Living Our Dream

Firing Up the Smoker

Bushnell, FL - Events of Wednesday, January 20 to Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Ever since we took the wreath down from our shed after Christmas, we have been thinking the shed looked a little bare. Lots of people here at Blueberry Hill have added decorations to their sheds so we did some searching and found a nice metal sculpture of some tropical-looking branches on Amazon. Last Wednesday, Paul took advantage of the sunny weather to put up the decoration.

New decoration for our shed

Closeup of the new decoration

Thursday was sunny and fairly warm, so Paul fired up the smoker to try out a new recipe for smoked teriyaki pork. We marinated a small, pork sirloin roast overnight in teriyaki sauce then sprinkled it with a little dry barbecue rub before smoking it using hickory.

Smoked teriyaki pork roast

The smoked teriyaki pork was outstanding! It was tender, moist and flavorful. We'll definitely be having that again.

On Friday, a cold front moved in bringing wind and the coldest temperatures of the season. The high on Saturday never made it out of the mid-40s, and the low went all the way down to 29º. Of course, that was still better than the northeast where temperatures were in the teens and there were near-record snowfalls of up to three feet. We snuggled into the 5th wheel and watched movies in front of our electric fireplace all weekend.

The sun came out late on Sunday, and the temperature started warming up again on Monday. It was sunny and in the upper 60s by Tuesday, so we fired up the smoker again to make some honey barbecue chicken wings. Since wings are small, they only take a couple of hours to smoke.

Wings just before they came out of the smoker

Since smoking takes place at low temperatures (220 to 250º), the skin on the wings doesn't get very crispy. Therefore, Paul put the wings on the grill for a few minutes after they were done smoking to crisp them up.

Wings on the grill to crisp up the skin

Margery made honey barbecue sauce by adding honey to our regular sauce recipe. Wow! The wings were great even without the sauce; but with it, they were superb!

Finished product

Well, we finally have some sightseeing planned - if the weather clears in time, that is (more rain moved in Tuesday night). We'll tell you about it in our next post.

 

Relaxing in Florida

Bushnell, FL - Events of Thursday, December 31, 2015 to Monday, January 11, 2016

We haven't had much to report since we've been back from our visit to Pittsburgh because we're definitely in relaxation mode. However, we thought we would post a short update just to say we're doing well and to bring everyone up to date.

We celebrated a quiet New Year's Eve in our rig with a movie from Redbox. After the movie, we struggled to stay awake long enough to watch the ball drop in New York City on TV then headed off to bed.

Although we have been relaxing much of the time, we have gone out to eat several times since the first of the year. Our eating out has been to some of the usual places we have written about numerous times before like Beef O'Brady's and Pancho's Villa, so it hasn't been very newsworthy. Surprisingly, we haven't been to OakWood Grill even once since we've been here. That's because we now have our own smoker, and OakWood specializes in smoked meats.

Speaking of our smoker, we fired it up again shortly after we got back to smoke a turkey breast.

Smoked turkey breast

Turkey breast and meatloaf are two of our favorites because, not only are they relatively economical, we really love them for sandwiches. This was our second turkey breast since the one that turned out dry and tough as the result of our disastrous experiment with dry brining. We went back to the traditional wet brining technique on the last two, and they were nice and moist and tender just as they should be.

About a week after we smoked the turkey breast, we smoked some of the shrimp we had in the freezer from our stay last fall in Lower Alabama. Unlike things like turkey breast, pork shoulder and brisket that take hours to smoke, shrimp only take 20 to 30 minutes. They were absolutely yummy.

Smoked shrimp

It was good to spend Christmas in Pittsburgh with family, but it's also good to be back home again. We have been relaxing most of the time since we have been back to recover from the relatively hectic pace of the holidays and to recover from the long, two-day drive back to Florida. Another reason we are spending so much time relaxing is the weather has gotten a good bit cooler and hasn't been very conducive to outdoor activities and sightseeing. The highs in the 80s we enjoyed for the first few days after we returned from Pittsburgh have given way to highs in the 60s and lows in the 40s. We're not complaining (well, maybe we are a little) because highs in the northeast were in the teens and 20s.

Since we have been relaxing so much, we have been spending a lot of time sitting in the theater seating in our 5th wheel. We have been reading, watching TV, surfing the internet and playing with our new iPad. We have a small storage compartment in the center armrest of the theater seating for things like remotes, but the whole area surrounding the theater seating has been getting very cluttered with other things we wanted to keep handy like the phone, the iPad, charging cables, eyeglass cases, pencils, pens, a box of Kleenex, hand lotion - you get the idea. Therefore, we decided we needed some additional storage in the vicinity of the theater seating.

We remembered seeing a variety of small, relatively inexpensive tables at Hobby Lobby, so we headed south to the store in Zephyrhills on Monday. They had lots of tables to choose from, and we were able to find one that was a perfect size and had lots of storage space to keep small items handy but out of sight. It won't interfere with the dining table at all when there are just the two of us, and it probably won't even need to be moved out of the way if we have company for dinner.

