I think my office TV might be on its way out, the tube is about out of steam. I'm <i>pretty</i> sure that commercial tomaoto sauce is not <i>green</i>. I also don't think that there is a lot of violet and neon green in the Italian countryside, not to say that they are too tasteful for violet and neon green, I just don't think that the sky is neon green there or the trees violet
. Clearly, I am going to have to fix this situation, I have a TV upstairs I'm not using because the satellite people are being obstinate about fixing the broken cable that snapped during the storm last April. They seem to be convinced that all I need to do is mess with the remote adequately and magically my service upstairs will be returned to normal. I tell them the cable is <i>snapped</i>, I can see it outside my window but they persevere in the notion that they do not have to send a technician out and that whatever is wrong is wrong because I pressed the wrong button on the remote. Yes, I pressed the TORNADO button on accident. Dickbags.
Speaking of things that are green, I'm pretty sure that the beans are done. I didn't harvest at all Sunday, and on Monday when I went out, instead of another day of Green Bean Christmas, I scored <i>eight</i>. Eight green beans is what I was "harvesting" back before I went on vacation, before I experienced Green Bean Christmas Season. This weekend I am going to start the process of pulling the plants up and out, It is going to be arduous but I also need to get the garden tilled before I plant the over wintering ground cover in and I can't do that before the beans are gone.
It makes me sad to think about it. The plants were so green and vigorous this summer but now they are aging badly. They were Jen Garner but now the have morphed into Lindsey Lohan. I think I'm going to just shred the vines up and drop the leaves back in the garden, they seem to rot away really neatly and I'm sure add lovely plant material back into the soil.
It makes me a little sad that the bag of beans I have in the refrigerator is the last batch for this year. I did try some of the frozen ones for Sunday dinner and they were really nice, I of course, steamed them too long but other than that, they were tasty. And by the by, they <i>do</i> taste different that the frozen factory bags o'beans you buy in the store. Humph.
The watermelons are still soldering on but I'm not sure how long they are going to last either. I have two left and every day I snap off flowers and bean melons to help the plants focus whatever energy they have left on the two adolescent melons. I've noticed the vines are getting a little peaky and that can't be good for the fruits. The weather is rapidly cooling off as well and I don't think that melons are really excited about seeing the leaves change. They might be harvested sooner than I had planned, if so I'm voting they become ice cream.
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Monday, October 3, 2011
do the right thing.
http://www.dccc.org/page/m/1d63c917/1be73ee7/46b9ecd7/4e0ce25a/2950764499/VEsH/
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How to make Watermelon BBQ Sauce
First, find a recipe , one that isn't this one <i>unless</i> prefer sweet, ultra mild BBQ sauce that without intersession would double nicely as a marinade or an aperitif. Otherwise, do more research on common recipes and see about adding watermelon to them.
Anyway. Second, get a watermelon, preferably a big one.
And then start chopping and seeding <i>6 pounds of watermelon</i> . I'm thinking now that it would be smarter to pulp the watermelon prior to putting on the heat, I believe that it would help it cook down more efficiently and make for a better sauce.
I have no idea if this is 6 pounds but the pot seemed to weigh less than a healthy full term newborn and about half of my cat. By this scientific method, I say 6 pounds. Little known fact, as raw watermelon cooks, it smells like cookie dough.
Its hard to get a weight of a watermelon because the weight includes the rind. The rind is heavy. I do not have a scale in the house and even if I had a kitchen scale, your average kitchen scale isn't set up for pounds of food.
Next. Cook that watermelon for <i>hours</i>. 2-3 Hours on low. At that point, add the rest of the ingredients ( tomato paste, onion powder, garlic powder, brown sugar, dry sherry, lemon juice and liquid smoke). Taste it, panic because it <i>still</i> tastes like sugar water and add about three tablespoons of cumin and three tablespoons of red pepper flakes. If that is too much spice, add some molasses, if <i>still</i> too mild, add more until you get what you want.
