Recently in Evil Category

Yup, as we speak the wagon is getting loaded up and the cooler packed. There's a dozen El Salvadorean chorizos in there, a pork loin roast (Thanks CB!) and a dozen 1" thick pork chops. I needs muh snacks!

bye bye

dot dot dot, we're baaack! Well, okay we got back yesterday about 11am. I went through some of the images I took and thought I'd share.

Here you can see Z, waaaay up on the top of the dune there. The boys spent several hours climbing up and down these dunes. This was the largest and Tiny E decided that maybe when he was older he'd attempt it. Just so you know, the right side of the dune is far less aggressive and not so scary.

And yes, the aquarium is awesome. Changed a lot over the years though, they have penguins now. When I visited years ago they were showcasing Monterey Bay marine life only, now it's all over the map. And they've added 9 million activities for kids. So, obviously it's packed with tons of families enjoying themselves. This isn't necessarilly a bad thing, but damned those strollers are evil. I counted at least 3 gift shops and 1 of which is about the size of a large market. Ahhh, the mighty dollar wins again. Go during the week, not on the weekends.

xo, Biggles

Yeah, huh. Here in our part of the East Bay, the temperatures rarely go below 40 or above 75, it's just that way. That isn't to say we don't get our heat waves, I remember it hovering over 104 a few times and surely in the 80s. But yesterday, and at least this today, it was 94 in the shade.

My favorite part was when Z came running in saying, "Papa !!! It's 120 degrees outside!"

"Um, the sun was hitting that thermometer there sonny boy. Put it in the shade, ya foo."

Well, when the temperatures are high, the house is stuffy what meal really hits the spot? No, not watermelon, salad or tofu. It's that good ol' roast turkey dinner. I fired up the gas oven for 3 hours and made us some juicy roast turkey, mashed taters & gravy! The plates were licked clean and that was pretty much that. And today for lunch, turkey sammiches!

xo, Biggles

And I will, repeat. Uh, whatchu talkin' 'bout Willis?

I spied with my little eye, this box on the shelf at our local mega grocer. It's a convenience food, all ready to shorten the time in the kitchen and feed the brood on the quick & easy. But, like it's pasta, olive oil and Italian herb. Couldn't I just take pasta, oilive oil and Italian herb and make my own? Or even do a switchy poo and pull out some French herb? Maybe I should just switch gears and whip out some Hawaiian herb and make it all go away.

Aloha, Biggles

Author's note: There is actually a point to this post other than a poorly written rambling rant.

After giving this another thought, nope. This is a poorly written rambling rant without a point.

Quite a few years ago now, maybe 7, I received my first copy of Cook's Illustrated Magazine. I signed myself up for a few years, was feeling full of myself because we'd bought our first home a year before. Life was going to be grand. Aww, I remember it fondly, one of my first issues and it was spring time, a grilling issue and it was all mine.

Z had been asking to visit a new Candy Shop over the last week or so, being a parent my response was pretty negative. After maybe 3 days I decided to give in and have an adventure.

Happy Easter everyone, it's been a grand weekend out. Z and I spent most of the weekend on bicycles out and about, along with breaks for meat and happiness (farmer's markets and family meat smoking). See?

Admittedly, I don't have any food prose for today. But the photographs came out so nicely, I wanted to share them with anyone that might be interested. And yes, had a wonderful time with friends. We spent our time talking about old times (1985 roomates), relaxing and eating Fatted Calf faire. Luckily enough Jeffrey lives in Calistoga and stopped by Oxbow on his way down.

xo, Biggles

ps - If you click on images you should receive a far larger one in return.

Let's have a little juicy excerpt from Big Brother and the Holding Company on the Mainstream label ...

Peter Albin - bass
David Getz - drums
James Gurley - guitar
Sam Andrew - guitar
Janis Joplin - vocal

Side 2, 3rd cut:

Down on me, down on me,
Looks like everybody in this whole round world
They’re down on me.

Love in this world is so hard to find
When you’ve got yours and I got mine.
That’s why it looks like everybody
in this whole round world
They’re down on me.

Saying they’re down on me, down on me.
Looks like everybody in this whole round world
Down on me.

When you see a hand that’s held out toward you,
Give it some love, some day it may be you.
That’s why it looks like everybody
in this whole round world
They’re down on me, yeah.

Lord, they’re down on me, down on me, oh!
Looks like everybody in this whole round world
Is down on me.

