We continued the weekend by ordering some Frozen Dairy Bar and Boardwalk Pizza. They deliver, so when we’re too tired to go out, we often order from them. This time, we didn’t even get pizza. My wife got a meatball sub, and I got a burger with sweet and hot peppers. The food is good, but the goosebumps (like a blizzard) are why you go back. Early the next morning, we headed to Burke to help a friend move. As it turns out, we had 5 guys to fill the largest truck they’d rent my buddy. It was quite a bit of work.
After about 4 hours, we had some pizza and beer. After the move, we went back to my place for some shoes, and it was so nice, we got some ice cream at Lazy Sunday.
Then we went to my friend’s St. Patricks Day party. As an Irishman, he takes his St. P’s very seriously. St. P’s punch, meat and potatoes, soda bread, and a flight of Irish whiskey. I’m not generally a big fan of Irish whiskey, but the Redbreast 12 was amazing. I may pick myself up a bottle. The hostess made her famous Irish car bomb cupcakes. I don’t know her exact recipe, but I’m sure similar ones can be found online. I’m not much of a dessert guy, but those cup cakes are bomb (intended).
The next day, we went to Fredericksburg to unload the moving truck. This time we had a lot of help, and the work went pretty quickly.
After the move, we went to Famous Dave’s for some BBQ. I would have rather gone to Bubba’s BBQ, but as we found out about a week ago, our favorite BBQ place closed. It wasn’t the best BBQ I’d ever had, but I did love me some Bubba’s BBQ, and Mo, the owner, was always a good time.
I can’t imagine a busier weekend. There is some more stuff to move, and I might end up helping with some painting, but for now, as CW says, I’m going to rest my body.
by rsiv withI don’t personally observe lent, but a lot of my friends do. I’d had never had a fast food fish sandwich before living with two Catholic roomates in my fraternity. I do eat meat on most Fridays during lent, but I always look forward to a fish sandwich or two. I realize that doesn’t exactly fit into the self-denial/fasting aspect of lent, but like I said, I’m not really an observer. I had the BK Big Fish below on Ash Wednesday, which I later found out, is a no meat day for Catholics, so my Catholic buddy was pleased. Its Friday, so today would be a good day to give one a try if you’ve never had one.
I also tried the Satisfries. They are about what I’d imagined they be. Not bad, not as good as normal fries.
by rsiv withI got my dad a smoker for xmas. He called me about coming over and breaking her in before the big game. I got on the interwebs and found a recipe for beef back ribs (something I hadn’t smoked before), called around until I found some (all the way out in Springfield), threw some beers in the cooler, cooler in the truck, and headed over.
There a ton of info out there on what to buy, and how to get started smoking, so I won’t get into it in depth. I will say that no matter what kind of charcoal cooking you do, you’d be crazy not to start without a charcoal chimney. To keep an even temp in the Weber Smokey Mountain, I used the minion method. For wood, we chose mesquite and apple. Mesquite can impart too strong of a flavor in some meats, and for some people, but I tend to like it most of the time. When the grill got up to temp, and I’d rubbed the ribs and threw them on, I headed back inside. My mom isn’t a beer drinker, so I made her a margarita.
The instructions I found online for the beef ribs called for about a 5 hour smoke, so we had some time to kill. The wife got some buffalo chicken dip going in the crockpot, and we headed downstairs for some pool, pinball, and darts.
At 4:30 or so our friends started arriving. I sauced half of the ribs about then, and left the rest dry. I pulled them at 5, let them rest, and then served.
One of the wives made peanut butter cup cakes, and another guest brought a peanut butter porter. It was a pretty crazy combo. The ribs were a big hit. None of us really had a team to root for, but we had good food, good friends, and plenty of beer, so it was a great night.
by rsiv withAlthough this blog was started in late January, I’d like to capture the whole year. I’ll start with xmas, which was technically 2013. I got an early xmas prezzie from my wife, the Weber Smokey Mountain. My first time out, I just tried a single rack of ribs with a dry rub. It was awesome, and I highly recommend the WSM.
Shortly thereafter, a fraternity brother hosted a KC BBQ rules rib off. My team won, but I can’t really take much of the credit. We had a tried and true competition smoker on our team who made most of the decisions.
For xmas, we started with our (for the last two years) tradition of vodka, champagne, caviar, blinis, and creme fraiche. Then we opened presents. My wife got a Beretta Explor A400 in 20 gauge. I got a champagne saber, inscribed with a quote from Napoleon, reiterated (but paraphrased) by Winston Churchill. Then for dinner we had our traditional steak (a slightly older tradition), which was phenomenal.
For New Years, we went to Montreal. It was about a 9 hour drive, but it flew by talking to close friends in the car. We stayed on Square Phillips at an awesome hotel that was walking distance to just about everything.
We went to Casa Del Habano in Montreal twice. Once because we jumped the gun because we were so excited, and then again for my buddy’s 29th bday. I enjoyed a Hoyo Epicure #2, and a Monte #4. We also had some great Cuban rum. Havana Club Seleccion de Maestros was our favorite.
We also did some sightseeing. The museum of fine arts was particularly good. My two favorite works were Moonlight by Henri-Joseph Harpignies (1889) (Clair de lune by Debussy was played deliberately in the room), and Boys Club by Jules de Balincourt (2011).
We also enjoyed visiting the Notre-Dame Basilica of Montreal.
We ate at schwartz’s.
Visited the house of jazz:
For my friend’s birthday, we ate at Le Club Chasse et Peche on the recommendation of Tony Bourdain. Then on New Years, we dined at Chez Queux, right on Place Jacques Cartier, where the festivities go down.
NYE in Montreal:
When it was time to drive back, it was a little chilly and a bit of a snow storm rolled in.
We also celebrated my wife’s birthday this month. First by going to Russia House during restaurant week (everything was great, I’d go back for the vodka sampler), followed by a Caps game.
Then we headed to West By God for a hunt, a movie in an old timey theater, and some relaxing with friends. For her birthday dinner, we smoked a pork butt and had us some pulled pork.
by rsiv with