The Bucket List: 50 Years in the Making

Today I celebrate my 50th birthday.  Where did that come from? 50.  Really? Time really does fly when you're having fun. I remember 50 being "old" when I was a kid, so now I guess I'm old. I don't feel old.  I don't act old. I don't even look old.  Maybe I'm not old, I'm just 50.

So, as this day approached, I felt it necessary to compile my Bucket List.  It is what you do when you are old you know. Things that I have not yet done, things that I want to do before I can't do them anymore, before they are gone forever, things to do while I am able.  In no particular order, my Bucket List:

1. Beer tour Belgium
2. Climb Mt. LeConte in the Great Smoky Mountains
3. Visit Ireland
4. Visit Scotland and the UK
5. Go deep sea fishing
6. Learn to fly fish
7. Work the soup lines at the shelter on Thanksgiving or Christmas 
8. See, from the ground, the Grand Canyon ✅
9. Visit and tour Jerusalem, pilgrimage 
10. Experience New Orleans✅
11. Explore Alaska✅
12. Attend the Kentucky Derby
13. Eat hot chicken in Nashville✅
14. See Reelfoot Lake in West Tennessee
15. Attend the Chicago Blues Festival
16. Go to a Tennessee VOLS football game via the VOL Navy
17. Attend a Daytona 500
18. Attend an Indianapolis 500
19. Visit and explore Australia and New Zealand
20. Eat some real Kansas City BBQ✅
21. Experience a proper Mardi Gras
22. See Niagara Falls 
23. Attend a Super Bowl
24. Do a Southern BBQ tour✅
25. Do the Kentucky Bourbon Trail
26. Buy and drink a bottle of Pappy Van Winkle 
27. Visit New England during fall✅
28. Safari in Africa
29. See Egypt
30. All of Italy
31. Visit Greece
32. Eat a true bowl of Pho, in Asia
33. Visit Canada✅
34. Attend Memphis in May
35. Learn to smoke great beef brisket✅
36. Enjoy Jamaica
37. Drink wine and tour Napa Valley
38. See Yosemite
39. See Yellowstone✅
40. Hike parts of the Appalachian Trail, eventually all of it
41. Attend a World Series Game
42. at Wrigley Field
43. or Fenway Park
44. See Colorado - the Rockies, Denver, et al✅
45. Attend Oktoberfest in Munich
46. Eat true deep dish pizza in Chicago  ✅
47. Eat and drink at Schlenkerla in Bamberg, Germany
48. Visit and tour Prague and the Czech Republic
49. Tour the Jack Daniels distillery ✅
50. Visit Weihenstephan Brewery, the oldest in the world

It is what it is.  I like sports, music, good food, great drinks, beautiful sites, my ancestral history, getting in touch with my spirituality. This list covers that.  Lots of different influences on my list from many sources.  I thank them all.  

Now on to the adventure that is life. 

Beachy Keen

Ahhhh, vacation.

For the first time in several years the beach was vacation destination; Panama City Beach, Florida to be more precise. Beautiful beaches, fun for the kids, fabulous seafood, a little R & R, were the main goals for the time off, and of course - try some new beers, eat tons of shrimp and find some good BBQ.

First pit stop: lunch in Montgomery, AL at Jim & Nick's BBQ. Very good pulled pork, very good sauces including a habanero hot sauce with just enough kick to it. Everyone enjoyed lunch.  Back on the road.

Arrived at destination around 5:00 CDT.  Thrilled to find out that our room has been upgraded to a two-bedroom unit, top floor corner, beach view.  Win!  Great balcony, nice clean room: this vacation is starting out quite nicely.

View from the balcony

If you build it, they will come...

My big ass big toes

Plenty of white sand at the beach, tons of good restaurants, now to find some good beers.  Mission accomplished on a trip to Kwiker Liquor where Cantillon, Prairie Artisan, Fantôme, Crooked Stave, Cigar City and other great craft beers are acquired; some for the beach, most for sharing back home.  Dinners at Back Porch Seafood and Oyster House, Margaritaville, The Red Bar in Grayton Beach, Hofbräu Beer Garden, and Hana Japan are all family pleasers.  Quickie trip to Grayton Beer Company for an impromptu tour before our dinner at The Red Bar is a nice pit stop.  Nice people, good beers.  

She is a budding model

Origins Beach Resort, our residence for the week

The one stormy day

Most of the vacation is for family and fun though.  My eleven year old daughter took several of these pictures and is also featured in some.  She is wise beyond her years and very artistic like her older sister, Ashlyn.  Tons of fun in the sand at the beach.   Lots of just enjoying the tranquil waters of the Gulf of Mexico. 

Sunset on the pier

After further consideration, there will be many more return trips to the Panama City Beach area in Florida.  Best vacation in a long time.  Remember to try new foods and new beers, seek out the local BBQ joints during your jaunt, enjoy your vacation.  You never know what you might find.  Surprise yourself, you might like it.

Pulling Out All The Stops: A Pulled Pork Primer

Pulled pork BBQ.  I love it but I've never cooked any... until now.  Time to get busy.

Got a couple of small bone-in Boston butt pork shoulders at my local butcher shop with one goal in mind: smoked pulled pork BBQ.  I've researched the methods, studied cooking times, stocked my wood piles, checked my schedule... I'm ready.  Gonna smoke some Boston butt on my day off from work.

Smoking day; time to prep.
First step: set out my 5+ lb chunk of pork to apply seasonings and rub.  I used regular yellow mustard to slather all over the pork first, then applied a commercial spice rub, Bad Byron's Butt Rub, which is very similar to my own homemade rub with a bit more black pepper.  This is then covered with aluminum foil and can be refrigerated overnight if possible.  I was a bit pressed for time so I put my rub on the Boston butt then started to get my smoker ready.

first mustard, then spice rub

Second step: Lit my charcoal chimney using hardwood chunks instead of briquettes for a quicker better fire start, apple and hickory woods used for smoking the meat after fire gets going.

