YIKES!! Have ya missed me??

Sorry everyone for my absence. I've been stripping wallpaper from our 'parlor' - a 15' X 22' room with 10' ceilings in a house that is 139 years old (and that means plaster & lath walls). Strip the paper, strip the backing, scrape with a wide putty knife, sand and then wipe with a damp sponge.... WHEW!!! Have a plasterer coming in later this week to tape and plaster a big old crack that was hidden by the paper...... but have big and GREAT plans for the room once it's finished. Now longer will it be the 'parlor' but 'the gallery'....... am mounting picture rail close to the ceiling for moveable, hanging pictures (have a LOT of my fave artist and many more done by my kids (two art majors), daughter-in-law and grand daughter plus a very successful brother-in-law. Then, suspended cable-lighting (moveable spots) to illuminate whatever is on display at the moment. It's gonna look like an Art Gallery!!!!!!! Pictures once everything is finished!

But back to cooking.......... over the last 35 years or so I've owned gas grills. The first was a Charm-Glow that I kept alive for about 20 years then a couple of Webers........ but (for what seems like forEVER) I have yearned for a BIG GREEN EGG...... if you don't know what it is, Google it. It's a ceramic cooker that uses NATURAL charcoal and can maintain temps between about 200 and 700+ degrees - so you can use it to sear steaks or smoke ribs, brisket, pork butt etc.......

So far I've cooked a couple of brined thick-cut pork chops (I thought they were great but another found them a little salty - MY fault for the seasoning, it wasn't the fault of the brine). Last night I made plain old hamburgers. They came out a little more well-done than I had hoped but I attribute that to getting use to a new (very hot) grill. But the flavor was oh, so wonderful! There is NOTHING like natural charcoal - as opposed to those poisonous things they call briquettes!

Tonight are baby back ribs. They are now languishing in a home-made rub and will smoke (using Hickory chunks for smoke) for about 3+ hours, I figure....... I'll let you know in the next post how they came out. (BTW, I also have a beef brisket flat in the refridge for later this week - same basic treatment)...... can't WAIT!!!!