Tag Archives: BBQ

News, Politics, Government

Thanking Service Members and Military Families Around the World

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By Dr. Jill Biden

Dr. Jill Biden talks with members of the USS Fitzgerald during their stop in Singapore

Dr. Jill Biden talks with members of the USS Fitzgerald during their stop in Singapore. (Photo Credit: Jay C. Pugh)

Before leaving Singapore this past weekend, I had the opportunity to attend a BBQ with U.S. service members and their families stationed in Singapore, as well as crewmen from the USS Fitzgerald, docked in Singapore at the time. Joe and I also visited with service members, their families, and DOD employees in Hawaii, at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam. When Joe and I travel, we love nothing more than to meet with our men and women in uniform and their families to thank them for their service and sacrifice.

Military families face so many challenges, as spouses get deployed and families move around. When I was in Singapore, I met a woman who was in the Navy and she told me that this was her 14th move. As a military mom, I understand a bit of what these families are going through. Our son Beau was deployed for a year to Iraq as a member of the Delaware Army National Guard and our son Hunter is an Ensign in the Navy Reserves. This experience, as well as the joys and concerns we heard from military families as we traveled around the world led First Lady Michele Obama and I to start Joining Forces. It is our hope that we can rally all Americans to support our veterans and military families. Joining Forces brings together public and private resources to help with the employment, education, and wellness of our veterans, servicemen and women, and their families.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at The White House

Recipes

Road Food: Off the Beaten Path

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By Joanne Camas It’s traditional that our family ventures farther afield than rest stops for meals when we’re traveling. We resist the neon lure of the mega-chains, and drive a few extra miles to find a local eatery. Sometimes it’s a disaster (we have to drive too far off our route, or the food is terrible), but we’ve made some delicious discoveries, too. There was the family restaurant with a plethora of pies; the gloomy diner with the best pancakes and a model train chugging around the top of the wall; the shack with the fluffiest clouds of doughnuts; and the quirky Massachusetts restaurant piled high with books to borrow or buy. Last weekend we were hungry around Lewisburg, WV, and drove through town and out the other side into Fairlea, home of “West Virginia’s Best BBQ.” When Pigs Fly Real Pit BBQ may well be justified in making that lofty claim. We had overstuffed baked potatoes piled with pulled pork, BBQ pork sandwiches with homemade coleslaw and creamy mac ‘n’ cheese, and a plate of fall-off-the-bone ribs. Fantastic food, and delightful owners and staff, too. Have you made any memorable road-trip dining discoveries lately? Or do you save time and just pull off the road and eat at a services restaurant?

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Source: Epicurious

News, Politics, Government

Fashion Boutiques On Wheels

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By Karsten Strauss, Forbes Staff

Those of us that live in cities in the United States have had front row seats to food truck phenomenon. During the luncheon hours it’s easy to find any number of  vans and trucks selling tacos, Thai noodles, falafel, BBQ, and of course ice cream—last week there was even a van parked in front of Forbes New York HQ selling doughnuts. But trucks patrolling the streets of American cities are not only slinging hash, they’re hocking fashion.These unique entrepreneurs are taking a proactive approach to making sidewalk shoppers look good. These days a number of cities boast vans and trucks that sell clothing and accessories. Around Chicago, on-street fashionistas may run into Fashion In Motion, a mobile shopping boutique run by Gina Crater-Lilja. “When you come home from work, a lot of women don’t have time to shop,” Crater Lilja told The Daily Herald. “So to fill that need for women who love the opportunity to get stylish clothes from a boutique, and do it on a lunch break, we decided to do this.” In Boston, one entrepreneur that’s made a business put of a boutique on wheels is Emily Benson. Following her college graduation, a love of fashion mixed with inspiration from New York City’s food truck culture and Benson decided to move back to her native Boston to set up her own business. Her fashion truck – which she appropriately calls The Fashion Truck – first hit the streets in June of 2011. All apparel and accessories Benson sells are under $100, according to her site, and she has begun offering a monthly class on how to make a profit as a “mobile retail business.” In Pittsburg, Cailey Breneman decided to go mobile due to her boredom with malls and shops. Last month she kicked off her new business – a van full of apparel and accessories called Roadie – in the city’s Strip District. Breneman offers vintage and contemporary clothing plus accessories. When her vehicle is parked she lays out the clothing on racks so people can browse. New York City’s Harlem neighborhood is also getting on the mobile boutique trend. Fashion entrepreneur Nneka Green-Ingram has laid claim to a spot on 125th Street and Lenox Avenue to park her Celebrities Mobile Boutique. Every item Green Ingram sells is between $5 and $30 and she also offers $40 makeovers. Former owner of Soho’s The Garment Room, Tiffany Nicole McCrary has set up a mobile outpost in the latest of many hip Brooklyn neighborhoods to rollerskate its way into the spotlight. In Bushwick, across from the now legendary Roberta’s Pizza restaurant, the $10 or less Mobile Vintage Shop has been hocking vintage garb, receiving attention from local newspapers in the process. …read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest

Do it yourself

SS Baffle Plates

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By kolias

I have noticed that all new gas BBQ‘s coming with these SS baffle plates on top of the burners and remember a few years back they used to have the burners covered only with these bricket like stones.

