Recently in The Orts Category

Yup, you heard it right. I spent over 5 hours today with Chilebrown and his wife Ms. Goofy in a classroom getting fully instructed while eating chicken, pork ribs, sliced/pulled pork and beef brisket. Neat, eh?

The class started this morning at 7:30 in Fairfield California, just 30 minutes from home. I signed up a month ago or more, they don't come to town often and the chance to attend wasn't an option. While I did guest judge the 5th Annual West Coast Championships, I felt it was time to make it legal.

Don't get me wrong, sure it was fun and the food was really good. But it was an instructional class in every sense of the word. We were schooled in every aspect of judging BBQ by KCBS rules. And brother, or sister, that ain't no joke. These people take what they do very seriously. The sheer volume of respect they have for the teams is huge. They go way out of their way to make damned sure it's fair.

You sit a specific direction when judging, no talking, no sitting next to friends. You must be on time and if you don't show? You're very well bloody likely to never judge again. Green lettuce, parsley and cilantro are your only garnish, use the white part of iceburg and you're marked as disqualified for Appearance. If the pork rib meat falls-off-the-bone? Marked down, it should come clean with a tug with your teefs. When a judge reaches for a pork rib and two come away? You get 2 and the 6th judge gets none, everyone marks this team as 1 (disqualified) for Appearance. For me, the most important part of the judging is to rule your decision based upon the merit of that BBQ. You cannot judge it based on how well you cook, or whether you prefer something different. I like that part.

Soon I will be receiving my card, a judge polo shirt and a certificate stating my place in the circle of true BBQ competition judges. I'm a greenhorn to judging and competition, but not to good barbecue.

If you'd like to see a few more pictures from the day, please visit KCBS Judging Class 2009.

Biggles

Okay, how many of you know where you live? Raise your hands. How many of you know you live in the San Francisco Bay Area? Raise your hands ... good. How many of you know the SS Red Oak Victory Ship is located at the Richmond Ship Yards and is totally accessible to the general public for adventure? Yeah, I didn't think so.

This is a P.S.A., a Public Service Announcement.

This last Sunday morning at 10:30 am found the Biggles making his way down to Pt. Richmond and then the Richmond Harbor/Ship Yards for a little adventure. I'd been about 3 or 4 years ago and it was time for a little readventure.

"Launched on November 9, 1944 as the SS Red Oak Victory, and commissioned as the USS Red Oak Victory (AK235) in December, 1944, the Red Oak Victory is the only vessel built by the Kaiser Shipyards in Richmond, California that is being restored. The ship saw service in World War II, Korea and Vietnam and has the distinction of being the only ship operated by both military and civilian personnel during her career.

In 1996, by an Act of Congress, title to the SS Red Oak Victory was conveyed to the Richmond Museum Association. One of the primary goals of the museum is to preserve, restore and develop the Red Oak Victory into a viable asset that can be used, enjoyed and appreciated by the citizens of Richmond and the surrounding Bay Area communities."

- Lifted from their web site - Photographs are mines

Holee crap this is a beauty of a ship and they've done an amazing job at bringing her back to life. When I arrived back in '04, she was rusty from one end to the other, a photographer's dream. She's all shiny now and still the same dream come true. It's generally a self-guided tour and you have access to nearly every part. You can climb ladders, stairs, anywhere. Plus? I was the only one there wandering about, sticking my nose here, my lens there.

There is no better place to spend 5 dollars in this entire area. You should go. When friends or family come to town, you should go. Bored some weekend, you should go. However, if you have small children or can't safely climb gangways or ladders, you should not go. You have to keep your wits about you and pay attention to the fact you're on a real ship, not at Disneyland. It's so exciting!

Interested in seeing more of her? Check out the rest of my images of Red Oak Victory Ship.

A Grand Day Out, indeed.

xo, Biggles

ps - So I can redeem myself here and include a food related point, they do have pancake breakfasts scheduled on the weekends as a fundraiser. Contact them or visit the ship for details.

berry berry, on the vine
who's the suiciest of them all?

Why of course, you are. Suicy berry!

The catalyst for this post is because our water bill showed up here 10 minutes ago. 5 minutes ago I took this picture of our dry birdy bath and toppled windmill surrounded by long since dried flax. Fueled I was, by the bill.

Eight and a half years ago we moved in to this house, buying was cheaper than renting then. No really, we spent less down on buying a home in the San Francisco East Bay Area than renting a home, crazy eh? We drug along with us our standard appliances and used the existing bathroom fixtures. It was so close that if we'd had to buy a new gas range it'd caused us to use a camp stove instead. Man, we rolled in with fumes in the tank.

Thankfully with some effort the finances stabilized (psychosis still reign supreme) and those water hogging appliances were replaced. On my 40th birthday I bought myself a low-flow toilet, 1.6 gallons a flush. I sorely miss my 1946 model that shot through 7 gallons a flush, it was great. But when you have a family of 4? Do the math, we were using about 460 gallons a day. This usage dropped down a bit and even further with the addition of one of those fancy high efficiency washer machine rigs. Surely the cost of the water versus the cost of the machinery didn't add up immediately, but I knew it was good to help the greater good and lower our usage. Nothing like a little altruism to boost one's ego, hey.

Again we turn another page and we're now a family of 3, water usage is at an all time low at 120 gallons per day. I'm exceptionally pleased with myself. Between the garden and the home, we've reached a pretty darned good consumption rate. Ed Begley Jr. would be so proud. I've been quite fond of him ever since he hit Mork & Mindy way back when. Little did I know he's been a staunch activist for saving resources ever since time began. Apparently, he was arriving on set via bicycle, cool eh? I've said for years, when I make my movie, I'll ask Ed Begley Jr. to play me, it'd be perfect!

Well, as I said the water bill rolled in and we've reduced our consumption to 85 gallons a day. For a family of 3, on a 5,000 square foot lot, I think that's pretty fricken GREAT and am very proud of our work to conserve water.

Biggles - Head Lab Rat

Just a friendly reminder: Saturday 6/14/08 10am-2pm

Timber says,

I've gone all fancy on you....I added a "e" onto "Air"....So it'll be that much better. Urban Tilth, RHS YME Club, Liana's Cake Kitchen, Pit Boss BBQ, Grande Finale Flowers (Be careful of your plants...Tracy might snag some of your flowers) Brookebot Tees, Jessica's Jewelry and Others will be there...will you!?

If you are a Richmond Resident and an Artist....There's still time. Please don't hesitate to join in the festivities.

Biggles here, I visited the last and first of his markets and it was pretty darned cool. Fresh veggies, sweet goodies, plants ready to plant and fresh roasted coffee. This time there will be more people attending, so stop by and have a gander.

Biggles

Catahoula Coffee
12472 San Pablo Avenue
Richmond, CA 94805
(510) 235-0525

Wood is so cool, I loves it. Your only limitation is your imagination and skill level. Which is why I didn't build this one, Cousin Bob did way back in the day. The maple top is from an old portable dishwasher, they've got to plastic tops these days.

The problem? I last time I put a finish on it was over 10 years ago, probably closer to 15. Do you think sitting in the Meathenge Lab kitchens for those years it looks as it did when new? Ha! It really is quite nasty, if I do say so myself. So, today? Am going to yank the sucker, sand it and oil it back up. Yay for wood!
Will stop by later and give you the finished product.

xo, Biggles

ps - Updates available. Wish I knew how to format this !@#$% photographs so they behaved. Nope, they're all over the place no matter what I tell them.

Yes, you heard that right, a West Contra Costa farmer's market hosted by Catahoula coffee roasters in Richmond. Music on Saturday, market on Sunday.

Farmer's Market: Sunday April 20th - Parking Lot of Catahoula Coffee.

This Sunday April 20th, 2008 (10am-1pm) Park Guthrie and members of the 5% Local Coalition (Urban Tilth and Richmond High School's YME Club) are selling West County-grown produce, plants (tomato seedlings, edible perennial seedlings) and plant food (worm castings and worm tea). All of the produce will be brought to market by foot or bicycle. All of the proceeds will support food production programs at Richmond High School or the Lincoln School Farm.

