prince, as I believe they are called. For my first garden ever, this is going well ... The basil is also from the garden. The cheese is not. My mozzarella seeds didn't sprout. Must be the Texas heat.

Okay, I'm still slightly embarrassed to take pictures of food I make in front of my girlfriend, so I certainly couldn't muster up the courage to take them at the Lonesome Dove for the gf's birthday last night, but I can at least say what I had: They do a sampler deal with their appetizer course, and we had: Elk sausage and foie gras sliders Boar ribs with barbecue sauce Seared scallops Ostrich nachos Rattlesnake and rabbit sausage The salads were salads. I had the roasted garlic stuffed beef tenderloin, and the gf had the New Zealand red deer tenderloin. Sides were asparagus (good) and white truffled mac and cheese (so freaking good I almost cried). My review is that it was frickin' unbelievable. All of it. But I probably appreciated the main course slightly less because I was already so full from the appetizers and such. But I'd go back. In a heartbeat.

I like to remove the choke and then stuff it with a mixture of parmesan, ricotta, mozzarella, and whatever herbs and spices, a la Vefa's Kitchen. Then bake it at 350F until, well, it's ready. It's good stuff (pun intended, sadly).

My cousin came back from Europe a few years ago with this idea that we were going to recreate the best sandwich he'd ever had in his life, something called a Francesinha (took me three tries to spell that correctly) that he'd eaten in Portugal. It includes, but is not limited to, steak, sausage, ham, an egg, three slices of bread and a beery tomato sauce. The making of it: The final product: It was the best sandwich I have ever had in my entire life. And yes, those fries are Ore Ida - I tried to edit them out, but to no avail

Got Louisiana Kitchen two days ago, and made my first meal from it: Shrimp Etouffee This book is going to change my life.

Thanks, Kim! I'm glad you enjoyed it ... And as for taking a spoon to it, well, I've also found that to be the most efficient way of making sure none goes to waste

Can somebody with a spare $150 please buy this and then say why they shouldn't have spent $150 on it? Or, can somebody with more knowledge about this sort of thing than myself say why it would or wouldn't work? Because I am fascinated. Absolutely enthralled.

Biscuits and gravy today. And fruit because the gf said something about it being good for you. So I loaded it with cream and sugar just because that seemed to make sense.

Thanks, jnash and emmalish. I posted the recipe here.

I first made this with quesadillas, but realized quickly it can be used for whole lots of stuff that needs a spicy, citrus-y complement. It's more like a pineapple pico than salsa, but who am I to start a discourse on the semantics of Mexican condiments? It doesn't turn out blurry in real life. That's just the picture ... Ingredients: 1/2 Cup seeded and diced tomatoes (if you want to make this in a hurry, omit this and the jalapenos and use a can of Rotel Hot, though it won't taste quite as good) 1/2 cup finely diced golden pineapple 1/4 cup minced red onion 1 tablespoon minced fresh cilantro leaves 1 teaspoon minced jalapeno (To taste, really. I leave the seeds in - obviously, removing them would make it less hot) 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice 1 tablespoon fresh orange juice Salt to taste. Directions: Mix it all up in a bowl. Give it a couple hours to chill in the fridge.

Kim, I will be going to Costco today and buying a leg of lamb. Then apple chips. Holy goodness that lamb looks delicious. I mean, the entire meal looks delicious, but that lamb ... wow. In other not-so-breaking news, the GF and I made gulf shrimp quesadillas and pineapple salsa for an Easter appetizer. I need a better camera. I choose to blame the photos on the equipment rather than the user. No point in hurting my own feelings, right ...?

A pile of fried chicken. Because if you're going to eat fried chicken, you should eat a pile of it. I had a baked potato with it, but didn't post the photo. You don't make friends with potatoes.

Wendy's Double Stacks. Three of 'em at a time. At least once a week for lunch. In my defense (albeit a poor one) it is much more about time than quality. Obviously.

I've got a ritual of many years; it's not really a 'flask' cocktail, but for the fact that it cannot be made without the contents of the flask: 1. Go to sporting event 2. Order large coke or sprite. Drink 7.5 ounces of it. 3. Dump entire flask of whiskey or whisky into newly made available cup space. 4. Heckle and cheer more effectively. 5. Don't worry that you are drinking a whiskey and coke despite the fact that you are no longer 19.

Looks like one of their R&D guys went to Whataburger ... though Heinz's looks a little more versatile with the dip and squirt options.

Dinner for you tomorrow, lunch today for me. Brilliant idea! Though I've never made fish sticks before ... if I develop a fish stick addiction like I did when I found the frozen potstickers at the Super H, I'm going to be really upset.

Well, I think Five Guys just showed up in Dallas; they might get to Norman pretty soon (no place better for good fast-food burgers than a college town, right?) So, my anaylsis of fast-food burgers, keeping in mind that they are all decidedly fast food: I don't know if Norman has a Burger Street, but that's No. 1 on my list by a mile, as it seems to me to have the freshest vegetables and the best ratios of meat to veggies to bun size. I'll go ahead and throw in the note that I can't really tell a massive difference between the flavors in any fast-food hamburger meat; it just tastes to me like ... fast-food hamburger meat. I'd say Braums is next on my list - again, because of freshness of the veggies. To me the bun is not particularly memorable, but it's not memoarably bad, either. And they serve the burger in the little-paper-holder-napkin-sack thing (what's that really called?). Because the stuff might fall out without it when you eat the burger. I like that. Next, Whataburger. Because I'm from Texas and I'll get shot if I don't put it on the list. Not making it No. 1 was a risk in itself ...