New side table with storage

There was more relaxation on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday mixed in with a few chores like cutting the grass and recharging our water softener. The cool weather is supposed to continue on into next week, but it's supposed to be sunny much of the time. Even when the air is cool, the sun here in Florida can make it feel very warm, so maybe we'll eventually get out to do something interesting. Stay tuned.

 

 

 

 

Thanksgiving Week

Bushnell, FL - Events of Monday, November 23 to Thursday, November 26, 2015

On Monday, we decided take a ride to the south to Winterhaven pick up some cherry lumber for a couple of upcoming 5th wheel projects. Afterward, we drove around and did a little exploring ending up not too far from Anna Maria Oyster Bar in Ellenton, Florida, just north of Bradenton. It was mid-afternoon - a perfect time to stop for lupper.

Although we like the Anna Maria restaurant near Cortez better because it has a more beachy feel, it is farther south and much farther from the interstate. The one in Ellenton is located right off I-75 and is much easier to get to.

Anna Maria Oyster Bar in Ellenton, FL

As an example of the beachy feel, the next photo shows the sand and seashells encapsulated into the tabletops at the Cortez location. The Ellenton location has regular tables.

Seashells encapsulated in the tabletop at Anna Maria in Cortez

Obviously, seafood is the specialty of Anna Maria Oyster Bar. We love their fried clam strips. They are second only to the ones we had at Ipswich Clambake Company in Ipswich, MA when we went to New England a few years ago. Anna Maria's clam strips are sweet, tender and lightly battered. Margery had cole slaw and onion straws for her sides, and Paul had cole slaw and red potatoes. Everything was delish!

Fried clam strips, slaw and onion straws

On Tuesday, we had an appointment with DirecTV to have our satellite TV service upgraded to high def. When we ordered our new 5th wheel last year, we ordered it with an automatic, roof-top dish capable of receiving high def, but we kept our old, standard-def DVR. After reading about some of the advancements of the new Genie DVR provided by DirecTV, we decided it was time to upgrade.

We love watching our favorite programs in high def. With our older eyes and with the larger TV we have in the 5th wheel, some of the things on the screen in standard def weren't that clear. We also love the fact the Genie can record up to 5 programs at the same time as opposed to only two for our old DVR. Although we're pretty selective, we do watch a fair amount of TV; and it seems like everything we want to record is on at the same time. We were constantly shuffling the recording schedule to avoid conflicts with our old DVR.

This year for Thanksgiving, we broke with our long-standing tradition of going to Cracker Barrel for their Thanksgiving special and decided to smoke a turkey breast and have dinner in. Previously when we smoked our turkey breasts, we brined them overnight in a solution of Kosher salt and brown sugar. We recently read an article about a different method of brining called dry brining. In dry brining, a smaller amount of the salt and sugar mixture is rubbed directly onto the turkey. The turkey is then allowed to sit in the refrigerator overnight without any water added. The article said in their taste test, 10 out of 13 testers preferred the dry-brined turkey to the standard wet-brined turkey, so we decided to give dry brining a try.

Making a full-blown Thanksgiving meal is way too much work for just the two of us, so we decided to simplify. Margery made a green bean casserole, home made low carb cranberry sauce and a side dish of roasted delicata squash with cranberries and feta cheese. Delicata squash is named for its tender skin. Although technically a summer squash, its flesh is more like that of a winter squash (think butternut). For dessert, we had pumpkin custard (essentially pumpkin pie filling without the crust).

Smoked turkey, green bean casserole, squash and home made cranberry sauce

What a mistake it was to dry brine the turkey! The turkey had good flavor just like the article said, but it was very dry and very tough. The turkey breasts we wet brined and smoked previously were very moist and were nice and tender. The cranberry sauce could have been a little sweeter, but otherwise was delicious. In addition to the cranberries also being a little tart in the squash-cranberry-feta cheese dish, Paul thought it was an very unusual flavor combination; but at least it was nice and colorful. The pumpkin custard was yummy. We're thinking we might go back to Cracker Barrel next year.

That's about it for now. We continue to mostly relax and putter around, so our posts will probably be a little less frequent.

It's Why We're Here ~ Even More Food

Fairhope, AL - Events of Saturday, October 24 to Thursday, October 29, 2015

The rain we spoke about in our last post arrived with a few showers on Saturday, then the heavens opened up on Sunday when the remnants of Hurricane Patricia started moving through the area. By the time the rain ended late on Tuesday we had gotten over 5 inches, most of it in about a 24-hour period from Sunday to Monday.

By Tuesday, we were getting brief periods of sun mixed with showers, so we decided to venture out to LA BBQ for lupper. Although we have been doing a good bit of smoking while we're here in Lower Alabama, we were busy smoking things other than pork shoulder because we knew we could get good pulled pork at LA BBQ.

LA BBQ

LA BBQ has pork, ribs, chicken, brisket and sausage. We had our usual - pulled pork dinner plates for $10, which includes two sides. We both had cole slaw and potato salad.

Pulled pork dinned plate

Paul at LA BBQ

The pulled pork wasn't real smokey, but it was moist and tender. LA BBQ has 5 or 6 different kinds of barbecue sauce. We like a blend of Texas Tangy and Southern Sweet. The sides, especially the potato salad, were outstanding.