Believe in your brother, have faith in man,
Help each other, honey, if you can
Because it looks like everybody in
this whole round world
Is down on me.

I’m saying down on me, oh, down on me, oh!
It looks like everybody in this whole round world
Down on me!!

I dedicate this post to Kathryn & Gloria.

xo, Biggles

Yay! Zoomie over in Zoomiestation tagged me for a meme, 5 Sordid facts.

Okay, last things first. One of the most evil parts of these things is, once tagged, we get to tag 5 other people who have to go through the same fun we do. Cool, eh?

First off, let's bring in our good friend and colleague Chilebrown at Mad Meat Genius. Then and only then, Monkey Wrangler at sourdough monkey wrangler. If Doctor Jones was here, he'd be next. But alas, Dr. Five Pints is elsewhere. Jerry over at Cooking by the seat of my Pants! needs a little detour from the food network. Oh, Kevin of Seriously Good could use some of my good pestering, for sure. And because it's always nice to be asked to play in someone else's sandbox, I invite Shuna of Eggbeater. If you'd like to be tagged, axe or just take it upon yourself to do one too. Then yell at me in the comments so everyone can visit your playtime. Now, without further ado ..

• I buy a pack of cigarettes each year in an attempt to start smoking. So far, in over 10 years, no luck.
• Once a year or so, I'll freak out and gut something. Such as a room, closet or area. Then, start over clean.
• I let my dish sponge rest on its side so it dries quicker, it's my nature.
• I'm very proud of many things that I do and will mention it until you say, "Great job Biggles! Now go the F away."
• My hobbies/jobs have all included computers & electronics since 1971 (when I took my first record player apart to remove the speaker so I could add them to another rig.) But I hate them all and would rather live on an apple farm and not be bothered.

Alright, so the sponge thing isn't so sordid. But I wanted to mention it until I get praise.

xo, Biggles

Now, about that orange picture. A man with a handtruck loaded with bags of oranges knocked at my door. I bought 15 pounds worf, turned to juice. I condered doing something else with them, but I didn't think they'd have much life left in them (plain jane Oranges) and it was mid-week. No time pally boy!

Muh friend Bart Nagel took this shot with a real polaroid 680 SE. Thank you Cookiecrumb & the most awesome Cranky for hosting the party in which this was made possible. I'm pretty fricken proud and yet most happy of the outcome of this photograph and plan to use it for anything I can.

Not only do I rule, but am one handsome Guy.

xo, Biggles

Whether you grill, smoke or do mostly oven roasted goodness, your cutting board always has some form of delectable juices laying about in the trough around the edges. This is where you'll find lovers of the medium dredging their kill through for extra flavors and textures. It's prized highly and never lasts long.

Well, at a local gathering on Saturday this nectar of the gods went faster than normal. You see, Cameron of Married ... with Dinner was in attendance. I'd never met the guy, or his wife Anita. They're the kind of people that within about one half of a conversation you realize they're no slouches in whatever they do. These people know tons of junk and are keen as a razor's edge. But why was Cameron pouring the meat juices in to a small drinking class, actually 2 glasses?

He disappeared, 1 in each hand. When he returned, a shot of vodka had been added to the slurry. And by slurry I mean, pork, beef, lamb, bacon, goat and andouille. Cameron handed one to me and drank his down. A sip first, then mine followed. Man, it was surely a good meaty, then spiky booze hit, then fatty meat, then booze. It was crazy, it was like gravy, but a booze drink. I dearly loved both the flavors and mixtures and how it finished.

Thank you Cameron, thank you very much.

xo, Biggles

Note: The following may contain adult content and/or adult language, be advised. Be very advised.

I've grown up with your family of products and remember the thrill as far back as about 1971. Since my bedroom was somewhat below ground, moisture and mold were always a problem. Not with your aerosol fueled disinfectant, it was all good in a matter of seconds.

As I aged, it helped to calm the smoky goodness of the reefer. But that was short lived, just made me hungry and paranoid. I've got enough of both, naturally. I spent time talking to and learning from other people who enjoyed the cleaners. It wasn't long before I had a good supply of the best my local grocery could offer, I had it all.

Cheers !!!

This is far more evil that it was meant to be. But so be it, kinda nice actually. Not sure how the fish feel about it ...

