Tour de 'Que: 2008.04

I am living a fantasy. Doesn't every man's fantasy involve twins or something. Well, I have my twins. A few weeks ago, my wife let me go out ... and ... buy a new gas grill. WA HOO!!! She's a beaut. A twin sister for Charlotte (my smoker). Now my gas grill, Harriet, stands as a testament that if you live right, your fantasies will come true. She's got a gas burner, a grill and even a valve to turn the gas on. Let's just say, I'm in heaven. Here are some pictures as well as a video by the BBQ queen:

Here is Harriet. Notice her sleek exterior, her double doors, her 5-knobs and a timer, her extra large shelf ... it's like something you see in those special "guy" magazines ... I know ... dirty ...

Here's the BBQ Queen ... kissing Harriet. Even a 7-year old is not immune from Harriet's super-human powers.

Harriet is just like a member of the family. The BBQ Queen likes to start and Harriet's grill. Here's a video introduction of Harriet, staring the BBQ Queen:

And now to dinner last night. Let's just say it was YUMMY! We have a family in our church who just had a baby and we were taking them dinner. Well, you know I can't justify taking them something "normal" - we had to do something AMAZING! Like .... RIBS!!! Yes, RIBS!!! That sounds great. We'll do ribs and chicken. It was settled. Ribs and chicken thighs. I would cook the ribs in the old 3-2-1 method (it turned out to be 4-2.5-1 and the ribs were very nearly perfect - a little too tender). We decided to invite my dad to dinner and he made things even better. Yes, he brought more meat - 2 big T-bones. I figure, whenever you can have chicken, ribs and a great steak for the same meal, your wife must be out of town (and yes, my mom was out of town and my wife is just as eager to eat good BBQ as I am). Oh yea, we also had some home made Cole slaw and a loaf of Hearth bread made by my wife.

Here are the amazing T-bones that my dad brought. Let's just say, he earned himself a return invite!!! We simply seasoned them with salt and pepper and then grilled them on Harriet at a very high temperature.

You have to love the guest who comes to dinner and brings two HUGE T-bones ... TASTY!! They were actually quite amazing. Just perfect.

Ribs on the smoker. Look at the apple wood smoke just consume the meat. This is going to be some good stuff.

My BBQ queen helping me get the chicken on the smoker. The rub is one that Michelle invented and, if I do say so myself, it is quite amazing. She is an amazing cook as you would know if you went here.

Here's Charlotte doing her thing (yes, I have to make sure to give some face time to Charlotte, she was feeling left out).

Ready to come off of the smoker. These ribs look PHAT!!! The best that I've ever done.

The the final picture shows the chicken and ribs in all of their brilliance. YES! IT IS TRUE, WE EAT WELL IN OUR HOUSE!!!

The chicken was AMAZINGLY tender. You would take a bite and the juices would spill down your chin. The ribs were very tasty but a little too tender. They totally fell apart. A perfect rib should have some "pull" to it - i.e. when you take a bite, the meat should come off the bone, but not pull all of the meat off the bone at the same time.

Well, that's if for now. Hope you enjoy these pictures as much as I enjoyed eating the food.

PLA

It's been a while since I posted ... I actually forgot all about it. Work has been CRAZY!!!! and I just haven't had time ... heck, I haven't even Q'ed since the last post (over a month ... that's CRAZY!!!). I am getting very excited. The weather is picking up so I will soon replace (or add to) many of the Q pictures pictures of me in spandex (GROSS!) on a bike. I'm SUPER stoked. I am going to take my bike down tomorrow, air up the tires and get stuff ready to go. If all works out well, next weekend will by my first ride of the season.

Here are some pictures of tonight's dinner. We had a rib roast that turned out quite tasty ... even if I do say so myself. You will notice that the roast looks over done ... well, for a rib roast. Michelle likes her beef "well done." We compromised and I did this one medium-well. It's a work in progress. Next roast will be medium ... you get the idea.

Hello taters ... enjoy the BBQ.