A few Local (Richmond) artists will be on hand to showcase their art and crafts. Liana's Cake Kitchen & Grand Finale Flowers by Tracy Weber.

Music: Saturday April 19th -
This Saturday April 19, 2008 (10:30am to 12:30 noon) stop by for a cup of hula and enjoy a local Jazz Trio. John Bob and Playboys will be back. Catahoula Coffee will continue to source local artists to play from time to time.

Catahoula Coffee
12472 San Pablo Avenue
Richmond, CA 94805
(510) 235-0525

Biggles

On March 28th I announced the Cook for me! contest, and right now is the deadline. Well, I got 1 entry, so far. Am thinking to myself, "Do they not love me?" Well, that's not possible. I'm the most loved of all! Then I thought, "Maybe they don't care." I'm not buying that either, you care. What else in your life could possibly be more important that me?

Taxes !!!

So, let's reset and take this contest to April 25th, a Friday. OR, if anyone has a better idea for a contest giveaway, I'm all ears. Oh dear, a cross between Hee Haw and something else just popped in to my mind. Eeek!

We'll let the dust settle and regroup, what you gots?

Biggles

A hearty Thank You! to Ten Speed Press for sending this book our way.

Note 4/15/2008: Here are the entries!

Here we find a little clearing on a pallet out in production, supplies & tools are kept handy. One never knows when that fancy load of product will need palletizin'. Actually, it's a pretty handly little area near the roll-up door with bay air blowing through at a very fresh rate.

A little over a week ago, Creepy E shows up with a few appliances from his mum's garage. One of which is this little chromium, oven thingy. It's not a toaster, no live coils to heat. It's pretty cool actually, gots this slide-out tray that holds things to be baked. Wanna see what he cooks in his very own little oven?

But first, Meathenge news!

It looks as though my sister will have some time next week fo put some real design in to Meathenge and the corporate look will be a thing of the past. Her husband, Meathead, has put together a really cool mascot and that's nearly done.

The picture of the bowls up above there are a few of the bauer ware pieces that my uncle gifted me over the last few weeks. Ain't they pretty? Expose for the highlights baby, tastee.

Weeks ago I posted that there'd be live jazz at Catahoula Coffee Roasters in Richmond. I was wrong, it didn't happen. But it does now!

This Saturday April 5, 2008 (10:30am to 12:30 noon) stop by for a cup of hula and enjoy a local Jazz Trio. John Bob and Playboys will be in attendance, fer sure.

click on pitcher for larger

Little Eddy came in to my office the other day, he's the one that gave me the idea for doing a post about Chinch Meat (chinchilla). He wanted me to do a search for Yak Meat, I did.

Google lead me directly to Delyaks, our yak source!

I'm pretty excited and will probably order some after paying of the holiday bills. Apparently it's 95% to 97% fat free and is filled with Omega 3 oils, CLA's, Oleic Acids,and Stearic Acids. Healthier for us than skinless chicken breasts and fish? They say it's true. Not gamey, not greasy, juicier than buffalo and delicately flavored? Dang, that's pretty darned impressive.

Welp, look for a yak post coming up in our future. There's tons of information and pictures on their web site, go have a gander.

xo, Biggles

ps - Sure I talked about yak meat, but I really wanted some way of sharing the sunrise with you.

Sure, you think I'm going to do some cutsy little post about how to involve yer youngin's with piggies. Nope, not even remotely. No, see this post is about another web site and it's name is Pork 4 Kids. Chilebrown sent this over a few weeks ago, go have a look. It creeped me out at first, but they have games and you can even make your own placemats for the dinner table!

Thank you CB.

Biggles

Awesome Z (my 12 year old boy) started middle school this year. Wahoo, for several reasons. I believe one of his favorite things is that he doesn't spend the entire day of school in one classroom. Every hour or two he's off to another class, neat eh? Yeah well, one of those classes is something called Woodshop. Yup, you know the one. Uh huh, you're getting the idea now. One of his projects was to make a cutting board, a really nice one too. And as you can see, this woodshop is sportin' some fancy ass ... thing that allows one to put pretty letters in to wood. My chest is out at least 3' feet today, am so proud.

Biggles

Who the hell is Ted? And what the heck are you talking about Biggles? Whoa there Tex, hang on. Ted is Highland Hills Farm and rancher extraordinaire. To say he's a local character to our farmer's markets here would be a small understatement. I remember working the Fatted Calf one fine morning and overheared Ted telling a customer in a certain tone after said customer asked for directions for cooking, "I'm a rancher, not a chef!" And that, pretty much handled that.

Being who I am, have always been impressed with his "ranchin' truck". A Ford 3/4 ton rig with dents, dings, mud, dirt, dust, scratches and now a missing tailgate. That and a permanent collection of random hay pieces that fly out the back at any given moment. Well, I'm not quite sure why or how the planets align with him, but for me and a few others, he's spotted more about town than anyone we know.

The picture above was taken way back on September 1st at about 9:45 am, west bound on I-80.

I saw his truck again this last Monday at 11:22am, parked on Dwight Way heading east near San Pablo avenue. Quite a few bales of hay, a gaggle of humongous coolers (full of meat no doubt) and a piece of twine holding this all in the bed (no tailgate, remember?).

Here is Jlee's report:

A couple of weeks ago, driving west on I80 around El Cerrito, there was a sudden "hay storm". Enough hay blowing around to actually have to close my window. I'm thinkin maybe a horse trailer up ahead, some guy going to the race track. I get over to the next lane, speed up to pass it to avoid the chaff. Then just coming up to Albany, I see the offender. A turquoise pickup, beat-to-shit, spewing hay. And then I know. Oh right. It's Ted. Of course.

So, as you can clearly see, Where's Ted is going to be very exciting. Please stay tuned for the next, Sighting of Ted!

Biggles

Hey listen up you lunkheads. Not only do you get a chance for a Chili Cook-Off, but you get to watch my good friend and yours, Chilebrown, compete! He's entered and got his team nearly put together. And unlike local BBQ competitions, you'll be able to sample the goods. Cool, eh?

Saturday, September 15th from 10am to 4pm come have a visit. If you're wondering how you'll find ol' CB, here you go.

You can't miss'im. See you there!

Chili Cook-Off & Car Show
Lefty Gomez Field
Saturday, September 15th 2007
10am to 4pm

UPDATE: Team Chilebrown WON !!!

Please click through for stuff.

earthy warm juicy

I like you tomato

won't you stay and be mine?

Came out of the camera just as you see it, cool eh?

Here's a bitchen article sent to us by our good friend Mr. Heckert. It seems as though, about the time humans started campfires, their brains doubled in size. I suppose it was however long after that when we figured out how to distill grain that it deflated down to size. Ah well, what you gonna do?

Here's the article by David Ewing Duncan,

Did Primordial Chefs Feed Our Giant Brains?

Have you ever found yourself at a point where you don't feel like cooking? Feel as though computers, pots, pans come at too high a price? It happens to everyone from time to time.

This afternoon, after work I was helping Ed and his brother Stephen bring in a new washer/dryer combo rig. It's what guys do best, move heavy things. We quaffed a few beers and towards the end, Unky Steve offered up some Vietnamese egg role rigs. They had been made semi-recently by a co-worker and he had quite a stash.

My first reaction was, "Damned, something I'll have to cook. I don't want that."

Then I kicked myself and said, "You IDIOT !!! It's deep frying, you suck at it and it'd be a great time to put some time in. Practice my boy, practice." So, off I ran with 2 of those baggies you see.

I paid careful attention to muh cast iron dutch oven, oil level, heat and such. Got me up to 374 degrees or so. I figured they'd all sink and fill with oil, just most of my other deep fried adventures had ended up. Nope, I timed, played and watched bubbles exit. I found that at 4 minutes, they were good to go.