What was wrong with the bricket like stones and they switched to these SS baffle plates?

Personally I prefer the bricket like stones

From: http://www.doityourself.com/forum/gas-kitchen-appliances-dryers-bbqs/493744-ss-baffle-plates.html

Do it yourself

Giant campstove griddle for cooking Jiffy Pop

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By buildthefun

I want to make the world’s longest griddle so we can cook a dozen Jiffy Pops at the same time, as a race. Criteria: cheap, safe, single-use.

The heat source could be BBQ charcoal, but maybe simpler/faster to start & stop would be a dozen cans of Sterno canned heat.

The JiffyPop aluminum pan sometimes melts over open flames, so instead of a wire mesh I’m thinking a metal griddle would be best. But a proper cast iron griddle would be too expensive. A long sheet of aluminum siding would probably melt through. How about a long section of galvanized steel ductwork, the type used in home heating? Would exposing that to direct flame be a problem? Any other suggestions?

Note the food itself won’t touch the griddle; I’m not frying eggs. I just need a flat surface that will take the heat for an hour, ideally something I can buy cheaply off the shelf.

Thanks!

From: http://www.doityourself.com/forum/outdoor-cooking-barbecuing/493360-giant-campstove-griddle-cooking-jiffy-pop.html

Do it yourself

Advice in general on using a mixer

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By timbo59

We have a ton of outdoor work to do on our home, which is on a one acre block. One of the things I want to do is put a number of paths around the back yard, make a few patios, set up a BBQ area, etc, and I’ve been wondering how much of this I could do for myself by buying a 4-bag mixer. I’ve only done a little bit of concrete work in the past (I worked in a concrete gang on a hydro dam many years ago, have built some steps in my home and leveled a floor) but I’m not sure exactly how much I can do in comparison to getting a truck in. I mean, can I accomplish in small steps what a professional crew could do with a truck in one or two hits? I don’t mean like a driveway, which has to be done in one pour, but areas which I could section off with wooden dividers that could either be lifted out once the concrete has dried or left in place to be tiled over later.

Thanks.

From: http://www.doityourself.com/forum/bricks-masonry-asphalt-concrete/492947-advice-general-using-mixer.html

Linux

Jono Bacon: Introducing BBQpad

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Recently I have been working on a project with my best buddy Stuart ‘Aq’ Langridge, called BBQpad.

I haven’t really talked much about it on my blog as we have been fixing up the rough edges, but I wanted to share a little about it now.

As some of you will know, I have been increasingly getting into BBQ as a hobby. I love being outside and cooking, I love cooking over fire, and the art and science of BBQ facinates me. Don’t think there is a science? Well check out amazingribs.com and see just how much detail, science, and engineering can be involved in creating awesome BBQ.

One of the tips people give you when you start learning grilling and smoking is to maintain a notebook where you track the details of your cooks. You can then refer to what you did, learn from what works and what doesn’t, and improve your ‘cue.

Being of the nerdy persuasion, I was not going to use no stinking paper and pen, so I wrote a web app to track my cooks.

Originally I wrote this as something just for me, and then it struck me that this could be of general interest. I was chatting to Aq one day and he loved the idea so we decided to build what you now see at www.bbqpad.com. The sites works on your computer, mobile, and tablet.

How BBQpad Works

So what does BBQpad let you do?

Well, with it you can create any number of cooks; each cook is a place you track the details of each cook session, such a meal for your family, practicing to improve your cooking, a party for your friends, a BBQ competition, or anything else. Go and see an example cook.

Within a cook you can add as many cookers and foods as you need (we maintain a database of cookers and foods to make this easy).

