YOU WISH

BBQ RULES
We are about to enter the BBQ season. Therefore it is important to refresh your memory on the etiquette of this sublime outdoor cooking activity . When a man volunteers to do the BBQ the following chain of events are put into motion:

Routine...
(1) The woman buys the food.
(2) The woman makes the salad, prepares the vegetables, and makes dessert.
(3) The woman prepares the meat for cooking, places it on a tray along with the necessary cooking utensils and sauces, and takes it to the man who is lounging beside the grill - beer in hand.
(4) The woman remains outside the compulsory three meter exclusion zone where the exuberance of testosterone and other manly bonding activities can take place without the interference of the woman.

Here comes the important part:
(5) THE MAN PLACES THE MEAT ON THE GRILL.

More routine...
(6) The woman goes inside to organise the plates and cutlery.
(7) The woman comes out to tell the man that the meat is looking great. He thanks her and asks if she will bring another beer while he flips the meat

Important again:
(8) THE MAN TAKES THE MEAT OFF THE GRILL AND HANDS IT TO THE WOMAN.

More routine...
(9) The woman prepares the plates, salad, bread, utensils, napkins, sauces, and brings them to the table.

(10) After eating, the woman clears the table and does the dishes.

And most important of all:
(11) Everyone PRAISES the MAN and THANKS HIM for his cooking efforts.

(12) The man asks the woman how she enjoyed ' her night off ' and, upon seeing her annoyed reaction, concludes that there's just no pleasing some women!

Pawpaw's Flowers

My Grandfather grew lot's of plants. He did all kinds of stuff after he retired from the railroad. He had two small workshops in his backyard. One for gardening and one for woodworking. I think he did woodworking out of necessity. I don't remember him ever really building a piece of furniture, I mostly remember him repairing stuff. Like furniture for himself, family and neighbors. I remember different aunts and uncles dropping off a chair or a table that needed repaired. My Dad remembers him building small, wooden boats, but that was before my time.

When school was out for the summer my little brother and I spent a lot of time at my Grandparents house. Every day we ate a huge breakfast and lunch, dinner time was about 4 o'clock in the afternoon. In between we helped Pawpaw work in the yard. Tending the lawn, flowers, ferns and some vegetable plants. There was a huge pear tree and Pawpaw shot the squirrels that tried to eat them with a pellet rifle.

Pawpaw often gave my mother plants. About fifty years ago he gave her a cutting from an Angel Wing Begonia. I think Mom is still growing that plant. About five years ago she gave me a plant grown from a cutting off the same plant. Above is a picture of a flower on that plant. It is growing in my kitchen. So I guess I'm the third generation growing that plant. There is a lot of pressure involved in growing that plant. Some folks have jewelery or art or cars or something like that passed along in their family. Not mine. I've got a plant and unlike jewelery, art or cars, one can kill a plant.

HI THERE
I'M GLENN BECK AND I'M A DUMB ASS IDIOT

BEST BUTTS IN BAMA

Well, since my wife now lives in Georgia I would have to give this award to Phil's Barbeque in beautiful downtown Eufaula, Alabama.

I googled Phil's and the first 8 hits were for places in either San Diego or St. Louis . As popular as BBQ and food blogs are these days you would think Phil's in Eufaula would rank a little higher. Well if you ate at Phil's in Eufaula you would agree with me. I'm sure.

We came across Phil's on our way to the beach a few weeks back. We were driving from Atlanta to Indian Pass Beach in the pan handle of Fla. I love a road trip. We fly just about everywhere, my wife owns Delta Airlines, at least that's what she tells me. Anyway road trips are fun when your not in a hurry and not on the interstate. We had both going for us and that gave us the chance to spot the sign directing us to the best butts in Alabama.

Phil's could be any BBQ joint in the southeast. A low cinder block building, smoke stack, screen porch, metal roof, a parking lot full of cars. You order and they bring it to your table. There were no tables available and a few folks waiting so we got it to go. We both ordered a chopped pork sandwich and a large slaw to split. At this point we didn't know what we were in for or I bet we would have ordered a lot more. Enough for a couple meals at the beach I'm sure. See this was really, really good BBQ. And it was what they said it was, chopped not pulled or minced as some places do and then call it pulled. This was called chopped and it was. Huge chunks, with the gristle and a little fat in tact. Both pink and a little char in the same bite. Juicy. They had applied just the right amount of a mustard based BBQ sauce. South Cackalack style. Man it was good. Mustard, brown sugar and vinegar go into this sauce and they had the balance just right.