It was so much fun listening to the prickly oil, keeping them moving about to distribute even oil heat and watch them brown. One by one they came out and damed if they didn't suck. The oil content in the food was nonexistent, the quality of the little darlings was perfect. Meat to crunchy veg, tight roll, and flavors melded. This dear woman had constructed something I couldn't screw up! I'm so excited I'm going to keep the oil and do some frying this weekend.

Yup, I ate them all. Such a refreshing treat, thank you!

Biggles

Look what showed up on my doorstep? All packed tight with dry ice, shipped next day air an junk. It's full of cured pork products !!!

A few years ago a commenter showed up on the Meathenge train. Seemed to be a laid back kind of guy, got smarts about him, and some minutes a day to read my ramblin's. Times rolled along, he came and went, leaving comments behind him as he pleased. Sometimes it was just a hello and a few times it was to ruffle some feathers, even if he din't mean to. Apologies all around and off we went.

Welp, had some time to myself and decided to jump in to the small frey. The Monkey Wranger and Cookiecrumb have been doing some vegetarian Italian Rice Tort action. It sounded easy enough and I figured if I was going to do it right I'd need to start with some of Fatted Calf's Pancetta. So, off to the Berkeley Farmer's Market first thing.

There were a few other things on my food list that I needed and this market didn't have 'em. These would be milk, panko bread crumbs, rice and whatever else I was forgetting.

Okay so I had a list and I knew what I was up to. But I didn't figure on the new Halal market next door to the El Salvadrian grocery to be open. It was, I went in.

Ya know, those Middle Eastern countries have an amazing gaggle of spices and herbs. One isle I had to go up and down 4 times just so I could inhale the goodness further. I saw a little package called Sausage Chili, filled with a red powder. I still have no idea what's in it, mostly paprika smells like to me, but how could you not buy a powder called Sausage Chili? Down a ways spied me a package of Black Cumin seeds, snatch! I had goosemup pimples all over. Thinkin' to myself, got to get me to these Middle Eastern recipes some day, soon.

This whole time I knew there was a meat counter behind me. I was carefully ignoring, sneaking past. Acting as though I was a vegetarian lost, I slid to far end and turned away, only to glance back as though I didn't care. What I saw was a hospital clean meat display of some kind of fowl, turned out to be chicken. But what really caught my eye were two fresh 3' legs of some kind of exceptionally clean red meat.

OH SHIT YEAH BABY !!! I know one of those is goat, just know it. I axed the smiling shop keeper about the legs. One was goat and one was lamb, I found the goat on my own. Her staff person asked how much of the leg I wanted. It took me a few gestures stating clearly I wanted the whole leg, silly.

Well, I'm not sure how my rice tort is coming along. 4 cups of milk and 1 cup of rice seems like an off ratio to me, but I've never made a rice tort before. So, what do I know? In any case, I have a leg of goat in the fridge I need to find something to do with over the next 24 hours. I thought about smoking it, but then got a rush for homemade curried goat over rice. After all, I do need to find a use for 10 pounds of Sona Masoori rice. Yup, I bought that too. Anyone know what that is, Sona Masoori? Looks like tiny grain rice.

Biggles

A week ago Pat Fusco, a dining buddy and internet cohort, emailed me asking to use my mackNcheese photograph for an upcoming article she was preparing. I said, "Well, okay."

It was then she mentioned hesitantly that the article was about funerals and was that still okay?

Okay, let's see if I got this right. We get to combine Food, Photography & Graveyards? How could this possibly not be the most fantastic thing ever ?!? I felt as though I was walking 3 feet ... under the ground.

Enough, let's get to the goodies. Here's Pacific Sun's website. Here's the article without the pretty image I did. And bless the Powers that Be, they put the paper in PDF format. It may take a few minutes to download, then scroll down until you see the macky cheese picture and the title of Food & Drink. Bask in my awesomeness. Oh, and a hearty cheers to Pat for thinking of Biggles in her time of need!

Cheers,

Biggles

Yesterday I was invited to a nice lunch at Cookiecrumb and Cranky's place. Surely you remember? I'm Mad and I Eat? Yes, those two.

They were hosting and all I had to do was show up. Uh, huh. Yup, invite a hillbilly and he doesn't have to bring anything?

Early Wednesday morning I realized I had a tritip and Chilebrown's home made Chile Verde Sausage in my fridge. They needed cooking, so I brought them with me as I hit the road. And this is where the above image steps in. I can't remember ever buying in to that whole "New Years Resolution" thing. I never thought it was a good idea. I figure, do your best and move forward each year. Simple enough and makes beings such as myself happy enough to actually live through.

As I was revving my dusty old Dodge truck out of the toll plaza on the bridge I began to review the year and think that maybe I did have a few things in 2007 I'd like to add. 65mph rounded out the speedo as I mushed it in to 5th gear and figured 83 was a good velocity to attain. And it hit me, CROSS MORE BRIDGES !!!

As the last 18 seconds counted down on the bridge, I grabbed my rig and slapped this shot in to that memory card thingy. I never thought anything would be in focus, let alone be worth posting. In the upper right is a slice of San Quentin prison and in the mirror of my creaky machine is the reflection of the San Rafael Bridge that joins with Richmond. After the bridge, I downshifted said creaky machine at 70mph in to 4th and coaxed my fuel injected V8 in to light speed. Ya know, I realize it's irresponsible and all. But the sound a V8 mated with a manual transmission makes, no, gives me the weak knees. Plus I only commute a total of 12 minutes a day, I can justify such things.

Our lunch together was a much needed respit and a mutually happy place to be on a Wednesday afternoon. Our spice collection, herb collection, hot sauce collection, knife collection, pan collection and roaster collection had a lot in common. We'd make some fancy comment and both come up with the same answer. So nice and even with a together that had nothing left behind.

If I had to start another damned new year and make some positive comment about the future, 2007 is at the top of of my list.

xo, Biggles

A pretty path in Tilden Park near The Little Farm in Berkeley.

Been sitting here for a minute or 19 writing down witty paragraphs that kinda rambled around like a 3 legged duck on acid. After removing said paragraphs I'm happy to report I'm glad to see 2006 fade and lead us to another year, 2007 (It's sequential don't ya know).

Happy New Year to you all! Meathrenge rules.

xo, Biggles

Not a heck of a lot going on over here. Sorry about that.

Thank you to Kevin at Bacon Press for brightening my day yesterday with this Sign Generator. Then, an apology to my friends who've been receiving said signs from me over the last 24 hours.

Biggles

ps - rock me Amadeus

In the back of every kitchen is not only a pantry and stove of some kind, but there simply must be at least a radio.
I have an old Crosley table radio to keep me company. That's good for those early Saturday morning news updates. But it only goes so far, being an AM radio and all. 5 years ago I ran in a second pair of speakers to the kitchen so I could be in my own world without bothering others. Good idea eh? You bet.

What's on the turntable today? Country Joe & the Fish - Electric Music for the Mind and Body. Next? Donovan, Sunshine Superman. This will bring us in to dinner with Band of Gypsys and will center us nicely for the week to come.

Peace brothers and sisters and may your sausage always be juicy.

Biggles

Happy Sunday to everyone!

Eat well.

xo,

Biggles

Hello,

That's right, you heard correctly. Rick is retiring and doing it soon. This means his custom smoker has to go.
Are you tired of those little round offset smoker rigs? The ones where it takes 20 pounds of charcoal to do 10 pounds of meat? With all the hot spots and horrible engineering? Or are you interested to see of smoking meat with real wood makes a difference over a propane rig?

You read that right, Rick is on a fast track to retirement as we speak. He's been making funny noises for the last few weeks and finally admitted earlier this week he's packing up and heading out.
Rick and I visit on a weekly if not daily basis and he's been pulling 50 hours plus, that's just no fun no matter how you slice it. This coupled with a few other things has pushed him out of the retail business and towards the commercial/wholesale business. In other words, going back to his roots.
Rick's future is solidifying each day. But mine is wide open, in a cold, dark and sad way. Where's a needful custom meat kinda guy going to find solace in the world of grocery store packages?
Comon in and sit down. Open up my scrapbook of Rick's Meats for everyone.