Uncover and cook on medium for an additional three hours. It is messy.
Add corn starch until mixture morphs from a marinade to a sauce. Remove from heat and cool,
Separate into smaller containers and freeze.
Its not a <i>bad</i> sauce. It has an unoffensive, ultra mild taste that might appeal to a mid western sensibility. I added dried red peppers to it and more garlic and onion powder. I should have added cumin and if I had pepper flakes I would have made liberal use of them. Its a nice sauce, its not going to burn your mouth or take away from the taste of the meat, I found it was very nice in stir fry and was surprisingly good with fish. Send me your snail mail addy and I'll send you some sauce.
Friday, September 30, 2011
Shorts
The best thing about living alone is that if you say, doze off on the dining room floor while playing with the cat, no one is going to run across you and attempt to drag you off to the ER. It just looks bad, sleeping on the floor when you have any number of more appropriate bed substitutes at your disposal. Its a good thing that I have never done that. It would also be nice if cats would say, act like pillows as they share many of the round and soft and fluffy attributes.
Another thing I like, since it is getting darker earlier, if I get peckish after dinner and I think it sounds like a really good idea to say, go to the store and find something dessertish to eat, I usually find myself saying "its dark, don't bother, here, have a protean bar instead".
I bought a new sump pump today. It was a dark horse contender from a different big box store. It means that my tiresome trips to the basement to change its nappies will be over soon. I am hoping that new point once working will make less noise than old pump. When old pump is working it makes a sound like something large and angry is trying to eat its way up through the floor. It also makes the walls shake. I am expecting new pump to be less needy and has fewer self esteem issues because I all ready told it that I do not need to have the china rattled to be secure that it is working, I will know it is working when I do not have mussels growing on the water heater.
Another thing I like, since it is getting darker earlier, if I get peckish after dinner and I think it sounds like a really good idea to say, go to the store and find something dessertish to eat, I usually find myself saying "its dark, don't bother, here, have a protean bar instead".
I bought a new sump pump today. It was a dark horse contender from a different big box store. It means that my tiresome trips to the basement to change its nappies will be over soon. I am hoping that new point once working will make less noise than old pump. When old pump is working it makes a sound like something large and angry is trying to eat its way up through the floor. It also makes the walls shake. I am expecting new pump to be less needy and has fewer self esteem issues because I all ready told it that I do not need to have the china rattled to be secure that it is working, I will know it is working when I do not have mussels growing on the water heater.
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Up and Out
<i>Sigh</i>. I pulled out the last pepper plant and blanched and froze the last of the peppers. I've been watching the peppers and every day and I'm thinking <i>Still? You're still here? Damn. Aren't you tried of all this?</i> I am.
I'm not at all ambivalent about pulling the plants out, in fact, I'm <I>happy</i> about it. I get a thrill every time I yank another one out by the roots. I was <i>giddy</i> when I was finally able to get rid of the tomato plants.
I really want to pull up the hoses and the weed barrier and put in the winter cover. The green beans are slowing the whole thing down, but I'm not complaining - they are themselves begin to age out and I think they have about another week to ten days of productivity before its time for them to go too. Ready or not. I'm running out of space in the freezer. The watermelons are down to two small melons in the yard and one big one in my refrigerator. I've already decided that the smallest, least viable melon is going to grow up to be a pumpkin.
It can escape this fate by <i>growing</i> over the next month but since it hasn't grown applicably in the last few weeks, and a <i>good</i> watermelon grows like crazy, that this guy is going to make a great smallish pumpkin. <i>Other</i> watermelon might just end up getting eaten, possibly by the people at work if I decide they deserve it. A lot of them suck and I'm not sure I want to waste a perfectly good melon on their suckiness. I might use the rind for a pumpkin too.
This should not be too hard. The rinds are thick but not too think to be manipulated and I'm pretty sure I can scoop out the meat without damaging the rind. It turns out I am not being particularly original here, "green" Pumpkins, clearly I am not the first person to have this thought.