Hey Biggles. Where you at son? poke poke

Hey Biggles, you dere? Whut? Hey dumbass, you do remember you have a food related web site you're responsible for, don't you? Where? Keeripes man, Meathenge. Oh yeah. I was wondering why it went quiet a few weeks ago. The amount of time I have available to do such things comes to about 30 minutes from time to time. I use this smidge for watching such mind numbing movies as McBain. It's a Vietnam War era movie wherein Christopher Walken plays Chuck Norris. No really. And I should have used the word rotting for numbing.

Even through my total lack of time for to make Meathenge shine, we've come to our 4th birthday here! That's right, it's been a tad over 4 years since Meathenge hit the streets. Pretty darned cool, huh? That's 28 in Blog Years.

I've made friends I can easily say will be around for a lifetime. Got some photographs published along with some recipes and even mentions in newspapers from afar. Meathenge has top rankings in google for quite a few topics, such as our beloved Andreas Viestad. Adjusting old gas ranges has turned in to a weekly discussion and the topic was posted about 2 years ago! That Caja China roasting box post I did was one of the first on the net. The only site that was of any help was Babalu. Today? It's everywhere, even the food network. Great fun!

Without your cheers with hardly any jeers I've had a great time and hope to continue on in to the glistenny future. Summer is coming am looking forward to a little more time for recipes, pictures & fun. Hang tight, we're not going away. No how, no way.

xo, Rev. Biggles

ps - That's right, I can now bless your meat.

It says there, "The World's First! Appetite Control Toothpaste.

What the hell ?!?! My first thought was, "Do we really need this?" And then, I figured, "Of course we do, look! It's right there!" And yet it's already on the clearance isle. Har har har.

I've been here at the keyboard over the last few minutes. Wrote down a few paragraphs, then erased paragraphs. This is so pathetic ol' Biggles is rant free. All I can figure is that someone was looking out for the tweakers. Now speed freaks can have good teeth too. Cause you know that's the only idiot that'd consider it. So, the next time you see some unbathed, shaky, wild eyed creature with a toothbrush in their hip pocket, check their smile. You'll have the 411 and you saw it first at Meathenge.

xo, Biggles

Oh it hurts, I don't like it. My stomach is hurting and it's only been a minute. Like a chicken nugget with cayenne, bad cayenne. Bad nugget. Oh, I don't like this.

Meathead brought this package of love from the local drug store for to have lunch with. He shared a piece with me. Such a pal, eh? There was another delicious delight, but I let him have his food in peace.

For 1 dollar you get 2.95 ounces of 'bites" in the shape of a boot. There's 5 pieces in there at a calorie count of 230. 22% of my daily fat and 31% of the sodium intake.

Meathead says, "Oh that was awful." And I agree, that wasn't very good and I don't like it.

Biggles

We planted a lemon tree about 7 years ago. Did all the mulchin' and not as much fertilizing as we should have. Even though. Once you see the lemon growing, it takes about 2 years for it to start turning yellow. Then, I leave it for another 3 years until it "looks" mature.

At that point, the pith is inches thick and the 'meat' ain't right.

Anyone got ideas as to making it right? Or is 3,4 to 5 years correct for a ripening lemon?

Here's the tree, taken in February.

Biggles

Oh man, not sure why the HELL I would even remotely show you my refrigerator. Sam over at Becks & Posh showed me hers. If you show me yours, I'll show you mine. Isn't that how it all starts? I can only dream.

Check out the upper right with the Fritos Bean Dip along with the Welch's Grape Jelly, cool eh? Then to the left we have Sunnyside 2% milk along with some nondescript apple juice. Behind that is some "marmelade" that hasn't been touched in years. Below that we find the "cheese" drawer. This is more of an experimentation drawer than anything else. I have Canadian bacon in there from 2005.

As we bounce down there seems to be some dozen eggs of an ilk that I bought last week. Or was it the week before? Some yolks don't spread too badly. At the bottom there's the pile of Tamales that show up at my door every two weeks (breakfast). In the foil is the beef roast I did last night.

It wasn't very good. The spice and cook action was there, but the meat was dead and non-deliverable. Below all that is the vegetable drawer. I don't know what's in there, probably bagged lettuce, spinach and carrots I meant to juice.

Just like Sam's, only different.

xo, Biggles

------------------------------

Snap to the next morning and did this before 9am. And guess what? I set things up so nothing needs to go back on top of the fridge! I'll have to do a collage er somethin'.

