Tag Team eG Foodblog: Light My Fire!

[Abra]

That's a beautiful cake, Marlene. Such nice, even layers - bravo. And the gratin is swoony.

I confess that I'm at a loss as to any more adjectives to use for butt. Everyone of you does beautiful butt. Crack and stalls, we love 'em all.

But as to the grilled pizza, I'll reiterate what I said way upthread. I think it's worth the extra hassle if you're grilling it over wood or hardwood charcoal, because of the added smoky flavors. On a gas grill it just seems like it would be a PITA, to me. But then, I've never learned to get any real flavor from a gas grill.

[mizducky]

Then, Pipes (Diana, who is lettering in weight training) does her thing:

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Power tools may rock, but girls with axes rule!

Oh yeah--so what shape was the mysterious dinosaur bone in the pork butt, anyway?

[lancastermike]

5:30 AM and the bane of the blogger presents itself.

The full dishwasher waiting to be unloaded.

Gus is with me, but seems unmotivated to the task. So I guess it's me. I have a system. When I pour the water over my coffee in the press pot it takes 4 minutes to be ready. In this time I unload and put away the stuff in the dishwasher. It is efficent use of the time.

Today in Pennsylvanis is primary election day. This is the first time the county is using the new electronic voting machines. Maggie is director of the county GIS department. The county IT staff is supporting this effort as technical support. Her and her staff are part of this effort and it could be a long day and night for her. I hope it goes well.

On the county web site there is an alphabetical list of every candidate. I cut these two from that list

Weidinger Margaret A R Republican Committeewoman

Weidinger Michael D Democratic Committeeperson

Yes, Maggie and I are a mixed marriage. In Lancaster County the republican party is dominant. There are many more of them than of us Democrats. Maggie and I are not really running against each other as these are party positions. She has served on the borough council, I am currently serving on the borough planning board.

So if anyone is in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, County of Lancaster, Borough of Millersville, First Voting District, stop by and vote for one of us. Pennsylvania uses the closed primary system, were a voter can only cast votes for the party they are registered in. I would ask anyone to vote for me as many times as they can. When it comes to supporting a blogger, one man, one vote, is simply a suggestion.

My only pledge is to serve with fidelity, and to eat and drink well.

Addendum to this post

I am not really using E-Gullet to solicit votes. Both Maggie and I are unopposed for positions that offer no remuneration. It was meant as a day in the life of the blogger post and if it violates the agreement, Marlene or Susan in FL please take it down. Perhaps my brain, like everything else, is waterlogged

Edited May 16, 2006 by lancastermike (log)

[Marlene]

Why is your LC tarte tatin pan bad for tarte tatin?  And thanks for that gratin tutorial - I adore gratins, after Fifi got me started on them, but hadn't seen my way clear to gratineed broccoli before now.

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It doesn't unmold very well. 3 times I tried it in that pan. Three times, it stuck. Then I tried it using a cast iron frying pan and it worked like a dream.

I love gratins especially potato one and broccoli ones. I took a recipe from Epicurious for that one and modified it.

[Marlene]

Morning everyone. Guess what? It's raining. Nothing but showers and cool temperatures in the forecast. Don and I are seriously re-thinking our camping trip this weekend. Sigh.

Up and at it early this morning. I've got contractors knocking on my door in about an hour and I'm not even close to having the kitchen cleaned up.

I've just taken ribs out of the freezer for dinner tonight. I've got to get groceries. I need coffee.

[Kouign Aman]

It all looks so good. Home made bacon..........:drool:

4-layer cake ............:drool:

potato pizza ..........:drool:

(Is it breakfast time?)

I am totally impressed that you'd make a frosting that generated not one, not two, but THREE dirty sticky dishes. The thought of replicating that gives me the heebie-jeebies. I modify all my cooking to use the fewest possible containers, dishes etc. (the Tenor, on the other hand, would see nothing to blink at in three, four or five dishes for one batch of frosting).