So as we ride down the road eating these bodaciously good sandwiches I began to cry. Of course Stacey noticed and I told her the truth. I cried because I didn't order enough food. Like I said this was really good stuff. I have been waiting for this a long time. I have been waiting to discover really good, or what I think is really good BBQ. Yes, I have been to many good BBQ spots. Some I found on my own some I have read about and sought out. But, none have mad me cry. That's what I'm looking for in BBQ, something so good it makes me cry. Do you think I'm expecting to much? Might be, but it ain't my fault. I have read so many times about the best BBQ joints in the whole world. I have even gone out and found these places they write of. Never have I said "that writer was right, that is the best BBQ in the world". Well now I have found a place and right now it the best I know of. It might not be true. Don't matter, it's my opinion.

Best Butt's in Bama by far, but only so far. My quest for good food of all kinds is just getting started.

College Football

I have been to one college football game in my life. It's been a while so I wasn't sure what to expect the other night when we went to see Alabama play Virgina Tech at the Dome here in Atlanta.

My brother, an Alabama Alumni, sent us a couple tickets. The seats were okay. That is if you like sitting on the 40 yard line, second row, behind the Alabama bench. Really good seats.

We decided to take Marta knowing the games a sellout and the traffic will suck. We live almost at the end of the line, down by the airport, but as soon as we hit the train platform we spot Alabama fans on their way to the game. As we got closer to the Dome more and more Tech and Bama fans piled on the train. By the time we get there it is SRO on the train and it is getting loud. As soon as we exit the train cheers start. First the Bama fans then the Tech fans. Three blocks to the Dome from the train station and it's getting loud. This is a culture I know nothing about. I know of die hard fans, but going to the game with them is something else. You can tell who's a student and who is not by the noise they make. These people are pumped, it's the first game of the season. They have waited for this moment since they left the last game of last season.

So we get in the Dome, we get a beer for $7.50 and a double Bourbon drink for $15.00. We find our seats, we sit and take it all in. The seats on either side of us are empty and I hope they stay that way. No such luck. Soon the place is as full as it can get. A young couple come and sit next to me. The guy, dressed from head to toe in Bama gear turns and shakes my hand and says to me "Roll Tide", so I roll tide him back like the good fan I am. A second later he turns to me and ask if I think Devroux will start tonight. I say no. He ask if I think Devroux will play at all tonight. Again I say no. A moment later I turn and tell the Bama fan I have no idea what he is talking about. I think maybe he will explain his question to me, but instead he looks at me with disgust and makes his wife switch seats with him, telling her "I can't sit next to this guy, he doesn't even know who's playing".

DOIN THE GROUND WORK

I'm sitting in a parking lot trying to sell my furniture and art work. Saturday morning you will often find me in some parking lot some where in the Atlanta Metro area. I am surrounded by growers, as in farmers. Then there's the vendors with the specialty products. Food stuff mostly. Most always organic, local and sustainably produced.

I have been making a living this way for about 12 or 13 years now. This morning I am at the Le Cordon Bleu Culinary Institute for the annual Summers Harvest Farmers Market. Looking around I see mostly Chefs and students in their uniform. There's live music, prepared foods, artisan
cheese, art, a young lady selling soil made from the organic waste from the local Whole Foods Store and many other like minded merchants. Chefs demos are scheduled for later in the day.

If you didn't know any better you might think this market is a bust. There are not a lot of customers and the weather is questionable. But take a closer look and you see a few folks wandering around checking out each vendor, maybe having a short conversation about their product. And that's how it happens and that's how this movement is being built into a billion dollar industry.

As more folks show up and wander the market they will stop at the different booths and get the scoop on each vendors product or service they offer. The young lady selling soil or compost to be more precise, will repeat over and over again to anyone interested about her product, where it's from, how it's made and how to use it. The farmer will educate you on his heirloom veggies and the guy selling grass fed beef will inform you all about his operation and why it's better then business as usual. They will offer you a sample they have prepared on their portable cook top. You can buy if you like or just taste and learn.

These markets are the grass roots effort to inform and make available all this goodness to the public. It may not look like a lot's going on , but information is traded and relationships are started. Like the chef who meet's the farmer who will grow what the chef needs, or the cheese broker who can keep a steady supply coming so the chef can add it to his menu. The folks just interested in buying a product on a regular basics can find out what stores sell it, or get directions to the farm so they might purchase directly from the producer.

You don't see huge advertising campaings for this industry, instead it happns like I described above, one conversation at a time. One person at a time who next week drags a friend to the local framers market. And so on and so on.

TRUE STORY

Last night Stacey, aka Lil Lady, aka my wife and I were watching a Dirty Harry movie on TV. It was from 1988. One scene had Harry going into a prison, taking a walk with and talking to this really huge body builder type guy who was a prisoner. Out of nowhere Stacey causally said"I bet he's got some bitches in there".
Me?
I didn't know what to say.