Sunny weather finally returned on Wednesday, and we fired up the smoker in the afternoon to make smoked Armadillo Eggs. Although there are many recipe variations, Armadillo Eggs, also known as Atomic Buffalo Turds, are basically jalepeños stuffed with with cream cheese and/or cheddar cheese then wrapped in sausage. Some recipes, like the one we used, also have the whole thing wrapped in bacon.

After lunch, Margery cleaned the peppers then we both worked on stuffing them with a mixture of cream cheese and cheddar cheese with a little barbecue dry rub mixed in. Margery got the messy job of wrapping the sausage around the peppers. We made some with mild Italian sausage and some with hot. You can also use breakfast sausage.

Margery wrapping the stuffed peppers in sausage

After wrapping the Armadillo Eggs in bacon, they went into the smoker.

Armadillo Eggs in the smoker

Armadillo eggs are normally used as hearty appetizers for tailgating, Super Bowl parties and the like; but we decided to have them for dinner. They were very good; but next time, we need to shorten the smoking time a little because they weren't quite as juicy as they should have been. Also, the jalepeños have enough heat of their own, so we'll use mild sausage.

Armadillo Eggs

Since our time in lower Alabama is growing short, and since we have a couple of our favorite eateries we want to visit a second time, we headed out on Thursday afternoon to Big Daddy's Grill. One reason we went on Thursday was because the weather was nice and we could eat out on the deck overlooking the Fish River.

Paul on the deck at Big Daddy's

View of the Fish River from the deck at Big Daddy's

The other reason we went on Thursday was Paul wanted to try the shrimp basket at Big Daddy's, and the shrimp basket is the daily special on Thursdays. The daily special price is $12 ($15 regular price) and includes a drink, cole slaw plus one additional side. You can have the shrimp fried, blackened or grilled. Paul had them fried and had sweet potato fries for his side. Margery had a Philly cheese steak with onion rings at the regular price of $10. Everything was yummy!

We had more rain over the weekend, so we just chilled out around the rig all day Saturday and after church on Sunday. The rain continued off and on into Monday, so except for a quick run to Walmart Monday morning, we didn't venture out until Tuesday...and it involved more good eats. Stay tuned.

 

 

More Smoke and a Project for Lydia

Berlin, OH - Events of Saturday, August 29 to Tuesday, September 2, 2015

We have been putting our smoker to good use ever since we first got it. We have smoked a pork shoulder, a turkey breast and baby back ribs.

Walnut Creek Cheese has a nice selection of meats at their meat counter, and that's where we get most of our meats when we are staying here in Berlin. When we were shopping there last week, we saw they had beef brisket at $4.79 a pound. The going price these days for brisket is around $8 a pound, so we bought a small one and smoked it last Saturday.

Most of the time meat is smoked right on the grate; but this time, we decided to try putting the meat in a shallow, disposable pan to catch the juices.

Brisket in the smoker

The brisket took about 5½ hours. After a 45-minute resting time wrapped in foil to give the juices time to redistribute, the brisket was ready for carving.

Beef brisket

Wow, was it tender! It was also nice and smokey. The downside to smoking in a pan is you don't get a nice, crisp bark from the caramelization of the brown sugar in the rub, but the flavor of the juices that are captured in the pan are outstanding when poured over the meat. You almost don't need barbecue sauce.

Then last Wednesday, we smoked a meat loaf. The recipe we used is half pork sausage and half ground beef. Since is also contains bread crumbs soaked in buttermilk, the finished product is nice and moist. It was smokey and yummy served with barbecue sauce.

Smoked meatloaf

And now on to Lydia's project. Lydia loves swings because she seems to like to feel the wind in her face. Therefore, family friends bought her a swing seat by Little Tykes. Paul volunteered to make a frame to hang it.

Since Paul would have to assemble the swing to fit everything together before taking it to Pittsburgh anyway, he decided to build it in time for Lydia to use it when they came to Scenic Hills to be with us for Labor Day. Afterward, he will disassemble it, we will take it to Pittsburgh the next time we go, and he will reassemble it there.

After picking up most of the materials at Lowe's on a recent trip to Massillon, Ohio, Paul started cutting.

Cutting uprights for the swing

It was a little tricky to wrestle the leg assemblies around to get the crossbar bolted in place and then get the whole thing standing upright, but Margery helped. Once the main assembly was put together, it was only a matter of installing some angle braces...

Assembly upright with angle braces installed

...and then hanging the swing. It's now ready for Lydia to test it out.

Completed swing

Aside from smoking meat and building the swing, we continue to spend a lot of time relaxing. And who knows how to relax better than a dog. The next photo shows Freeway in one of his three favorite locations on the top of the back of our theater seating. His other favorite places are the top of the back of the couch so he can see out the back window or on someone's lap.

Freeway relaxing

With the Labor Day weekend approaching, the campground is filling up. We're looking forward to the arrival of Lora, J. Michael and Lydia. Stay tuned.