When you start cooking you can then track lots of different things:

  • The different woods and fuels you use (we maintain a database of woods and different fuel products).
  • When your food is added and removed from the cookers, and we automatically calculate cook time to make it easier to see how longs things take to cook. You can also track rest time for the different foods (if applicable).
  • All your food prep elements such as rubs, sauces, brines, marinades, and more. You can also add general notes about your food items such as the weight, quantity, where you bought it, the level of marbling, whether it is organic (good for veggies) etc.
  • The temperature of your cookers and any food items you are tracking internal temperature for. We use this to plot graphs of your cookers and foods; this makes it easier to track your temperature control and improve things where there are problems.
  • General updates to the cook. As an example, if you spritz your food with apple juice to keep it moist, you can track this and the time when it happened.

We also allow …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Planet Ubuntu

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

5 Stocks for Your Roth IRA

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By Nicole Seghetti, The Motley Fool

Filed under:

The temperature is rising, and summer is right around the corner in many parts of the country. When I think of summer, BBQ burgers and corn on the cob come to mind. But before summer arrives, there’s one more season we must endure — tax season. Here are a couple of ways investors can apply principles from the grill to add fuel and fiery growth to a Roth IRA.

Roth IRA primer
Roth IRAs are investment accounts that offer us tax-free income in retirement. You can invest in stocks, bonds, exchange-traded funds, and mutual funds in a Roth. For the 2012 tax year, individuals can contribute up to $5,000 — plus an extra $1,000 if age 50 or older — into a Roth IRA . You have until the April 15, 2013 tax filing deadline to make the contribution. As an added bonus, and if you have some extra cash stashed in your piggy bank, think about adding additional money now for your 2013 contribution.

If you might be in a higher tax bracket when you retire, a Roth IRA is certainly worth considering. And even if you already max out your employer-sponsored retirement plan, you’re still eligible to open and fund a Roth IRA.

Kick your Roth up a notch
In order to get the most tax-free bang for your buck in this tax-free account, consider turning up the heat up with high growth investments. Three companies with exciting growth prospects include tech heavyweights Google , eBay , and Apple .

Transforming the way the globe searches for information, Google boasts almost 70% market share of all global search queries. The company generates the vast majority of its revenues from search advertising, but Google is diversifying through acquisitions like YouTube and DoubleClick.

Management has reinvented eBay’s Marketplaces business, which is currently outpacing global e-commerce growth. And eBay’s PayPal business has emerged as an innovative leader in next-generation payments and is well positioned for growth as the industry evolves.

Meanwhile, Apple’s recent share price decline reflects a cautious outlook for the iDevice maker. Despite the stock pull back, the company still enjoys extremely solid demand for its products and ample growth opportunities overseas, most notably in China.

All three companies have enjoyed amazing growth over the past several years and possess strong prospects in emerging sectors. By owning these stocks in a Roth IRA, it saves us Fools from a big tax bite if these hot stocks live up to their lofty growth expectations.

Not so spicy
If fiery growth stocks aren’t your thing, that’s quite all right. More mild stocks are also terrific investments for Roth IRAs. For instance, dividend-paying stocks provide a great alternative. When these stocks are owned outside of a Roth IRA, dividends are considered taxable ordinary income. But by holding dividend-paying stocks within a Roth, you get the tax-free advantage. And by reinvesting dividends, you’re buying more shares each and every time the company pays its …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Linux

Jono Bacon: The Barbecue Journey Continues

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A while back I posted about my new passion for BBQ. I haven’t talked much about it since my last post and I had a little time tonight and thought I would share what has been going on. There isn’t anything about Ubuntu in this post, so feel free to move along if you are looking for Ubuntu-related shenanigans.

When I first got into BBQ it was because I like to eat it and I am fortunate enough to live in a part of the world with pretty decent weather and many locals who cook outside. When I started out I was more interested in grilling (most Californians tend to grill when they cook outside) but as I started learning about grilling online, my reading led me to learning about smoking, and smoking is what real BBQ is about.

I was instantly fascinated by smoking. On one hand I loved the BBQ food I had eaten before in restaurants, but there was also something really exciting to me about cooking over fire. My life is so filled with technology, buttons, and gadgets, that the idea of creating something awesome on a fire with no electricity or gadgets really…fired me up. Enjoy the comedy, I am here all week. :-)

Firing up the pit on a rainy day.

With my initial interest in seeing if I could create some BBQ that I would like to eat, my curiosity was fueled further (the comedy just a’keeps on coming) by the fact that there isn’t a lot of particularly incredible BBQ where I live. California is known for many things, but BBQ isn’t really one of them. For great BBQ you need to get out to Texas, Georgia, the Carolinas, Tennessee, and Kansas. Interestingly, BBQ varies significantly between these different parts of the country, not just in flavor, but also in the science of how it is made.

Now, I know what you are thinking:

Really, Jono? Science in BBQ? C'mon!

