Hello again

I may need to reintroduce myself after being offline for so long. Some of you may have forgotten all about me, but for those who have not given up, here I am! I am still alive and doing well despite my grievous lack of recent posts. Wifey has resumed working and I have been caring for our little one while she is away. Annabelle is a delight and I am enjoying having a little father-daughter time with her. The weather has finally turned chilly and all the mosquitoes are dead, dead, DEAD! Hooray!! This has led to a sharp uptick in outdoor activities, including perfecting my meat smoking technique. We had a couple friends over Thursday to share a some racks of ribs with us and had a great time in the process. To counteract the effects of consuming massive amounts of BBQ these past two weeks, I decided to venture into the unknown and try my hand at preparing sushi. I was amazed at how simple and fun it is to create delicious fotomaki and nigiri. I think I may have found another culinary hobby to explore! I will be posting pics the next time I whip some up, so stay tuned and feel free to send me some ingredient ideas. This time we had tuna and crab, as well as cucumber, carrot, celery, avocado, and cream cheese in various combinations. I suggest you give it a try, it's a blast! Have a great night and enjoy the college football.

Get ready for winter, people 

Someone enjoyed the ribs! 

Ahhh, this is where the magic happens! 

Note the makeshift thermometer for precision temperature management 

The grill beginning to smoke early in the morning 

The ribs after a good night's sleep in the fridge with some dry rub for a blanket 

Where there's smoke...

There's Ribbies! 7AM found me sliding out of bed to start my hickory chunks a-soakin'. I gave my meat a nice coating of dry rub last night and set them in the fridge to soak up my secret spices. This morning I lit the grill at 9:30 and sat down to eat a delicious breakfast courtesy of my loving Wifey. After washing up I put the finishing touches on my smoldering charcoal and added some hickory and set the meat to smoke. I got a little adventurous last night in the meat department and ordered some Texas country-style ribs. They are meatier and have less rib bones than baby backs. Supposedly the cheaper the cut of meat, the better it tastes when smoked. These ribs were $2.99/lb so they should be delectable! I will keep you updated as the meal progresses, so stay tuned. In the meantime, here are some pictures of the procedure. Have a great day!

Once eaten, twice smoked!

Hello blogbuddies, Wizard back with some impending cuisine commentary. I went to the grocery store today to snag some ribs for Part II of the saga of the Smoke King. Tomorrow I will endeavor to slow smoke an incredible amount of pig meat and create some perfect barbecue. I will be updating you with all the juicy details soon. Last night I watched the movie Crash, which was a great flick. It was extremely heart-wrenching and thought-provoking and is one of the best movies I have seen in a long time. I highly recommend checking it out if you have not watched it yet. Annabelle is doing well and the next few days off should yield some prime picture taking time. The leaves are beginning to turn, so I will try to deliver on the pictures I previously promised. Until then, have a great evening and stop by again soon.

If you liked that last post..

....you're going to LOVE this site. Enjoy.

Haiku for you

The earthworm quivers

Hiding from the rusty blade

Soil is raped again

Put that in your grill and smoke it!

So I have another culinary experience to impart to my loyal readers. I have started smoking! No, not cigarettes, cigars, or other stinky smoldering sticks. I have begun to learn the art of meat smoking. I concede the fact that my equipment is pedestrian; a Weber charcoal kettle is fairly basic when it comes to outdoor cooking finery. However, sometimes the simpler you keep things, the better your results! I found this webpage which helped me plan my attack on the rack of ribs Wifey requested on Friday. For those of you who do not understand the difference between true barbecue and grilling, this webpage will clarify it for you. For more in depth information on correct techniques for concocting perfect ribs, check this out. The ribs were prepared with a dry rub, drizzled with a wine-based mop, and basted with my homemade BBQ sauce. They took about 3 hours to finish cooking and were muy delicioso. I also cooked some new potatoes and corn to accompany my meaty masterpiece. If you are a carnivore, I recommend experimenting with this cooking method. Smoke 'em if you got 'em!