A warm summer's evening, the sun goes down on yet another beautiful July. The boy's hair has been growing at an alarming rate. I'm one of those fathers that curse the electric company and spew as I run the house turning off each bulb, each computer monitor and check the fridge door. If I could milk my own cows to save forty cents, I'd be there.
Mama has asked me over and over again to take the boys to get their hairs cut. I agreed at the time, but knew I could save a few bucks by doing it myself. At eleven years old Z has met my hair cutting 'skill' more than a few times, which is why Mama wants me to have it correctly done.

I had my way tonight and before anyone knew it, they were shorn.

They will surely get hassled by mates, but I saved over 20 dollars.

Do you remmeber?

Ith pretty.

Which one of those words don't belong? Which one of those words don't quite fit? You guessed it Sherlock, the word Beach is what I was looking for.
Have you ever been sitting at your desk and said to yourself, "Okay, I've had enough of this. I need a breather." Today was that day.

Creepy E mentioned on Thursday that low tide would be at 9:45 this morning, Friday. So, with buckets and gloves in tow, we made our way (it took 6 minutes to get there) to Point Isabel. Or more commonly known as Tepco Beach.

Wachu talkin' 'bout Willis? I'm talking about Tepco Beach. The place where a local China Ware company over 50 years ago would dump all their imperfect or damaged plates, platters, mugs, bowls and whatever else needed to go. Tepco's deal was they made heavy duty restaurant ware and put fancy patterns on it. They even made china for our armed forces. So, the variantions are immense and fun and very collectible. Well, at least their collectible when they aren't in a million little pieces.

Wanna come play at the beach?

How is this Saturday treatin' ya'll? Doing really well here, for sure. We've got a nice tri-tip beef roast with a curry based dry rub with a tad of dried herbies and a little hot cajun sprinkled over. The grass fed organic beef chuck roast is more of a cajun rub and both are topped with bacon rosettes.

And where we have a nice chicky all trussed up with a lemon herb action going and I sprinkled a little hot spicy cajun on this one as well. This would be the Tony Chachere's action.
All said meats are on the low level, low heat track to goodness in a handful of hours. I expect the skin of the chicken to be crispy, yet juice will run when sliced. The beefs will be smoked to maybe 135 and pulled to rest.

Cheers to you all on a wonderful day!

Biggles

Here we see a nice little beef ball-tip roast with extra virgin, Survival Spice, two lumps of butter and of course, as you can see a killer sprig of rosemary. And if you look closely on the bottom, you'll notice a cast iron trivet. See the round holes?

That's right, this very day Meathenge is 3 years old, that's this many. The only time it seems like such a long time ago, is when I go back through my archives of the first few months, hooboy. I suppose for the first month I was really learning the software and how things went together. I remember though, in about 6 to 8 months I'd run out of schtick and wallowed for a bit. Questioned blogging, questioned my mad skills and considered going off half-cocked and doing something else. Obviously I decided to wait until I was full-cocked & refreshed for another try. I'm so glad I did. The people I've met over the last few years have turned in to permanent relationships that I talk with on a regular basis. Some of which we go out to dinner with and exchange gifts on a regular basis (Thank you CB for all those early morning bacon deliveries). It's been GREAT.

Thank you everyone and Happy Birthday MEATHENGE !!!

It wasn't too long ago Sandra of Khoolsville and I crossed paths in our comment sections. Days passed and I'd left a comment about one of her drawings, a cat I believe. It went something like this, "If I were to draw a cat, it'd be clutching its meaty prey." Or something along those lines. Time quickly flew by and I mentioned something about a Meat Fairy and Sandra said she'd love to draw this Meat Fairy . Neat!
Well, sooner showed up rather than later and above you see our Meat Fairy! Dang, she sports some good action on her pen, eh?
And here we have her cat clutching its meaty prey.

I'm glad she drew the cat and not me. I know what mines would have looked like and this most certainly would totally kick my cat's ASS.

Thank you Sandra for a nice finish for today.

Biggles

Ha! Meathead gifted me this quite some time ago. More than a few months, but the product still looks good, I suppose. I don't have what it takes to open it and sample and I'm sorry. Have you opened and had a little treat?
Do you have one in your fridge? Let me know what it's like!

Featured is Madamoiselle Crepinette gifted to me by my sister Kallisti.

Hah! Just got an email from David Lynch of Torchbearer Sauces. Turns out they finally got their online store up and going. So, to test to see how their new system works, they're offering 50% off!

What? You don't remember the few reveiws I did on Torchbearer? Here's the Torchbearer's #23 Fever Sauce review I did last year. They range from a very mild every day sauce to one that'll give any hot sauce a run for the money. I'm going to go order a few more, my favorite is the Fever Sauce. It seems to be right in the middle, enough burn to let you know it's hot, yet something I can actually eat.
Here's how you get your deal, enter the code word: onions
Please feel free to pass this information along. It's only on for 10 days, Feb 1- Feb 10. This is too good of a deal to pass up, I'm off to get more, right now.

xo xo

Last week I was contact by the producer of Open Source, a public radio show with Christopher Lydon out of University of Massachusetts at Lowell. They had a Thanksgiving 2.0 radio show scheduled for November 18th and I had time to participate. Turns out I was to be 1 of 4 guests for the show. First off was Jim Leff of Chowhound, Derrick from An Obsession with Food, Julie from A Finger in Every Pie and of course, Me.
I really had no idea what to expect, but Chelsea kept tabs on me and got me situated with times and what to expect. Maybe 30 minutes before I ran back out to our detached garage in the back yard and sat at my desk, waiting. I had some reference material handy, just in case. I lifted up the phone every 5 minutes or so, just to make sure we had a connection. The phone rang and it was time. Time to sit and wait. What with station intros and news bits, much of the time you're listening to dead air. I was only to be on for a portion of the show, that was fine. Being on air for 60 minutes sounded a bit much to me. I was done in 40 minutes and went on my merry way.
If you visit the Thanksgiving 2.0 link and look for the "click to listen so the show" link, it'll download the mp3 and you can listen to the entire show, too cool.

Yeah! I stopped by Rick's Meat Market and picked up some hot dogs for our Mummy Wraps and the total came to $6.66! NO kidding. These are our good luck wieners.
Mummy wraps, you ask? Take that premade pilsbury biscuit dough and roll out flat, roll up wiener and install in to hot oven until golden brown.
All is well here and BOO to ya'll.

Biggles

When Kevin from Bacon Press sends Meathenge Labs a gift of freshly cured olives! That's when!

Do you have a 50 year old gas range? O'Keefe & Merrit? Wedgewood? Something similar? If you do, did you know you can adjust your flame height? That's right with a greasy 9/16 wrench and a little guidance you can turn your weezy old flames in to towers of mighty blue jet streams. It'll only take maybe 15 minutes to tune them all and it's next to nearly almost safe. Are you interested?

Editor's Note - Please read - 01/09/2010: Our local Gas Guy just left, I called because was concerned about my gas furnace and carbon monoxide. He got right to work with this sensor rig and found nothing. Then he set about my 1952 Wedgewood, checking all pilots, oven operation, venting ... you name it, he checked it out from head to toe. For nothing. He was very impressed about how low my emissions were from my oven. He said that these older gas ranges do not have to have the oven vented to the outside. When these older gas ranges did have to be vented to the outside was when they had a heater or a wood burning side to the range.

He says he has more trouble with the newer gas ranges because when you turn on the oven, the flame will be high enough to hit the bottom of the oven. This causes the flame to smolder and create more carbon monoxide. The older range's burner assemblies are mounted lower and the flame is never allowed to touch any metal and smolder. In other words, we rule.

The moral of the story is to call your local gas company. Mine even has a button to press when you call them so they can come light your pilot lights. They care, they don't want you to die or get blown up and then die.