There is a tremendous amount of science in all aspects of the preparation and cooking process in BBQ – how to choose your meat, methods of cutting and preparing it, the benefits and disadvantages of using brines/marinades/injections, different smoker types, approaches to using water and spritzing, foiling techniques, the impact of weather conditions, temperature control, different fuel types (e.g. charcoal vs. stick-burning), sauces and mops, and different rubs and the impact of their ingredients. Each piece of meat also has very different methods of preparation, so all of these variables get shaken up with each cut and animal you cook.

The more I read and played around with different techniques in my BBQ, the more it has fascinated the engineering side of my brain.

My brisket from a few days ago. Loving the smoke ring.

Since I last posted I have done quite a bit of experimentation. I have smoked brisket, baby back ribs, pork shoulder (to create pulled pork), chicken, turkey, and even a few ducks. Every meat is different, has it’s own quirks and techniques, different flavor profiles and more. Each is a little engineering puzzle to take these many variables of meat, rubs, fire, weather, and more, and produce predictable and delicious results.

My primary goal has been to try and get the quality of the main competition categories up to scratch; brisket, chicken, ribs, and pork shoulder. So far I have had good results with pork and ribs, a few good briskets, but my chicken still needs some work.

I have also wanted to master the kind of BBQ people enjoy in the backyard as well as at competition. As an example, lots of people (myself included) love ribs that fall off the bone. If you were to cook in a BBQ competition though, fall of the bone ribs are considered over-cooked. A competition rib should be tender enough that you bite into it and it leaves a bite-size hole. One day I want to try my hand at competing, and I might try it in a local King Of The Country contest later this year, but I have a lot more practice to do. :-)

Anyway, despite my variable results, this little journey has taught me an important lesson. Before I moved to the US I was convinced that I was by pure definition a shitty cook. Everything I had tried to cook in the past lacked flavor, generally went wrong when I cooked it, and was a million miles away from the kind of chow I would eat in restaurants. I was convinced that it was impossible for me to ever master any kind of cooking – my brain was simply not designed for making good food.

What broke me out of this was a desire to be able to feed my family and friends good food in a social setting.

Grilling some ribs for some friends.

BBQ is inherently social. Usually people grill and smoke when they have a bunch of friends over on a nice warm day, blowing the froth of a few cold ones while stood around the grill or smoker, and just having fun and then eating some good food. I wanted to be able to have my family and friends come over and want to eat my BBQ and have a great time while here.

Consequently, going from a fear of cooking for people due to my built-in view that my brain is not cut out for making great food and transitioning it to a confidence about cooking and enjoying people eating my good, has been quite a journey. This is still a journey I am still traveling on, but I am loving the ride.

Going To BBQ School

This interest in BBQ has not escaped the interests of my family, and this Christmas I had something of a BBQ themed set of gifts.

As a little bit of background information, since I got into BBQ I have also been following some of the competition cooks who compete at BBQ competitions around the country. One of these cooks is Myron Mixon, who has won nearly a million dollars in prize money and is one of the stars of the TV show BBQ Pitmasters, which I have become an avid fan of.

When I first learned about Myron I bought his New York Times bestseller Smokin’ with Myron Mixon. The book is fantastic both in terms of the story behind his work as well as cooking guides and tips.

Well this Christmas my always thoughtful wife, Erica, decided to go to Myron’s [Jack’s Old South]((http://www.jacksoldsouth.com/) site and buy me every rub and sauce that they make. She wanted to get me everything so I could experiment and try them out in different cuts of meat. I have only used a few of the rubs and sauces so far, but they are incredible.

Myron Mixon in competition.

Although the rubs and sauces were awesome enough, I didn’t expect what came next. It turns out that Erica had been plotting with my father-in-law, and he also booked me and him into Myron Mixon’s cooking class in February. This is a weekend-long class delivered by Myron himself, at his house, where he teaches you how to smoke various cuts of meat, as well as doing a whole hog (a whole pig on a brick pit). The class kicks off on the Friday night with dinner at his house for the students, and then runs all day on Saturday, dinner on Saturday night, and then there is competition-focused cooking on the Sunday. It all takes place in a little place called Unadilla, in the heart of Georgia, one of the main BBQ states in the USA.

To say I am rather excited about this trip is an understatement. It is going to be fun just going out to Georgia, but to also not only meet Myron but also learn from arguably the most talented BBQ cook in the USA is going to be incredible.

So all in all, BBQing is fun, and I recommend you all to give it a shot yourself. Pick up a cheap smoker, grab some meat, read one of the best sites online for BBQ, crack open a few cold ones, and have some fun. :-)

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Planet Ubuntu