My options are make the two remaining unassigned melons into pumpkins or learn to enjoy watermelon rid <i>pickles</i>, I've found many, many, many recipes for it. Good to know. I still think that watermelon pumpkins sound like a <i>lot</i> more fun.
I'm not at all ambivalent about pulling the plants out, in fact, I'm <I>happy</i> about it. I get a thrill every time I yank another one out by the roots. I was <i>giddy</i> when I was finally able to get rid of the tomato plants.
I really want to pull up the hoses and the weed barrier and put in the winter cover. The green beans are slowing the whole thing down, but I'm not complaining - they are themselves begin to age out and I think they have about another week to ten days of productivity before its time for them to go too. Ready or not. I'm running out of space in the freezer. The watermelons are down to two small melons in the yard and one big one in my refrigerator. I've already decided that the smallest, least viable melon is going to grow up to be a pumpkin.
It can escape this fate by <i>growing</i> over the next month but since it hasn't grown applicably in the last few weeks, and a <i>good</i> watermelon grows like crazy, that this guy is going to make a great smallish pumpkin. <i>Other</i> watermelon might just end up getting eaten, possibly by the people at work if I decide they deserve it. A lot of them suck and I'm not sure I want to waste a perfectly good melon on their suckiness. I might use the rind for a pumpkin too.
This should not be too hard. The rinds are thick but not too think to be manipulated and I'm pretty sure I can scoop out the meat without damaging the rind. It turns out I am not being particularly original here, "green" Pumpkins, clearly I am not the first person to have this thought.
My options are make the two remaining unassigned melons into pumpkins or learn to enjoy watermelon rid <i>pickles</i>, I've found many, many, many recipes for it. Good to know. I still think that watermelon pumpkins sound like a <i>lot</i> more fun.
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Dear Walmart, I hate you. No Love, Me.
I went to Wallyworld to buy a Christmas gift and I am now <i>officially</i> all ready over budget <i>and</i> homicidal. I am ahead of schedule.
On the upside, the very, very bad, day old, discounted creme pie I wanted to buy did not make the trip home with me. I would like to say I shoved it in the face of the inept clerk who made me wait 45 minutes in line while he <i>slowly</i> bagged each item in separate bags while the the central casting calibre whore-y, tat covered, hot pants wearing hoochie mama at the head of the line put her enormous order on forty-seven different cards and argued with the clerk about payer source all while she made phone calls and laughed and laughed while every one else in line took turns covertly sending her picture to <i>Americas Most Wanted</i> to see if they were looking for her.
I would like to say that forty-five minutes later shoved I the pie into his face as I cackled and bathed in the applause of my peers, but sadly, the pie did not make it home because yet again, I was charged for it but they didn't give it to me. Those wheels of bags at the foot of the check out area where Wallyworld really makes money, they sell everything in the store <i>twice</i> because they, unlike every other store I shop in, will never run you down to bring you whatever they "accidentally" left on the other side of the bag station.
Now, I am hungry and angry, to add insult to injury, I bought Halloween treats I don't believe are edible. I <i>think</i> they <i>may</i> be some form of fruit roll up, regardless of what they are called, I <i>know</i> they are all roll and no fruit and even I won't eat fruit flavored plastic. The neighborhood kids on the other hand do not have the advanced palate that I do.
And <i>no</i> I did not get a receipt so I could call and verbally eviscerate whoever had the bad luck to answer the phone. In the haze of my post-check out fury I split from the store too fast to grab it from the clerk.
Is it wrong that I bought a card for my best friends wedding at Wallyworld? The first time I went to Hallmark, the second card I got from a grocery and now the third time around I picked one up at Wallyworld, on the upside, it has a lot more sparkles than the other two cards combined and I think the sparkles speak to hope and faith and bravery.