The other day I stepped into something over at Seriously Good (look for October 4th 2005's entry). It seems as though us food bloggers are doing a Show & Tell of our kitchens. I believe it's a great idea, since what we're about is food and cooking. Mrs. D over at Belly-Timber started it and I have to say, her kitchen really impressed me. More ways that one, you'll see what I mean. Go look! If you haven't already seen my kitchen, come along ... (no, I'm not going to say, "walk this way")

Wow, it was over a month in the making and August 14th was the day (yesterday). Jen, Sam, Fatemeh, Amy and myself sat down and over email hashed out the details. It wasn't easy, everyone had their ideas how things were to be and what theme, if any would be ahered to. After about 3 weeks it was clear it was going to be good no matter how it was diced up. I believe one of the tough things was coming up with a list of who was invited. Surely we would leave someone out, but we did the best we could. At this point I believe we forgot to invite Greg and his wife from Life's a Picnic and maybe a few others. It's wasn't intentional and we'll do better next time, I promise.
Everyone was to bring a dish to share with about 4-5 people and Meathenge Labs was to host and smoke meats all day long. And guess what? We did.

I was doing just fine, I'd finally completed the Grand Day Out post, took me too darned long. While I was doing that I had a mesquite fire starting up with some Crepinettes and my custom Beer Brats with Cheese waiting. Everything was laid out and it went fine. I tended the fire closely and got the sausages & crepinettes done in fine style. As I was shoving down the first Beer Brat a knock came at the door. I hesitated while chewing, not knowing who it was. As I opened the door is was a Mama, a Papa and a little girl selling fresh Tamals. I don't know Spanish, maybe some day. But we got it figured out, a dollar a piece and 12 for 11 dollars. I got a dozen, that was an easy one. I don't know what I'm going to do with them all, maybe share, maybe. Half pork and half chicken they be, easy that way.
I decided to leave my grilled goodies to the side and try one chicken and one pork tamal. Hot sauce in hand I dived in, they okay. I don't think they used real lard and the stuffin's is short. Even so, it's a better tamal than you'd probably find in most places. Not only that? It came to my door.
As a side note, this has happend twice before, but from another family.

Hugs,
Biggles

Hey, we got a few entries going here, Celeste was our first! You're going to have to work harder than you thought, the entries are really well done and presented very nicely. Go have a gander, there's a link to it over there on the left under EVENTS. Or you can click HERE and go directly. Contest is due to end Wednesday, July 27th. However, it will take us a few days to tabulate the winners. So, if you're a day late? Enter anyway, it's for fun, and fun has no deadlines.

Off you go, I have spoken.

Biggles

Yay! A contest! It took me a bit to come up with something worth doing. And personally, I'm getting a little overwhelmed with all the fancy cookin' & ingredients both in books and on the internet. Sure it's a lot of fun, always something new to try. But this isn't something that occupies most of my time in the kitchen or at the grill. I'm usually coming home from work and have about 1.5 hours to come up with something, get the kitchen clean and serve up food that is worth eating, good or at least good for you. To be honest, after 10 years of cooking every night for my family, I'm starting to come up a little dry on recipes. So, this contest is all about your favorite weekday meals. A meal you have 2 to 3 times a month, more or less. If not, something that you love dearly and would work well in a pinch. If your recipe requires going to 3 or more grocery stores, that's not going to work. 2 I think we could handle, maybe 1?
I'm going to make this easy, nice eh? Your submission can be on your blog or you can submit it directly to Meathenge Labs. You can make it as long as you want or as many pictures as you want, it's up to you. You will be judged on 3 things:
1. You'd want the judge to say, "Yeah, I'd make that. It looks & sounds really good."
2. Overall Love Factor of your image & prose(show you cared with your presentation). Tell a little story?
3. Completeness and flow of your recipe. Does it make sense? If you can't make sense of it, you can't eat it. And if you can't eat it, you can't win. See?
The Meathenge Lab assistants will be pitching in to judge these fine entrys, thanks all!
The contest starts today, July 13th and ends on July 27th. That's Wednesday to Wednesday, 2 weeks & 2 weekends.

The 3 top finalists will receive a copy of Diana Abu-Jaber's book, The Language of Baklava. Diana weaves the story of her life in upstate New York and in Jordan around vividly remembered meals: everything from Lake Ontario shish kabob cookouts with her Arab-American cousins to goat stew feasts under a Bedouin tent in the desert. These sensuously evoked meals in turn illuminate the two cultures of Diana's childhood - American and Jordanian - and the richness and difficulty of straddling both. Thank you so much to Pantheon Books in New York for supplying these hardback books. Yup, hardback, ain't that cool?

I'm sure I've left a few things out, feel free to email me and we'll get to them as we roll along over the next two sun filled weeks.

Good luck and let the contest begin !!!

Oh man, it was only 3 or so weeks ago I heard that Fatted Calf was needing some help at the stall in Berkeley. I let them know I was available for whatever on June 25th. Well, okay, I was only available up until noon. Even so, I could throw concrete blocks for hours without breaking a sweat, I was ready!

No yelling this time and we'll get back to talking about meat very soon, I promise.
After Saturday's hurried pace I thought I should wrap things up and let everyone know how Day 2 went. The pace for the entire day was far nicer for me, it started with a 3 hour hike out at Pt. Pinole with the family. This put me home with just enough time to shower, pack up and get out the door. I knew HWY 80 would be packed, back out through El Sobrante I went. The temperature hung out at about 76 degrees all the way, very nice. The Lafayette Bookstore is right off HWY 24 and very easy to get to, I even got to park right out front. Not like Berkeley, where you need to park, then hike in. Stephanie and her husband Mark were out front relaxing. Owen our publisher/author showed up and got things moving. Ellen showed up soon after. Dave, Mr. Bookstore owner, set up about 20 chairs, made the place real official looking. Owen announced he was going to do a demonstration on how to make tea properly, since he was born in Michigan after all.
It was time to begin! We had our schtick down pretty well after Saturday's long haul. Each author got up and got to read a selection from the book, Owen demonstrated his fancy tea makings and after we did a little question & answer period. We even got to talk about our worst screw up ever. Stephanie panicked when she couldn't find the legs or wings on a turkey breast and I shared about the time I country fried a pork spare rib. Eeek.
Unlike Saturday, this jaunt was only an hour and a half or so. It was a good time had by all, we got to sign books and talk with customers that wandered in. Speaking of wandering in, Big D and the Bitner family showed up! Very nice cause we went out to dinner aftwards, enjoyable.
Owen is smart, very smart. He chose the best authors' best writings to publish. How can you go wrong with that? I suppose you could, but not very bloody likely. The layout and design of the book has been very well thought out. The indexing (a very important point, it'll make or break you) is done 3 different ways. You can search by blog, by title of recipe and by main ingredient. 3 indexes pally boy, that's very cool. This book is filled with recipes and stories both silly, serious and prolific. This book will do well.
Owen has most certainly learned a lot and will continue doing well. If you are interested in purchasing a book here, please place your a Order.

Here we find Owen placing the cozy over the tea pot, he's got 3 of those suckers.

And that, pretty much handles that. I'm sure there will be more public signings down the road. Take care and keep yer ears peeled.

Biggles

Yup, that's right. Meathenge is another year older, that makes about 2 as I countem'. I have to say it's been a lot of fun. I remember when I started, not sure what I was supposed to post. You can go see those earlier days, just in case you were wondering. As time rolled by I did some more cooking, but didn't post the recipes. People started asking what the hell I was putting in my dry rubs and que sauces. I realized it wasn't really fair to post all the juicy pictures without the ability to at least recreate any of the food. The first 8 months were easy, then I hit a wall. I was at the end of my schtick. I'd run out of my pocket full of ideas and had to actually READ cookbooks to glean information. Reading got easier and I found what I needed. Meathenge really took off and it hasn't stopped since. There was a little mention in Gourmet Magazine, online articles and recently a huge layout in the San Francisco Chronicle. And if that wasn't enough, Meathenge has been put to print, Digital Dish. Thanks to everyone for the kind words, input & support. Thank you to my wife who puts up with the tripod and lights during dinner time. Thank you to my boys who have to wait to eat each night. Thank you to my sister for making me look good and thanks to her husband for making the best cornbread on the planet. Thanks to my father, Big D and Joe Bob for the photography backup. Thanks to J. Lee for the support and new finds. Thanks to everyone. It's been a great 2 years. I hope the next 2 are at least this fun.

