basketball

A concentrating guard

guarding concentration

passing in

warming up

contrails

The sky was clear and cold, and the contrails made quite a pattern.

Our friends house from the air

We got to go flying. The air was still and the sky was clear. We flew over there house and took picture. Flying is great.

How To Bar-B-Q pork

This is the cooker that I make slow cook pork with. I got it a Loewe's, around $75.
It says it is a 7 in 1 cooker, but I only use it one way. If you were so motivated, you could use regular charcoal, but the propane part works for me. It has three sections, base middle and top.
The base is a bowl, and it comes with two plates that fit inside the bowl, and a grill that covers the top of this layer. The middle is just a tube that holds up the second rack. You can use this to do more meat than I usually do, but we can't eat that much without help.

This second picture shows the grill unstacked, so you can see the parts. The foil is an integral part. Although I do not spend a lot of time cleaning, putting in a foil layer in the bottom allows for the removal of the foil after a cooking session, and as gravity rules, most of the mess is in the foil.

So once I have checked to make sure I have a full tank of propane, (I keep two at the house just in case). And I have the foil in the bottom of the cooker, I can start cooking.

But the most important part of the cooking is the preparation of the pork. I have tried many different methods, including vinegar/water marinades, injections with spice mixtures, and rubs. I like to keep things simple, and inexspencive if possible. So I get my spices from the generic sections of the store, and keep them simple as well. I use onion powder, garlic powder, garlic salt, salt, a bulk mix that I get at Sam's and some fresh ground pepper from my pepper mill. The only special mix I use is Kroger's Jerk seasoning. It seems to add just the right bit of sweet.

The other consideration is what kind of cut of pork. Sam's is currently selling loins and tenderloin cuts that are excellent sliced. If you want something more like a pulled pork I recommend a Boston Butt. The extra fat makes helps keep the meat moist when you cook it long enough for the connective tissue to break down, allowing you to pull or separate the pork.

What you see here is a Boston Butt.
I don't use a measure on how much of what. I usually end up with about a cup and a half of rub. Probably something like 1/3 onion powder, 1/3 garlic powder, 1/3 garlic salt, a teaspoon of salt, and a generous grind of pepper. To that I add a teaspoon of the Jerk seasoning. I dry wisk that together to get a good mix. That is what you see here.

Rub this mixture into the meat. To do this spread out some foil on the counter, and put the meat on it. Put a tablespoon on the meat and spread it around. As you rub it on, it will absorb some of the moisture from the meat. That is the secret to this method, I think. The mix on the outside works with the moisture from the meat as it heats up, and helps to season the meat all the way through. It also stays on the outside of the meat, forming something like a crust.

Here you see the meat with the rub applied.

Around this time you want to get the cooker up to heat. I like to cook at about 200 degress indicated, this gives the interior time to catch up with the outside. Your results will vary with the cut of meat, and the condition of your cooker. I understand that another method of doing this requires at least a day and a case of beer. The meat usually cooks for me in about 5 hours for a 3 pound cut.

One thing I can't tell you is how to tell when it is done. I have tried using thermometers, and timing and looking at the juice that runs out. After doing enough of these, there is a certain softness that comes to the whole cut, that lets you know. Another tell tale sign is the bottom of the cut getting good and black. When I started cooking these, I would move them and turn them and I think I was working too hard at it. With the round shape of the cooker, there are not many hotspots. So now is put the cut on and make sure it stays at temperature. I only move it when it is done. And that usually takes a large spatula or two as the meat falls apart.

IU vs Michigan

We got some great seats thanks to our friend Susan. The picture is captured from TV. You can see John Mellencamp next to his wife and our friends Dan and Sue in the back row. IU won and they looked good doing it. Robert Vaden got a certain look in his eye and took the game. Thanks Susan for getting us close.

morning on the square

We had a power shuffle at the office, so I found myself on the square before the sun came up and tried to take a picture. It was dark enough that I could have used a tripod, but did not have one, so I only got one shot out of the 8 I took.