On the upside, the very, very bad, day old, discounted creme pie I wanted to buy did not make the trip home with me. I would like to say I shoved it in the face of the inept clerk who made me wait 45 minutes in line while he <i>slowly</i> bagged each item in separate bags while the the central casting calibre whore-y, tat covered, hot pants wearing hoochie mama at the head of the line put her enormous order on forty-seven different cards and argued with the clerk about payer source all while she made phone calls and laughed and laughed while every one else in line took turns covertly sending her picture to <i>Americas Most Wanted</i> to see if they were looking for her.
I would like to say that forty-five minutes later shoved I the pie into his face as I cackled and bathed in the applause of my peers, but sadly, the pie did not make it home because yet again, I was charged for it but they didn't give it to me. Those wheels of bags at the foot of the check out area where Wallyworld really makes money, they sell everything in the store <i>twice</i> because they, unlike every other store I shop in, will never run you down to bring you whatever they "accidentally" left on the other side of the bag station.
Now, I am hungry and angry, to add insult to injury, I bought Halloween treats I don't believe are edible. I <i>think</i> they <i>may</i> be some form of fruit roll up, regardless of what they are called, I <i>know</i> they are all roll and no fruit and even I won't eat fruit flavored plastic. The neighborhood kids on the other hand do not have the advanced palate that I do.
And <i>no</i> I did not get a receipt so I could call and verbally eviscerate whoever had the bad luck to answer the phone. In the haze of my post-check out fury I split from the store too fast to grab it from the clerk.
Is it wrong that I bought a card for my best friends wedding at Wallyworld? The first time I went to Hallmark, the second card I got from a grocery and now the third time around I picked one up at Wallyworld, on the upside, it has a lot more sparkles than the other two cards combined and I think the sparkles speak to hope and faith and bravery.
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Pumping away
Well, I think I met my one true Sump Pump. It was love at first read of the life time warranty. It costs more than I wanted to spend but its cast iron and its just about what I have now. The other choice is a submerged version that the handyman was excited about <i>but</i>, its very plastic and I think I like the idea of the pedestal version... its what I have now and it has very few moving parts.
I can't believe I spent time standing in the big box store really being serious about sump pumps and going over the pros and cons. I learned things about sump pump specs that I did not want to know about. There are things about sump pumps that are not good clean family entertainment.
The nominees are:
At the top of the pedestal class, for @$178 we have more or less the below. Pictured is not "the" pump because this one is <i>plastic</i> and costs about $78, the cheaper pumps are all plastic and have at best a two year warranty and I don't want plastic in this application. I want cast-iron and I want a life time warranty.
In the submersible;e division for @$108 we have the above. The handyman likes these better than the others because they start pumping faster <i>but</i> they are so plastic and I imagine a lot of moving parts.
We shall see. The last thing the handyman said to me before he left this afternoon was that it looked like rain... Smart Ass.
I can't believe I spent time standing in the big box store really being serious about sump pumps and going over the pros and cons. I learned things about sump pump specs that I did not want to know about. There are things about sump pumps that are not good clean family entertainment.
The nominees are:
At the top of the pedestal class, for @$178 we have more or less the below. Pictured is not "the" pump because this one is <i>plastic</i> and costs about $78, the cheaper pumps are all plastic and have at best a two year warranty and I don't want plastic in this application. I want cast-iron and I want a life time warranty.
In the submersible;e division for @$108 we have the above. The handyman likes these better than the others because they start pumping faster <i>but</i> they are so plastic and I imagine a lot of moving parts.
We shall see. The last thing the handyman said to me before he left this afternoon was that it looked like rain... Smart Ass.
Monday, September 26, 2011
Blogging from my phone
Shopping for sump pumps is the least sexy shopping ever. To get the sexy back, I am going shopping for Barbies.
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To do list
I did some coupon shopping this weekend - Not "extreme" coupon shopping because I only bought what I would eat and the only reason I bought <i>four cans of soup</i> and <i>two boxes of protean bars</i> was that my coupons <i>demanded that I do so</i> , I was only following orders.