Xo Xo

A few moments ago my brother inlaw Meathead, brought in a snapshot from approximately 30 years ago. Guessing he found it in one of my sister's boxes. She must have taken this in the mid 1970s some time. Good shootin' Sis! Not only did he bring in this picture, but he also brought in the meat rack that is featured. I noticed the shiny aluminum salt shaker on the stove I still have. And I believe I can still find that wooden pepper grinder. This, right here, is Meat History.

Xo Xo

ps - Hey, check out that cool brown stove, eh?

Early on SparkleWitch was leaving comments here and there on Meathenge. One of those comments she left, she mentioned something about making Meat Jewelry. How could you possibly miss? She was spot on, take a look! Those images on the keychain and bracelet are ones from Meathenge! Very cool.
Over the months I have really enjoyed cooking for Meathenge, so much so I've injured my guts. But I have to say, some of the best things have been the people who stop by here. Thank you Sparkle.

Xo Xo

She can be contacted sparklewitch at removethis aol dot com

Happy Asparagus sizzling over a mesquite fire. Lovelies were marinated in EV Olive Oil, squeeze of half a lemon and Tony Chaceres Creole Seasoning (salty & spicy). Grilled until they bow just a tad when lifted.

Hey, it looks as though Shuna has a few spaces left in her Knife Skills class for Sunday May 15th. If you're somewhere near or in the San Francisco Bay Area you need to reserve yourself a space. You'll finally be able to talk to someone who's worked in many professional kitchens and can give you the straight poop on What and How and Why Not. Why do the carrots always go skittering off the damned table when I'm whacking? My palm seems quite vulnerable when dicing an onion, why's that? Why can't I cut a gourd in half easily with my dull paring knife? Eh? You get the idea. A good time is had by all. While she's going through skills, you get a story about this & that and about that time when. It's fun just to hang out. So what if you're worried about spending another $40 bucks, you've surely blown it on less worthy things. Don't you agree?

If you're even remotely interested get yourself, go now and sign up today! Chef Shuna's Web Site and details.

When he shows up to work with one of these things in tow.
The commercials for the recent Burger King sandwiches are quite funny. Some guy waking up in bed to find some life sized plastic cartoony king next to him. Or the one for this breakfast sandwich, where this guy opens up the window shade only to find the same king outside his window with the birdies and a nice looking breakfast waiting. What gives these commercials a creepy air is the fact this king doesn't say anything or have any moving parts, just stares with an odd look on his face. At least Chucky had a moving mouth and eyes. Good stuff.
After the commericals are over and you find yourself in the drive-thru lane, hungry and ready to open up your meal to find this? Egads man, so disappointing. I expected so much more from Burger King.
Supposedly it has 2 slices of American Cheese (Why American? Why us?), 3 slices of bacon (not sure of their definition of bacon), 2 Omelet Egg (what the hell is an omelet egg?) and 2 halves of Sausage Patty (2 halves? Must be a size issue). And speaking of size, if I got this for lunch, I'd be disappointed yet again.
Here's what this brave Employee had to say, "The eggs were fluffy, yet bland. Bacon crispy, sort of, but didn't crunch. Typical spongy nothin' bread with odd molten velveeta-like cheese (couldn't afford real velveeta I suppose). It coats the sides of your tongue and won't leave." He was smacking his mouth like a dog with peanut butter in it, I had to stare. Employee did say the sausage patty was okay, but he started holding his gut and making funny faces. Funny faces to me anyways.

Here's what Burgler King thinks the Enormous Omelet Sandwich looks like. That's funny.
This rig is sportin' 2080mg of sodium (that's a lot by the way, almost as much as a can of Cambell's Cream of Chicken soup). 760 Calories with 450 from fat. Not much trans fat though, yay?
This food would almost be funny if weren't so tragic. I have nothing more to say on the matter, move along.

UPDATE: Okay, so one more thing. 1 hour later Employee showed up in my office, wanting to give me the scoop. He still feels sickly and feels as though he has the capacity to drink maybe 5 gallons of cool refreshing water. Jeez man, it was only two thousand miligrams of salt! Wuss.

Xo Xo

I've had this post on the side lines for a few months now. This week has slowed a tad for the Labs here and figured this would be a good time to lay it down.
I believe it was back in and around 1984 when I started hammering on computers, mostly hardware. Yeah well the last eleven years or so I've done more on the soft side, this means using a mouse. And it was in the last 12 months when I was working on a huge line of product labels for cans here at work when I developed a really nasty case of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. Surely I don't need to go in to details about what CTS is.

If yer interested, read on.

YEAH !!! I was perusing the net and found someone mentioned the release of Julia's 1960s cooking show, The French Chef , on DVD. Not only is this release surely going to be interesting to watch from a cook's persective, but it's something cool to watch. All the old knives, bowls & platters. Cooking shows are many these days, most of which aren't worth a plug nickel. This along with Graham Kerr's Galloping Gourmet were awesome! These shows were worth the week long wait for each episode. Oh man, I'm salivating. That's the good news. The bad news is it ain't out yet and isn't due until April 26th. Even so, go to Amazon and pre-order your copy now. Oh man, I can hardly wait!

Xo Xo

... Shuna! Happy Birthday Shuna. May this year be filled with duck confit & sausage & juicy citrus. All the best,

Biggles

Hey, are you interested in what Shuna is up to? Do you need a baking & pastry workshop for the advanced? She's here for you, please contact Shuna: shunafish *at* earthlink (dot) net

It isn't often I leave my immediate surroundings, I'm attempting to do better. When Jenn of Life Begins @ Thirty sent me an email asking whether I'd be interested in a knife skills class, I took a deep breath and said, "YES, count me in for 2 places." There, I did it. Phew! My wife don't need no dumb knife skills class, so I invited my sister.
That was yesterday, Sunday. Mrs. Meathead and I headed out for the great unknown, San Francisco. Oooooo. Aaahhhhh. I grabbed a few of my old carbon blades and my F. Dick Multicut steel, neat. We made it in fine style and hung out for a while, waiting for the 8 or so of us to show up. I met the author of World On a Plate, sorry I forgot your name! You were really nice. I also sorta met the author of A Full Belly. I suppose I should really take notes if I'm going to post about such things, eh? I'll do better next time, I promise Amanda.
Everyone was really nice and Shuna got right to work. Our group weren't professional working cooks or chefs, so she started talking about knives, the basics. After a while she got to slicing, mincing and some crazy fancy French terms for preparing fruits and vegies. She even showed us this little cube, it's about the 12th of the size of a pencil eraser. Something The French Laundry's prep cooks spend a lot of time making. She says they have 43 people in the kitchen and only 5 are cooking. Dang, that's a lot of prep. No wonder the stuff costs so much. It was really fun to hear about all the stories from behind the kitchen doors. Something most of us don't get a chance to hear. But we were there for cuttin'. So we finally got a chance to slice a few things. Two things I will remember from this day is knowing how to Supreme a Lime/Orange/Citrus. I went home and did a tangerine first thing, MUCH better. Love it. It's quite simple, just slice off the top/bottom of the lime. In a downward stroke following the contour of the beast, remove the skin and pith. Hold fruit firmly in hand and using one slicing motion, cut the wedges of love out. I've seen it done on teevee, but never tried it. It wasn't tough. The other thing I will take away, is the ... how do I put this? When creating a recipe, or putting together a dish, don't choose sizes and textures of food that will battle each other in your mouth. Which is why she recommends to peel the tomatoes, Supreme the citrus. When it hits your mouth, we're talking harmony. Everything comes together nicely. This is a great mantra to have while putting a meal together.
Thank you Shuna and thank you Jenn for making it happen. It was a really nice afternoon with good people. Oh, Jenn, I hope your skills improve and your need for bandages decreases.