Quick Update

I played eighteen holes of golf yesterday and today I am extremely sore! I am a little bit rusty, but that is to be expected after taking two months off. Wifey, Annabelle and I went to see Wallace & Grommit's Curse of the Were-Rabbit. Annabelle got a little restless and Wifey was nice enough to take her home while I finished watching the movie. It was AWESOME! I really enjoyed it and highly recommend it to children ages 0-99. Gotta run, so have a great day!

Hello again my loyal blog readers. It may be a little premature, but I think I can safely say my blogging is back on track. For those of you who joined me during my sporadic posting era, this is the format my blog was originally intended to resemble. Daily updates of little consequence with the occasional hiatus, emphasis on occasional. Today was the last day of my work week and Wifey and I have settled in for a couple of days off together. If the weather permits, I will make every effort to squeeze in some golf tomorrow. We will be going to our first movie night with Annabelle tomorrow and hope to see the new Wallace & Grommit movie, which is highly acclaimed. I will let you know what I think of it as soon as I form an opinion one way or another. Gas prices have eased off here today, and I enjoyed paying $2.58/gal. Hopefully that trend will continue as the Gulf Coast continue to recover from the double dose of hurricanes. Speaking of recovery, the earthquakes that continue to affect the Pakistan-India area have exacted a hefty human price and demanded a tremendous rescue and relief operation. Aid information here. The past year has brought the need for benevolence and charity into focus for me and highlights how small our differences are in this dynamic terrestrial existence we share. God bless the victims of this disaster and give strength to the courageous volunteers working to improve the situation.

Here fishy fishy fishy

Here we go again, posting in succession. The most outstanding things that happened today were cuddling with our baby and eating a delicious asian-themed dinner with the Wifey. Annabelle went to the doctor for a checkup today and is now weighing in at a healthy 9 lbs.10 oz. She is even cuter when she is pudgy and it makes cuddling with her a lot more fun! I have a few new pics of her that I will be posting for your enjoyment. Speaking of enjoyment, if you like tuna, you would be well rewarded to try my newest concoction...sesame and cornmeal crusted ahi tuna steaks. How does one prepare this delicious dish, you ask? Easy as pie. Simply season the steaks with salt and pepper. Mix 1/4 cup of sesame seeds with 1 cup of cornmeal on a flat dish. Coat all sides of tuna in mixture. Heat vegetable oil and 1 tbsp sesame oil together in a non-stick skillet until just smoking. Gently place steaks in oil and leave for 1-2 minutes. Flip steaks and cook for another 1-2 minutes until coating is golden. Remove from oil and slice diagonally across the grain immediately and serve with your favorite side dish. Yummy yum. Bon appetit!

Heeeeeree's Annabelle! 

Hold that pose.....good.....now for a closeup! 

Goochie-goochie Goo! 

Smiley face says hello! 

Whadda you lookin' at, Bub? 

Four in a row!

Hey y'all, check this out....four posts in as many days! I may have gotten my mojo working again. Today was a good day, although mostly uneventful. Wifey and Annabelle are doing well and had a nice day together. I went to work and kept busy despite the lack of customers on Columbus Day. No, I am not going to point out how Chris stole land, victimized natives, and was a generally horrible person. I think a better tack is to celebrate a man who exemplifies independent thought and bravely embarked on ill-advised journeys into the unfathomed abyss. It takes some stones to set sail into uncharted waters with SAILING OFF THE EARTH as an possible outcome. Sure, we know better know, but imagine the strength of character it would have taken to lead three ships into the unknown for months with a crew of 15th century sailors(not the most educated or least superstitious compadres, BTW). Add to that a dwindling food supply and no hope of rescue if you don't reach your unknown destination, and you have an idea of the daily challenges our favorite Genoan faced on his puddle crossing. Not for the faint of heart indeed. I wonder what he would think about what we have done with the place. I think I'll stick to the Fathomable Depths for now! Well that is all I have for you tonight, so enjoy it while you can. Tomorrow is another day.