I only got soup flavors I know I like and I did not clear the shelves. I am not a hoarder or greedy. Also, I don't have the storage. I would have bought a couple of very sexy dollar off frozen pizzas but my freezer is sadly, full of green beans and meat loaves. I have too much healthy food on standby to store unhealthy pizzas. Even thin crust pizzas, the healthy alternative.
I also bought single bags of dog and cat food as well as a single box of diet dog cookies. I saved so much I was bale to pick up a brand new, deeply discounted, food processor. A <i>small</i> food processor, I didn't get crazy. I did decide to replace a very old, grungy processor that didn't like me very much. Ha.
In addition I ended the season for the coleus. It was time, they <i>could</i> have hung on a little longer but they were getting leggy and I, frankly, am getting a little tired of the early morning watering routine. I'm also very into getting this work done before it gets cold and I have to do everything in a sloppy rush. After I got rid of the plants I got really crazy and hosed off the out door furniture and put it in the basement.
Speaking of watering and putting things away, I decided that I am very tired of re-inventing the wheel every spring with the drip hoses. Every year I sweat and curse and work <i>really</i> hard to get the hoses right and it takes a lot of time and effort to re-create whatever I had last year. I <i>know</i> it worked last year and now in the spring I can't remember how I did it <i>last</i> year
This fall, I took pictures of what it looked like. I didn't do proper forensic shots of it but I think I got enough to remind myself of what it should look like next spring. I even drew myself a little map of where the hoses went and where they connected to each other. I still have a pepper plant out there with <i>a</i> pepper growing and of course the beans are still producing, albeit less and less but there are still many baby beans plugging along. I can't take out the rest of the hose system yet. My plan is to hose off the hose I took out and then let it dry out and then bundle it up with an ID tag and map of where it went. I would like to do this with all the hoses and I would like to do it <i>soon</i>.
When I do get the plants out and the hoses up, I'm going to till the garden and get in some peas and grasses for the winter. This year I won't make the same mistake and just let it grow and grow until I can't till it under.
Oh! Speaking of joy from the garden! I <i>finally</i> scored Liquid Smoke! I can make the BBQ sauce! Woo! I'm going to leave watermelon in the garden until next weekend and that will leave two small melons to find other fun stuff to do with.
I only got soup flavors I know I like and I did not clear the shelves. I am not a hoarder or greedy. Also, I don't have the storage. I would have bought a couple of very sexy dollar off frozen pizzas but my freezer is sadly, full of green beans and meat loaves. I have too much healthy food on standby to store unhealthy pizzas. Even thin crust pizzas, the healthy alternative.
I also bought single bags of dog and cat food as well as a single box of diet dog cookies. I saved so much I was bale to pick up a brand new, deeply discounted, food processor. A <i>small</i> food processor, I didn't get crazy. I did decide to replace a very old, grungy processor that didn't like me very much. Ha.
In addition I ended the season for the coleus. It was time, they <i>could</i> have hung on a little longer but they were getting leggy and I, frankly, am getting a little tired of the early morning watering routine. I'm also very into getting this work done before it gets cold and I have to do everything in a sloppy rush. After I got rid of the plants I got really crazy and hosed off the out door furniture and put it in the basement.
Speaking of watering and putting things away, I decided that I am very tired of re-inventing the wheel every spring with the drip hoses. Every year I sweat and curse and work <i>really</i> hard to get the hoses right and it takes a lot of time and effort to re-create whatever I had last year. I <i>know</i> it worked last year and now in the spring I can't remember how I did it <i>last</i> year
This fall, I took pictures of what it looked like. I didn't do proper forensic shots of it but I think I got enough to remind myself of what it should look like next spring. I even drew myself a little map of where the hoses went and where they connected to each other. I still have a pepper plant out there with <i>a</i> pepper growing and of course the beans are still producing, albeit less and less but there are still many baby beans plugging along. I can't take out the rest of the hose system yet. My plan is to hose off the hose I took out and then let it dry out and then bundle it up with an ID tag and map of where it went. I would like to do this with all the hoses and I would like to do it <i>soon</i>.