Xo Xo

D70 / 60mm f2.8 micro / little unsharpening filter.

Saturday morning found Senior Biggles jacked in to the Berkeley Farmer's Market, niiiiice. After spending all week immersed in one's daily job, it's like a shot of morphine to go stand. Go watch, touch & interract with others whose goal is to smile and walk. I can do that, smile & walk.
While doing just that, I ran in to Charlotte, a food blog comrade. Charlotte had a gift, a chocolate gift. I snorked one right on the spot, paid off cause it gave me a buzz. Neat.
Inspired me to create the photograph you see above, good inspiration eh?

Last September Scott from Anchor Books, a division of Random House, sent me an email to see if I was willing to run some kind of contest wherein the winner would win a copy of Kate Christensen's Novel, "The Epicure's Lament". He was to send me a copy to peruse to see if it was something worth my time. Scott gave me at least 5 months to read the book and get the ball rolling, what the heck eh? Time passed and I chewed my way through the book without much grief, what with all those high-fulloutin' words and all. The idea of having a meat photo contest with judges seemed like a natural choice for Meathenge Labs, you bet.
Before I knew it, the end of January showed up and it was time to start.
And now it's all over and time to announce the winners!

If you're a fan of the Henge, then you probably hang out at a multitude of other food blogs as well. This means you've run in to all kinds of contests and awards: some hosted by major players; some hosted by some of us little people. These include themed cooking get togethers and all kinds of fun stuff. Well, it's time for Meathenge to step up to the plate and host a contest!

Today was my first Farmer's Market in a few weeks and I have to say it felt really good getting back in to the swing of things. My little boy and I did a few walks up and down, pinching, poking and surveying the good stuff. All of it. Thankfully Taylor brought back some sun from Mexico, yeah.
There's nothing to this post other than a meat inspired photograph and wonderful food. I had planned on giving this Mortadella to Steve, he loves the Mortadella. But I knew, within a few moments, it was mine and mine alone. Warm toast and mortadella, nothing finer.

Xo Xo

This entry submitted by Joe Bob of Denver. Some day I will be able to taste the fabled green chili from Denver, some day.

Each fall there is a mountain bike festival in Fruita, CO. Each year a bunch of bike geeks from Quality in MN come through Denver on their way there. They stop in a Wakeman's house for a party too. The basic theme is Tamales from La Casita in Denver. Then there's the Mopars.....besides the bicycles and bike talk is the car thing. Tamales, green chile and cars. Toss in some pierced tattooed borderline sociopaths and you have a great time. Hopefully an annual event now.

Everyone has them. No one will toss them in to the recylcing bin. We're always searching for a use and yet, those cool containers made of glass, metal or cardboard usually spend their lives tucked away in a cupboard somewheres. It hit me like a cold beer on a hot day on an empty stomach a few weeks ago, I finally thought a use for at least a few of them.

Yes, that is a Hello Kitty pink microwave. And no, it doesn't stop there. We have a matching Hello Kitty rice cooker.

Here we find ourselves as the daily temperatures drop and darned if it ain't getting darker earlier. Thanksgiving (for some) is right around the corner. Ick.

Oh I know, this is a lovely time of year for friends and family to get together and share about the year's doings. Love & tenderness. Ick.

Some of us have plans to visit others for the holidays, some of us have volunteered to be that destination for our peeps. Either way, this is an excellent time to clean that crap out.

It's lunch time during the week, Thursday to be exact. I figured I'd wander out to Rick's Quality Meats in El Cerrito. This way I could get a sammich and a whole chicken, fer dinner. Yeah well, it's raining here. Pouring really. Really pouring with high water at the curbs. Good thing I grabbed my camera because when I pulled up, guess what I found.
That's right, Rick's smoker going full tilt. In the pouring rain. I know I know, we've all barbecued in the rain. But it's Thursday at noon, in November, in the rain. I'm not sure exactly what was in there, he said something about only running 50 lbs this run and something about pork loins and some ribs. In any case,

Rick wins.

Rick's Quality Meats
510.233.9390

1600 Liberty Street
El Cerrito, CA 94530

The Fatted Calf & Hog Island Oyster Co. Picnic was set for September 12th, 10:30am SHARP out in Marshall California. More specifically Marshall Boatworks right on HWY 1 just up the road a piece from Pt. Reyes Station on Tomales Bay. We'd been having a heatwave, 94 degrees on a daily basis going on 2 weeks. Not Sunday morning it wasn't, we're talking heavy over cast with some icky looking darker clouds. Didn't matter, if Fatted C. & Hog Island were involved I would have taken a taxi out that windy road for one and a half hours.

Many many leagues ago, back in the time of the vikings, before Starbucks and way before Peet's coffee, was Barnacle Coffee.
This semi-ancient ritual found the heartiest of souls before 6am brewing a morning beverage. This morning beverage did not include sugars, not creams or fats of any kind (well, okay maybe walrus milk but it was damned hard to obtain, you ever try to milk a walrus?). This morning beverage didn't have any cinnamon or powdered chocolate. Well then, what was the draw?
The Barnacle! What an amazing little mullusk:

mol·lusk also mol·lusc n.
Any of numerous chiefly marine invertebrates of the phylum Mollusca, typically having a soft unsegmented body, a mantle, and a protective calcareous shell and including the edible shellfish and the snails.

Not more than 3 minutes before the Newsletter arrived in my inbox, I remarked that the Fatted Calf Newsletter was late. I almost gave them a call, "whar's muh newsletter foo?"
I read through the introductory paragraph pretty quickly, all I was interested in was to see if there was a special and what the Crepinettes were made of this week. I was not let down.
First came the special brined, cold smoked ham steaks. You don't eeven want to miss this one. A month ago or so he sold these 9 pound hams, sure they were amazing hunks of ham leg. But you had to buy 9 pounds of ham leg, which left most people out of the loop. This time he was nice enough to make something Snack Size (probably a few pounds each, maybe a tad less) so we can all have a taste. In a few months when the holidays come by we'll know what to expect for our Holiday Ham selection.
This week he has Pork Crepinettes with Pistachios, Duck Liver and Marsala. Okay, so I'm not too hip to livers. And usually would pass, but so far there isn't one thing Taylor's made that I haven't enjoyed. So, I will be getting a package and I'll let you know how it goes. Keep in mind he's got Mortadella this week too, amazing stuff. So yummy.

Clearly Fatted Calf's Newsletter that included MeatHenge was one of the best, up until yesterday. This weeks newsletter goes on about a wedding in which Taylor and his wife Toponia stuff up an entire pig for a pit fire. There were two problems I found with this right off. First, we aren't invited to this wedding. Okay there are 3 things a bit off. Second, we weren't going to get any and Third, there were no pictures to SEE.

MeatHenge Labs has grown another room. Not so good for the rainy season, but just fine for the other three. Count yourself lucky if you have some kind of shade in your back/side yard for the summer. Ours is a wide open area with sun for all. Which may be fine for tomatoes & flowers, but for humans it really burns. Now we have wide open shade, delish.

Am told it is officially summer, spring is gone. The Farmer's Market over the last month has really grown, when compared to over the winter (der). I enjoy seeing the changes because it gets continually better and better. Now is a great time to go see what is available. Don't lose your mind though, you have to be wise in your Shopping Fu just as you do at the local grocery chain. For instance, the peaches (many vendors have them now) are charging $3.50 + a pound for the orbes of wonder. Yeah, they're really good. But $3.50 a pound is too damned much, sorry. Last week I bought some wonderful 5 seed crusty bread, baked that morning. It was absolutely delightful, if you don't mind paying $4.50 a loaf. I did find someone who reminded me of Ted Nugent at a little card table sharpening knives for $5 bux a piece. Tomorrow I'm going to take my poultry shears and a few cooks knives in for a touch up. He uses a stone only, no wheels. This is a good thing, one doesn't want to take too much metal off the poor blades. Anyway, if you have the time take an hour or so and check out your local Farmer's Market, please do. And speaking of which, here is Fatted Calf's weekly newsletter (MORE CREPINETTES !!!!!!!!! YEEEHAW);

Here we find this week's Fatted Calf News posted at MeatHenge. The two highlights we see featured are the organic brandied cherry crepinettes and Taylor's wife Toponia will be working right along side. This is going to be a really great Saturday morning. Count me in for at least two packages of the Crepinettes, maybe 3.