Uhhhhg-aaa

Well, my beloved Vols were manhandled by those junkyard Bulldogs of Georgia. I have to give credit where credit is due, the Dawgs defense was excellent and there offense got it done despite a couple of turnovers. Tennessee did not look so good on offense and the defense, after losing their leader Jason Allen to injury, had more holes than a Swiss cheese factory after a drive-by. Overall the Vols were simply outclassed by a formidable opponent. That being said, I think the polls are being a bit harsh by demoting UT 10 places. If an eighth ranked team loses to a fourth ranked team, shouldn't they be ranked around the sum total of both teams prior to that game? Eighteenth is a bit much after losing to two top-10 ranked opponents. BTW, strength of schedule, anyone??? Oh well, at least we have a chance to redeem ourselves against Alabama. Not a good chance, mind you, but I am just not ready to throw away the season just yet. Go Vols!

It's Football Time in Tennessee

Hello blogfans, the Wizard is here with the new posting you have been waiting for! Today is crazytime here in Knoxville because the Georgia Bulldogs are coming to town. This game is one of our biggest rivalries and since we are both ranked in the top ten, it should make for some interesting football. I will not be attending the game with the other 125K people, but that does not mean I will not get football fever. Go Vols!! Yesterday the Wifey and I lazed around the house until I cooked her a cold weather dinner, consisting of ribeye steaks in balsamic mushroom sauce, garlic and rosemary new potatoes, and parmesan green beans. D-licious! Sorry about the green bean recipe, it was my own. 1/2 lb washed,trimmed green beans, 2 cloves minced garlic with 1 tbsp of butter in a medium-high saucepan. Sautee beans, garlic in butter for one minute then add just enough water to cover bottom of pan. Steam for 2 minutes, remove and top with parmesan cheese! Yummy and crisp. Uh oh, gotta run off to work. Go Vols, beat them Dawgs!

Rainy days

Well, the delightful weather we have been having these past few weeks has come to an abrupt end. My days off are gloomy and rain-filled and we are anticipating a cold front that will keep the mercury under 68 today. This put a slight damper on our plans to sneak out to see Blues Traveler at Market Square this week. Being the dutiful husband, I insisted that the Wifey go out anyway while I enjoyed a little alone time with Annabelle. We did not want to expose the little one to the nasty weather, so she and Daddy had a quiet evening at home watching movies. Mommy had a lot of fun seeing her friends and says the music was great. A local band, Todd Steed and the Sons of Phere, was the opening band and apparently rocked the crowd of several thousand Knoxvillians. Despite the drizzling rain the crowd was roughly ten times the size of last week's show. Good to see that the music scene is alive and well in KnoxVegas. Annabelle and I watched Cold Mountain and The Rundown last night. I really enjoyed Cold Mountain and Annabelle seemed to love The Rundown. You know how the ladies adore musclemen like The Rock! We are all off together today and are going to get into some sort of mischief. Stay tuned to find out all the juicy details!

Breaking the seal

I figured it was about time to post my first blog for October, so here goes! First, I have a little old business--Happy Birthdays to my sister who turned 25 on the 30th and to my best amigo Richard who turned 54 on the 29th. Many more happy days to you two. Things have been surprisingly normal around here and we are having fun with our little one. Wifey has been discovering the joy of pumping with her new breastpump--Thanks Mom & Dad! I have been able to take an active role in Annabelle's feeding and I am finding it enjoyable. Now Mommy can go out and relieve her cabin fever! Work is going well and we are gearing up for a busy weekend because Tennessee will be hosting Georgia on Saturday. That game is always a big rivalry and is sure to keep our restaurant jumping with customers, both locals and visitors. I look forward to taking the little one to a game next year and introducing her to the madness that is football time in Tennessee. It's like a religion here, celebrated on Saturdays in the fall. Speaking of the fall, we are rapidly approaching the changing of the leaves here in the Smokies. I will be posting some pics of the natural art show for you all to enjoy when it gets into full swing. I hope you are all doing well and are taking time to celebrate life. Until next time....