When I do get the plants out and the hoses up, I'm going to till the garden and get in some peas and grasses for the winter. This year I won't make the same mistake and just let it grow and grow until I can't till it under.
Oh! Speaking of joy from the garden! I <i>finally</i> scored Liquid Smoke! I can make the BBQ sauce! Woo! I'm going to leave watermelon in the garden until next weekend and that will leave two small melons to find other fun stuff to do with.
Friday, September 23, 2011
Find a penny pick it up...
I was walking Dogger to the ATM so that I could take out some cash so that I could be a good little state employee and buy lunch at my divisions' State Employee Combined Campaign kick off on Friday. It promises cold hot dogs and warm off brand soda and access to many, many free pens! I'm psyched.
Its going to run me a $3 donation to get to those free pens and I had no cash. I was going to get out a $20 and then later, go to the dollar store and pick up some dishwasher detergent and possibly some liquid smoke. There is no liquid smoke. Anywhere. Even at the dollar store where stuff like that goes when it is suddenly not seasonal, you can't have liquid smoke <i>and</i> Christmas lights on the shelves at the same time, except, in theory if you are a dollar store and in that case you can have Christmas lights and coolers and Halloween masks and Easter eggs <i>at the same time</i> it is retail chaos!, but no liquid smoke.
The aliens came and took all the bottles away! There is no other explanation for there being <i>no bottles</i> at any store anywhere for any price. The bigger my watermelon gets the more my concern grows and my concern is swelling like a rain soaked melon as we speak.
Back to walking Dogger. I was walking through the DMV parking lot and I see a $5 bill just laying there! I scooped it up and did not go to the ATM because now my lunch is covered! Yay! I still ended up going to the dollar store but I only spent like $10 - Yes, I bought more than the dishwasher detergent, but still I spent less than $20 so I come out ahead. Find and pick up enough pennies and eventually you will find and pick up a fiver.
To keep myself even, I found a house key in the dollar store parking lot and I turned it into the store, because someone might come looking for it. There was no one to turn the $5 over to but its going to a good cause.
Oh and for those of you keeping track, the basement flooded <i>twice</i> in the last twenty-four hours (a plumberesque person has been alerted and will be here Monday to fix it) and by "it", I do not mean the pump, the pump works just fine, it pumps like a son-of-a-bitch. The "it" that needs attention in the Rube Goldberg-geri- rigged-spit-and-bailing-wire contraption that <i>surrounds and controls</i> the pump. If Santa is reading, I need new rubber boots. Mine have sprung leaks.
Its going to run me a $3 donation to get to those free pens and I had no cash. I was going to get out a $20 and then later, go to the dollar store and pick up some dishwasher detergent and possibly some liquid smoke. There is no liquid smoke. Anywhere. Even at the dollar store where stuff like that goes when it is suddenly not seasonal, you can't have liquid smoke <i>and</i> Christmas lights on the shelves at the same time, except, in theory if you are a dollar store and in that case you can have Christmas lights and coolers and Halloween masks and Easter eggs <i>at the same time</i> it is retail chaos!, but no liquid smoke.
The aliens came and took all the bottles away! There is no other explanation for there being <i>no bottles</i> at any store anywhere for any price. The bigger my watermelon gets the more my concern grows and my concern is swelling like a rain soaked melon as we speak.
Back to walking Dogger. I was walking through the DMV parking lot and I see a $5 bill just laying there! I scooped it up and did not go to the ATM because now my lunch is covered! Yay! I still ended up going to the dollar store but I only spent like $10 - Yes, I bought more than the dishwasher detergent, but still I spent less than $20 so I come out ahead. Find and pick up enough pennies and eventually you will find and pick up a fiver.
To keep myself even, I found a house key in the dollar store parking lot and I turned it into the store, because someone might come looking for it. There was no one to turn the $5 over to but its going to a good cause.