You are planning on grilling this weekend, aren?t you? Maybe even entertaining a little bit? We?re always looking for ways to make entertaining more unique and delicious, and we think grilling Fatted Calf sausages is a great way to do that. You can serve a variety of styles and flavors to suit all of your guests, and our sausages always grill perfectly over medium heat (off to the side from the hottest coals), about 7 minutes per side, maybe 8-9 for crepinettes. And, speaking of crepinettes, ours are extra-special this week, made with organic brandied cherries. The smokiness you get from grilling these will leave them nothing short of sublime. Burgers? Who needs burgers? Also, please stop by the Berkeley Market this week and say hi to Toponia, the very hard working, more behind the scenes partner of The Fatted Calf. She is very excited to meet all of you.

Hey hey hey !!! Fatted Calf has t-shirts and a lunch box and an apron and a tote bag and a baby bib ... oh man, how cool. But they ain't got a trucker hat. Dang.

Fatted Calf at Cafepress.com

MeatHenge, some day soon, will also have these fine product available. But we'll have our own logo, not f.c.'s.

XO XO

The dust still hasn't settled here at MeatHenge Labs. This last Friday, May 7th marked my wife's last day at work. She quit that job to take on our home and two chillins full time, including but not limited to home schooling our 8 year old boy. So far the 4 year old has been behaving long enough to let the education fly, we're both amazed.
Yeah yeah, okay what in the hell does this have to do with M.H. ? Well, I'm coming home a few hours later and not doing the cooking on a daily basis any more. I haven't quite figured out how M.H. fits in to our daily routine yet. Sure I could write articles and just plain blather, but this isn't what I do, well. What I do is cook, take pictures of my adventures and force you, the audience to endure.
So, just hang tight and we'll see where this new turn of events takes us in the near future.

If you feel the need, drbiggles (at) meathenge dot com.

XO XO

Don't forget everyone! February 25th is National "Oil Thy Carbon Blade Day!"
Get out your old carbon knives and send them some oily love!
Remember, rust not only sucks, but it pits & ruins.
Hugs and happy Mardi Gras.

Dang man. After simmering those blackeye peas the other night for 1.5 hours look what it did to my cast iron dutch oven. INSANE. It was nicely cured before. Well, that's gone!

I smeared it with Grapeseed oil (any oil or fat with a high temperature smoking point will do), turned it upside down on the middle rack of the oven at 300 for an hour. And look ...

These came from a small greeting card company whose name escapes me. The card had an embossed image of a fat, juicy, briney, salty, succulent, "scratch and sniff", "glow in the dark"... PICKLE!

Do you think you know your stuff? Can you pick the two German blades here? I'll give you a hint, one is French.

If you'd like to try, please leave a comment. I'll let you know the end of next week.

Okay, so admissions to MeatHenge have been sparse to say the least. Most cooking web sites are hunkering down and sending forth everything to bear so everyone has a nice holiday meal. And it seems many cooking web logs are doing the reverse. We're tired, over worked and ready for some rest.
Clearly we are digging for content, and speaking of content ... I would think most of you are getting nice new socks for gifts! Go now and have a close look at your existing sock family to see if you can toss them. Maybe you don't know what needs to be tossed and what needs to be retained. Looky here, these need to be tossed.

Yeah yeah, you all know what to do. Buy your meat in those cute little plastic wrapped foam containers and toss it into the freezer. Simple, easy and a waste of perfectly good meat. Remember pal, that animal gave up it's life (probably not without a fight) so it could feed you. Pay a little respect won't you?

Freezers are for a few things. Ice Cream comes to mind right away. Maybe frozen grape juice, chicken parts for stock and ice cubes. Please keep your fresh meat out of the damn freezer. I know it's handy to come home, pull out a pound of some ground meat and toss it into a skillet for god knows what. The next time you do that, pay attention to what you end up with. Pay attention to what that meat looks like while it is whistling away in your skillet, frozen like a brick. Take note and next time try it fresh. Next time roast your chicken from a FRESH chicken, not FRESH frozen. Foo. Notice and take note. I believe you'll find with a little more effort and time at the butcher your dinners will improve.
If you need to keep your pork chop, beef roast or bacon a few extra days, re-wrap it in aluminum foil. MAKE SURE YOUR HANDS ARE CLEAN. Foil will give you at least ONE extra day in the fridge, which could mean the difference between a nice steak dinner or Lucky Charms & skim milk.

MeatHenge is down with the flu. First it was Momma and baby, now it's Papa and waiting to see if older boy gets it.
Thanksgiving dinner had to move locations, but all turned out stellar. I have that to post along with a few other goodies. So hang tight boys & girls and we'll get rolling along in a bit. Hugs to all.

Hey Everyone,

I wanted to take a moment here and thank Dennis for some kick ass advice a week ago or so. You see, I wanted more from my lighting set up at home, in the kitchen, for food. Since I have a small kitchen, it's tough some times to get the lighting just right. Well, since my old Sunpak 555 handle-mount flash unit didn't sell on ebay (idiots), Dennis suggested I get an adapter (surely they make one he said) that slides on the flash shoe of my digital rig. All the adapter would have to have is a PC connector on it. Sure enough, Sarber's Camera in Berkeley had it in stock! I dashed over there, slid it on and POW, I had a flash on my digital camera with a GN of about 160 (that's really a lot). This is now a manly rig and commands respect where ever I go (home & work usually). All this and more I owe to Dennis, who in one fell swoop was able to cause mere mortals to shake and tremble in my presence. THANKS Dennis!

Does anyone have some nice Wednesday Night dinner ideas? Please leave responses in the COMMENTS section below.

Yeah, okay I am a bit behind. OH well. You know it was a good halloween when you wake up and find an empty knife rack in the kitchen and the shower curtain needs to be washed.

Be on the look out for Alton Brown's Good Eats show, "raising the steaks". I caught a few moments of it between fending off the childses. What caught my eye was tossing, what looked to be flank steak, directly onto the coals. Yeah, my interest was piqued. So I set my "scout" on my satellite dish to search out that one show and come on automatically. I am set. You go now and look to find show. Go now.

SPAM ONIGIRI!
It's the health food craze
that's sweeping the nation.

Found this in a news and sundries
place in the Aladdin shopping bazaar.
You think Munky Boy would like that?

Just a funny thing that happened while I was at Cyberbilly Estates.

I learned that "spare ribs" is Thingese for "spider webs". Thanks Mama, fer translatin'.

My mouth almost started waterin' somethin' awful.

I've debated for several days whether to upload this picture. Not for the obvious either. Sure there is no meat, but I figured I should come clean and let you'all know that I eat other things than meat. One of my latest fads is juicing things. Mostly carrots, celery, apples, tomatoes and ginger. It damn good too. Well, this last week I've been adding an entire bunch of spinach to the juice. So far it's been excellent. But I still don't think I should have uploaded this one. Why? Cause it just doesn't LOOK good, not appetizing. Definately not something I could talk you into drinking, that's fer sure. Bend a close ear here, IT WAS GREAT !!!! Something so good, so tasty and gives you the punch you need to attack an afternoon ... it's great. Go juice.

Sure it's green. Sure it's bread pudding. Do you like bread pudding? Do you enjoy Absinthe? If both of those make you giddy, then you'll just LOVE Absinthe Bread Pudding.