Pulled Pork (with North Carolina vinegar sauce)

Well, I've been having a hankering for some Bar-b-que... Some smoked butt and a nice vinegar based sauce with crushed red pepper. You know, a nice North Carolina style Pulled Pork. So I set my sights high and figured it was up to me.

Kinda, "Now. Here. This."

So I got myself busy.

This would be two quarts of water, some salt and some molasses.

Because everyone knows you don't have to, but you can "Brine your Swine".

This is the pork after a nice 12 hour bath in the stuff, rinsed and about to be patted dry.

I am pretty sure every one knows I like to rub my butt, just in case here is some photographic proof.

At this point, I like to wrap it up and let it sit in the fridge for a day, just to soak up all those tasty spices.

Bright and early Sunday Morning. The Smoker is at temp (200) and the meat has reached room temp. (about an hour)

Smoking away.

About half way done. Don't forget to mop hourly with a mix of Cider Vinegar and Kentucky Bourbon!

Bring to 190 internal temp (this was about 9 hrs)wrap in foil and let rest for 1 hour. Pull. drizzle with a thin piquant vinegar sauce (cider vinegar, brown sugar, ketchup, salt, crushed red pepper and water)

Eat up.

Breakfast Crepes :)

I made Miranda and David crepes for breakfast this morning!

Fresh Fruit
:)

A few crepes, fresh raspberries and blueberries, a little cool whip, powdered sugar, and a touch of fruit pie filling will get anyone going in the morning!
(not to mention the sugar rush)

I pulled my crepe recipe off of Epicurious.com...
So if anyone's interested in the actual recipe for the crepes, you can find it here. It's delicious!

Breakfast Crepes

Not Lobster II

OK. At the risk of being considered an elitist, I'm going to spread a little peanut butter of my own.

Meet Mr. Crab.

Mr. Crab isn't just any Crab, he's a PEANUTBUTTERED DUNGENESS CRAB.

Actually, in all honesty, today's my birthday. And Miranda and David bought me the best birthday present... ever.

Just hanging in the yard.

David enjoying the crabs.

Sorry Man, but that's enough fooling around.
At least in the yard.

Waiting.

One down, One to go.

Boiling.

What you want to do is drop your crab into one gallon of boiling, salted water. Use 1/4 cup of kosher salt to salt the water. After adding crab, return to a boil, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes for a crab 1.5 to 2 lbs, or 18 for 2.5 to 3 lbs.

Once your crab is done, drop him in ice water until the shell is cool enough to handle. Then clean your crab.

I'll spare you the gross cleaning pictures.

This then, is what you're left with.

Attack of the claw!

Trying to make off with the leg AND the claw... in my pocket...

Can't be beat. Savory, Sweet, the best meat on earth.

Pepsi Natural

So Chris bought some of this Pepsi Natural while we were gone. It's all natural and stuff.


It tastes really bad to me. Of course, that could be 'cause I'm pregnant. Stuff tastes different to me now. Chris said it just tasted like regular cola to him, so he finished it off. Still not worth four dollars a bottle.

Not Lobster

So. I'm not exactly sure how... but a loaf of excellent bread found its way into my cart at the store the other day. Go figure. Some how I knew I had the capability to make Toast and not just any toast, PEANUTBUTTER TOAST! First you grab some grainy high fiber bread... Toast it up... slather on the P.B. and then you get to eat.

Grilled Lobster Tails

So. I'm not exactly sure how... but a couple of small lobster tails found their way into my cart at the store the other day. Go figure.

I've never made lobster before. But we've got a grill... we can cook anything right?

The first thing we'll need is a little cook's oil.

David's Famous West Coast Gin and Tonic.

The first thing we did was parboil the tails. They're small so they only boiled for about three minutes. We don't want to cook them completely.

Then I cut the tails so they'd lay flat on the grill and then we slathered them with garlic butter.

Side One for about a minute...
(That's Miranda's burger too. It's the weirdest thing... she won't eat seafood.)

Side Two for about another... basting with more butter.

Combined with fresh greens from the garden...
Not too shabby.
I ate that.

Steamers!

Dug myself some clams today...

Siphon away little buddy!

MMMMM. Steamers!

Marinated Chicken Kabobs

We decided to marinate a little chicken and make kabobs for dinner. Here I'm grating ginger while making Miranda's Ginger Glazed Chicken marinade.

1/2 cup pineapple juice
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 sesame oil
1/4 cup olive or vegetable oil
1/4 cup honey
1.5 Tbsp of minced garlic
1 Tbsp grated fresh ginger
1 tsp black pepper

Marinating Away.

And since that marinade we made last night for the beef was pretty good, we whipped some of that up too to see how it goes with chicken.

And Mojitos!

Marinating.
Us and/or the meat.

Teamwork in action while making the Kabobs.

Looks pretty good!

David, grill master extraordinaire.

Ah, the ambiance.

It all turned out great.

Beautiful.

Chris' Flavor Saver
(for Matt)

And see!
Miranda does it too!