Oh and for those of you keeping track, the basement flooded <i>twice</i> in the last twenty-four hours (a plumberesque person has been alerted and will be here Monday to fix it) and by "it", I do not mean the pump, the pump works just fine, it pumps like a son-of-a-bitch. The "it" that needs attention in the Rube Goldberg-geri- rigged-spit-and-bailing-wire contraption that <i>surrounds and controls</i> the pump. If Santa is reading, I need new rubber boots. Mine have sprung leaks.
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Smoke does not get in my eyes.
I have not given up the liquid smoke fight. I looked online for it and while it is <i>there</i> and cheap, the shipping charges render it obscenely over priced - which at this point is saying a lot because I would spend just about as much as any one asked at this point. It just feels like I've come so far, I've found the actual dry sherry, I have a bag of brown sugar, I bought the tomato paste and I have this huge melon coming ripe any day now. I mean, once you've agreed to buy an entire bottle of wine for a recipe, you're in too far to substitute ew! <i>molasses</i> . I mean, really and if it was only say, a quarter teaspoon or even a teaspoon I wouldn't sweat it but its <i>two tablespoons!</i> that's like a huge amount in tablespoons measurement. There was just a single tablespoon of honey in my ice cream and that is <i>all</i> you can taste.
I don't want to mess with the recipe until <i>after</i> I discover the liquid smoke is a <i>nothing</i> flavoring. And? did you know how they make liquid smoke? It is water that was held over smoke and got smokified. Period, that is <i>all</i> it is. I imagine that I <i>could</i> make it myself... But isn't that a lot of trouble? and I am <i>not</i> a fan of open flame. On the upside, I <i>do</i> have some twigs and branches that would make lovely smoke if burned. The DIYness of this idea appeals to me.
But how do you keep the water near enough to the smoke to get smoky without causing the water to evaporate in the heat <i>or</i> burning through whatever the water was in? You couldn't very well use a standard pot because their wouldn't be direct contact with the smoke and you couldn't put it in say, a cloth bag because the water would leak out , perhaps even putting the fire out or burst into flames itself- too much contact. Is there such thing as a water-tight, flame-proof mesh bag?
Perhaps this is what we <i>buy</i> liquid smoke. And if this is the case, <i>why</i> can't I buy it at the store now? Is there a liquid smoke season? Is it like cranberries or fancy extracts? Things that only appear on shelves at a certain time for a certain time? Do we not BBQ year round? What is the Super Bowl without some good BBQ? I think its a year-round food preparation method and isn't this prime tailgating season? Why am I being denied my basic right to BBQ! I blame the vinegar based BBQ culture here. Losers.
I don't want to mess with the recipe until <i>after</i> I discover the liquid smoke is a <i>nothing</i> flavoring. And? did you know how they make liquid smoke? It is water that was held over smoke and got smokified. Period, that is <i>all</i> it is. I imagine that I <i>could</i> make it myself... But isn't that a lot of trouble? and I am <i>not</i> a fan of open flame. On the upside, I <i>do</i> have some twigs and branches that would make lovely smoke if burned. The DIYness of this idea appeals to me.
But how do you keep the water near enough to the smoke to get smoky without causing the water to evaporate in the heat <i>or</i> burning through whatever the water was in? You couldn't very well use a standard pot because their wouldn't be direct contact with the smoke and you couldn't put it in say, a cloth bag because the water would leak out , perhaps even putting the fire out or burst into flames itself- too much contact. Is there such thing as a water-tight, flame-proof mesh bag?
Perhaps this is what we <i>buy</i> liquid smoke. And if this is the case, <i>why</i> can't I buy it at the store now? Is there a liquid smoke season? Is it like cranberries or fancy extracts? Things that only appear on shelves at a certain time for a certain time? Do we not BBQ year round? What is the Super Bowl without some good BBQ? I think its a year-round food preparation method and isn't this prime tailgating season? Why am I being denied my basic right to BBQ! I blame the vinegar based BBQ culture here. Losers.
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