Sucsexful Boobecue Recipenis Testes

I'd say that's the most profound and intellectual post title I've come up with yet. The purpose of my most recent barbecue was to test some new recipes I've been wanting to try out. Overall, they came out very well. This was also the second meeting of our beer club the Maryland Beer Appreciation Society, which also went well.

My favorite items of the day were my fried pickles with a nice remoulade for dipping, the chipotle brown sugar sweet potatoes, and the coffee cocoa stout barbecue sauce I whipped up. Honorable mention goes to Deana's crab stuffed jalapeno poppers, and Jen's oreo-stuffed cookies (yes, I've decided to use people's full names, that abbreviating shit was getting on my nerves.) And, of course, Karen's amazing apple pie, my favorite. Join me on this epic quest of smoking meats and quaffing brews.

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Summer Sundays Done Right

I hope your Sunday was as good as mine. Enjoy the (somewhat shitty) photos of our day spent on the water and then cooking and eating our catch.

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30/66 Chicago: Part 2

After rinsing off all the sand and sweat from hours of Spikeball, we all piled into M’s car once again and headed down to Fulton Market. I’d done my research on how to score a reservation at The Aviary and was delighted when I received a confirmation email that afternoon. We scored a table for five at the 6pm seating. We turned our keys over to the valet and checked in with the doorman. He told us to have a seat on the snazzy outdoor couches for a few moments while they finished preparing our table. We took a few group photos and then a hostess led us to our table.

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30/66 Chicago: Part 1

My 30th birthday, celebrated in 66 hours in Chicago, get it? Moving on. Our flight departed at 9pm and we arrived with about 30 minutes to kill so we checked out the bar at Phillips Seafood right next to our gate.

I ordered a MM Manhattan neat, and apparently to this bartender neat means warm. I guess I have in the past said chilled, neat, but I never expected to be served a warm Manhattan.

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The Most Epic Day Ever II

While maybe not quite as epic as our first dude day, this day was still pretty amazing. Boys, let's get to it.

I had a haircut at 9am. As usual I arrived a few minutes early to partake in the goodness next door at the Cockeysville PA Dutch Market. MMmmm, doughnuts.

I also nabbed two sexy NY Strips for dinner later that night.

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Happy 10 Days before My 30th Birthday

Nah, I'm not trying to sell it. If you can comprehend basic math, then you can deduce my exact birthday from the title of this post. Are you up to the challenge?

This is just a pic post. These were probably the best ribs I've smoked to date. 7 hours total, six hours naked, one hour foiled. Temps held strong at 250 degrees. Four fist-sized chunks of hickory provided the perfect level of smoky goodness. Transported to my dad's place and sauced on the grill at around 300 degrees to caramelize and serve. Also tried a new baked bean recipe, which, after some serious tweaking, turned out pretty damn good. To drink? Lagunitas Lil Sumpin Sumpin, Flying Dog Raging Bitch (pictured below) and Table for Two.

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Heaven is spelled N.O.L.A... The Finale

Mo' pics, less clicks (that would be my fingers clicking the keys.) That's the name of the game for this post. My ass is spent talking about New Orleans, so I'm going to give you very sparse details for this post. But don't worry, there'll be lots of perty pictures.

After brunch at Commander's Palace, we found a brochure in the lobby that offered a mapped walking tour of the Garden District. Since this was what we were planning on doing anyway, we grabbed one and ran through your wicked garden... district.

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