Me, again

Dang, was on the freeway heading out at 10:30 Sunday morning. A trip that usually takes me 15 minutes to get to and through, was about 45 minutes. Turns out some gasoline rig turned over, spilled its guts and caught on fire. It melted the steel and the road collapsed. Luckily nobody lost thems lives.

A hard right would have taken us to San Francisco. Light left and we're heading East.

It totally sucked to be in that crap, my clutch leg is still sore. But check out the photograph I got on the fly !!!

I rule.

Biggles

ps - The only photoshop I did was to use the channel mixer and check the monochrome box. Then? A tiny bit of sharpening, only because I was doing 30, one handed, watching traffic and not getting in another collision.

Last few weeks been painfully busy taking care of 2 boys that were/are sick. Now my throat is scratchy and starting to feel wierd. Taking tons of vits and liquids, we'll see how that goes. I'm sure I'll be fine, what could possibly go wrong?

On a lighter side. Many of you have known for quite some time Meathenge's comment system hasn't quite been up to snuff. In fact, it basically junked good comments and I never knew you stopped by. This was especially obvious to Shuna and Kevin. In any case, sister is working on it this very moment. We're getting there, eh.

Except for Tea's visit on Sunday for Meathenge's first Grilling Class, here's how much I've been cooking. See? That's the last onion I bought. Yes, I will be posting about The Visit, you bet.

xo

It wasn't too many years ago when I met Amelia Ray. She was introduced to me through a mutual friend, as it turned out a fan of Meathenge already. Such a small world we live in, eh? She was, and still is, an accomplished musician (she has paying gigs, hoser). Check out her bio and site, she's got talent (the good kind) oozing our her ear holes.

Now we turn to page 2 and she's put up a food blog. And cause she's got creativity, she came up with a pretty fricken unique idea. She interviews people via telephone from her home in Spain and has them do a recipe and cook a dish this way. You can see where this is going, huh?

Page 3 is where we find our plucky hero with a silly headset on using Skype to braise a pork roast in milk. I'd never used Skype before, Mama set it up for me. It uses a broadband connection to connect you to anyone around the world so you can talk for free. It's a lot like using a 1940's radio and transmitter. Or like I remember telephoning my grandparents in Kansas. You had to wait a moment for your voice to reach them or you'll talk over them and get all screwed up. Alright, so anyway it was my turn on Food Operator.

Please be kind, this was my nearly my first time using Skype and I was as nervous as hell. I accidentally talked over Amelia at every turn and only had minimal prep. It's how I am with studying. I have to say though, she knows what she's doing and after listening to the production and editing, I am impressed. Thank you Amelia and surely F.O. will be nothing but fun and high adventure.

Go now: Dr. Biggles' Arrosto Di Maiale Al Latte

Biggles

Well, here's my second draft. The first draft was a pretty well crafted rant about Chowhound. But I think it's all been said before and recently by Sam and Fatemeh and a few others here in the SF Bay Area.

Suffice it to say, "Good bye Chowhound. It was fun for a while, but your lack of thoughtfulness to your posters has caused me to remove you from my bookmarks. And the grief you've caused to chefs and restaurant owners is unforgivable."

Biggles

ps - It's easy to criticize and I thought maybe I should offer up a suggestion or two. If an entry needs to be removed or edited, the poster should receive and email letting them know what's going on and why it should be removed or edited. Offer some support, some ideas, assist your posters in becoming better at what they do. There needs to be some way the restaurant owners, cooks and chefs and/or staff can have a venue too. Why does there have to be such a gap between us and them? It doesn't seem right. There needs to be an open communication so service and food can improve. Instead, it's a bitter chew for the owner who can't stand up for their establishment. Why is this important? Diners can be nitwits too and expect too much or have the concept completely wrong.

There, that sets it right for me.

A few years ago I spent maybe 4 months researching a smoker. If I was going to spend my hard earned scrilla I wanted to make sure I got a decent pit. During my travels around the nation (via my office chair & a computer) I ran across some neat information. Here's something I kept hid away and ran into it recently. It's the story of how Kingsford Charcoal Briquets came into being, and a few added comments from Kit Anderson, Top Pitmaster ...

It's the one to get and this one's signed by the Devil himself.
The Auction to beat

This has to be, if not the most scary, one of the nastiest pictures of meat I have ever done. And let me tell you, I've taken some pretty darned scary meat pictures.