Thanks for blogging on, brave folk, weather be damned!

(low 70's and overcast 24/7)

[Susan in FL]

Good Morning, bloggers and viewers. I hope you all enjoy the final day of this kick butt foodblog. It has certainly been inspirational for me. I am ready to relearn how to use our grill -- myself!

The active blog will continue until midnight local time for each blogger. I will leave it open for the traditional ending remarks and goodbyes until late morning eastern time tomorrow.

If you're wondering who we will say hello to on Thursday, check out the hints and speculation here.

[snowangel]

Mike, I'm greated with that bane of the bloggers, too. A full dishwasher. It will wait until the kids are gone.

It s absolutely stunning here today -- sunny, the promise of warm. I'm wearing shorts and intend to attack the yard today while I'm smokin' bacon. Today is what a day in May should be like!

Coffee in hand, time for a quick garden tour, then get the boy and Heidi up and ready for school.

[snowangel]

First half of the belly is on. The only drawback of the Kettle is that I don't have much grill real estate, so it will be a long day of smoking!

[MelissaH]

Susan, Marlene, and Mike:

This has been a wonderful blog, weather and all. I particularly enjoyed seeing the smoking and grilled pizzas. That, to me, is what tag-team blogging is all about. Thanks to all three of you!

Marlene, I may have to try that broccoli gratin at some point. Have you ever tried cooking it in its pan on the grill, essentially turning the grill into an oven?

But all of you: at least you HAVE a dishwasher to unload! My dishwasher is currently typing this note! (At least, for another three months, that is. By the end of August, I too should have a non-human dishwasher to unload. And then I can join your chorus.

MelissaH

[Marlene]

Marlene, I may have to try that broccoli gratin at some point. Have you ever tried cooking it in its pan on the grill, essentially turning the grill into an oven?

MelissaH

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I haven't but there's no reason it shouldn't work as long as you cooked it using the indirect method!

[alanamoana]

after reading along with the great and glorious grillers for the week...i'm inspired to buy a grill! only, i live in an apartment with a really small balcony . i might have to go with gas as it will emit less smoke, right? a little baby weber?

you are all doing a great job through the rain and wind, sleet and hail, nothing can keep you from smokin' butt (i too appreciate a good butt joke)!!

thanks for the entertainment and inspiration this week!

p.s. mike, great dogs! snowangel, great daughter! maggie, great kitties!

[Marlene]

If you live in an apartment, check codes and apartment rules. Lots of apartments won't let you have one at all and if they do, the specifiy gas only. It's rare, even in a condo apartment to allow charcol.

I really wish it would stop raining. I'll still be grilling ribs, but there's something about grilling in sunshine that just makes a person happier. i'm off to the market to lay in supplies.

[Lori in PA]

Marlene -- ribs! Goody!

[Kouign Aman]

First half of the belly is on.  The only drawback of the Kettle is that I don't have much grill real estate, so it will be a long day of smoking!

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Is there anyone in your neck of the woods that could build you an off-set two tiered rack that would fit the weber (lid closed) ?

That bacon looks so good.

Thank you all again, for your blogging prowess and weather-smokin-grillin perseverence. Its been a lot of fun hangin with you guys this week! (well, except for yesterday when I was forbidden to eat for 8 hours. Then it was painful and I had to log off! )

[ldenney]

The broccoli gratin looks delicious and like something even I could cook.

Would you mind being a little more specific to amounts of ingredients.

And, the broccoli, I assume has been steamed before the other ingredients are added?

[snowangel]

As you can see, it's a stunning day here in the Twin Cities area.

There are a few herbs in this garden, and the big plants on the left side are rhubarb. These came from my grandparents farm in Nebraska -- I have no idea how old the stock for these plants is. I'll be clearing out another area of the yard next to the house for a proper herb garden.

I'm so pleased with myself. I've kept the Kettle down to between 150 and 180 so far, and I left for about 45 minutes and things were just fine!

My mom wanted to go to Costco, so I went along with her. Costco is a little over a mile from my house, so I'm a frequent (very) shopper, and will often stop for just a couple of items, as I did today. Kid supplies.

Grated cheese, tortillas and yellow mustard. The cheese was $4.79 for 2 pounds, tortillas $2.99 for 36, and the mustard was $3.15. I noted that regular 1% milk was $1.99/gallon (supermarket runs about $3.59), butter was $6.15 for 4 pounds. We were there too early for samples! Gasoline is running about $2.75/gallon right now, but the price will go up on Wednesday night or Thursday morning and then drop again on Sunday. This is the gas price pattern during the summer -- nail them before they head out of town.

[Marlene]

The broccoli gratin looks delicious and like something even I could cook.

Would you mind being a little more specific to amounts of ingredients.

And, the broccoli, I assume has been steamed before the other ingredients are added?

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The broccoli is blanched first for about 2 minutes. It can be done ahead of time. I'll try to post the recipe to RG sometime later today.

[judiu]

Snowangel, that is the most gorgeous yard! Were you sitting in a tree to take such a grand arial photo? Just to keep this on topic, your rhubarb is spectacular!

Edited May 16, 2006 by judiu (log)

[snowangel]

Back to the plant sale I went to last Friday. I have an area of the yard next to the house that will become an herb garden. It is adjacent to more space -- that has the door to the garage. There are some cement stones forming a path from the garage to the back yard, and it's a weed-infested mess. So, I'm going to plant a while mess of thyme.

The things in the black plastic tray are all herbs -- the ones behind are flowers.

I bought creeping Thyme (Thymus serpyllus) -- both a bigger leafed version and a real mini one:

Caraway Thyme (Thymus herba-barona):

and Lime Thyme:

I also bought sorrell and winter savory.

A couple of weeks ago, I bought lemongrass, Thai basil and a new rosemary plant (did not winter over this year). Since I bought them earlier in the season than I'd want to plant them, they have been sitting in the pot of my kaffir lime tree on the deck. That way, if they predicted a freeze, I could get them inside quickly.

The soil is still pretty cold, so I'll probably wait until we get back from the cabin (we're going on Friday) to plant them. I have not even purchased my tomato plants yet -- I never plant them much before Memorial Day weekend. I'm tempted, for the tomatoes this year, to go the tire route.

[snowangel]

Snowangel, that is the most gorgeous yard! Were you sitting in a tree to take such a grand arial photo? Just to keep this on topic, your rhubarb is spectacular!

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I was on my deck! We live in a split entry, so the deck is pretty high up.

Oh, and before I plant the herb garden, I have to remove about a ton of river rock. This yard was an absolute disaster when we moved in (there was no garden), and the house was surrounded by river rock. I have removed all of the river rock in the front of the house, and about half of it from the back of the house. It's nasty, mean work, but I offered it to takers on twincitiesfreemarket.org, and people came and took it away.

[Marlene]

The ribs are rubbed and in the fridge for now. I'm going to do broccoli again, but this time with hollandaise and baked potatoes. We still have cake for dessert. My dishwasher is running (again). The sun seems to be trying to peek out.

[snowangel]

What's in the rub, Marlene?

[lancastermike]

Your yard looks great Susan, I wish mine looked half that good. This weekend is to include major yard work at our place.

I was going to ask the temp for the bacon. How long do you let it smoke at that low a temperature? Does the cure help with any nasty little critters that may lurk?

12:50 Pm at work today and lunch is no were in sight. maybe sometime this afternoon I'll have time. I did just stop for a bathroom break and looked outside and Glory Be! the sun be a shinin' on lancaster.

I will cretainly be here late tonight and than Maggie may have election night issues.

However, since this is our last night, sometime, something will be on my grill. Not sure what it may be or when it will happen. But happen it will. Hot dogs anyone?

Edited May 16, 2006 by lancastermike (log)

[Marlene]

What's in the rub, Marlene?

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Onion powder, chili powder, garlic powder and paprika basically.