Third step: Once the cooking area of the smoker is up to around 225°F degrees, I start smoking the Boston butt pork shoulder roast.  At proper temperature, the pork should take 1 1/2 hours per pound to fully cook.

starting charcoal as pork rub sets on Boston butt

lump hardwood charcoal in the firebox

split hickory wood and whole short cut apple wood chunks

5+ lb Boston butt pork shoulder

Steady steps: Now I've got the smoker temperature steady at 225°F, adding wood every hour or so while also turning the meat quarter turns every hour.  The scent of the mostly apple wood smoke is tantalizingly welcome - I want to bathe in it! Wow - it is sweet and inviting.  Always great to use fruit woods in the smoker.  I know the neighbors like it.

apple and hickory wood smoke - succulent and sassy

Extra step: Added a special guest to my BBQ, say hello to Chubby Bologna.  Smoked bologna is quite a treat and very easy to add to your smoke deck if you have the room.  Just get a loaf of your favorite brand, open it, put it on the back end of the smoker and turn it every 45 minutes.  A 1 lb loaf will cook in about 3-4 hours.  Easy, delicious, different.

bologna and Boston butt on the smoke deck

Important step: After smoking the Boston butt for around 7 hours and the bologna for about 3 hours, I check the internal temperature of the pork to make certain that it has fully cooked. Using a meat thermometer, I insert it into the meat and the internal temp should be 204°F.  When the desired temperature was reached, I removed the pork to a large tray and covered in foil.  I let it sit for about an hour to cool off so I could pull the pork and remove the bone.  I have already removed the bologna about an hour earlier and wrapped it in foil also.  I check on it and it is still hot!

still hot; beautiful pink smoke ring

Final step: The pork falls apart easily using first some forks then just my hands.  It is still a bit hot but the aroma and the beautiful smoke ring have me motivated and so does my hungry family.  Anticipation gives way to taste tests.  Light on the seasoning, heavy on the smoke, which is just right.  Side of smoked bologna, a couple of bottles of my favorite commercial BBQ sauces.  I'm ready to eat.  So is the clan.  Succulent, juicy, perfect.  I have to say it was the most tender pulled pork I have ever tasted.  And I smoked it!  Another method marked off the list.  I'm ready to tackle beef brisket.  But that is for another time... for this one, I pulled out all the stops - and made damn near perfect pulled pork BBQ.



Bonus step: beer pairings.  There are several really good beers to pair with smoked pulled pork. The best ones I've tried are:

1.  Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Märzen - a German smoked beer that pairs perfectly with any smoked meat.
2. Yazoo Pale Ale - locally brewed pale ale that also pairs well with many dishes.
3. Downtown Grill and Brewery Alt - nice German-style beer that lends itself nicely to hearty meats and roasted dishes.
4. Sprecher Black Bavarian - a black lager, tasty, light enough for many foods, dark enough to have some flavor.   

Musical step: I always have my iPod on when I'm on my deck attending my grills and smoker, listening to an eclectic mix of tunes.  During this smoking the music that moved me was:

1. Alabama Shakes - Boys & Girls
2. Johnny Winter - Roots
3. Tab Benoit - Medicine
4. The Black Keys - El Camino
5. Sean Costello - Sean's Blues

Try it, you'll like it.

I've found that wherever I go, I look for good local BBQ and beers.  I'm willing to try the sublime and ridiculous especially with my 'Que.   I've had watermelon-based sauces, coffee-enhanced rubs,  HOT chilies in both rubs and sauces, apricots, peaches, most any Southern fruit... just about any flavor in or on my BBQ.  Seek the off-the-beaten-path BBQ joints and look for the long line out the door and you've found a good place.

Local beers are also fun to seek and almost always worth trying.  Some bigger cities are lacking with their choices of either brews or 'Ques.  Take Memphis.  Memphis has possibly the best selection of BBQ of any city but only two local brewers, Ghost River and Bosco's, which is a brewpub.  You can find Ghost River all over Beale Street and other areas of the city and in most BBQ joints.  Most cities have decent local breweries so Seek and Ye Shall Find.

Remember: Buy Local and Try Local. You'll usually find some hidden gem and have a memorable experience.  Be bold, be brave and try something new - you'll be glad you did.

Smokin' Good Time

BBQ.  Barbecue.  Barbeque.  Bar-B-Q.
Smoking meats using indirect heat with charcoal and wood can be delicious no matter how you spell it.  Pork, beef, poultry, fish, mutton, even goat, venison, and wild game can all be smoked, barbecued, successfully and flavorful.  Methods vary as much as the meats that are chosen to be smoked.  And the cooking meat with fire or hot coals is as old as humanity.

Growing up in the South, Mecca for good BBQ, I learned at a young age that I really liked it.  East Tennessee is the crossroads for BBQ.  There is Memphis BBQ, Carolina BBQ (North AND South), Georgia, Alabama, Kentucky... all with different variations of mostly pork (western Kentucky is famous for mutton), different sauces and rubs, and that is just in the Southeast.  Kansas City and Texas are both big BBQ regions with their own distinct styles.  Then there is Hawaiian, Jamaican, Mexican, even Mongolian BBQ; all over the world man has established tasty methods of preparing and cooking meats and food items with smoke from various woods in order to obtain savory and filling meals.  Now everywhere traveled I endeavor to try the local BBQ to see the local methods and flavors;  maybe finding something that I can incorporate into my process.  It is my "Quest for Smoked Nirvana" to paraphrase a friend.

It takes patience and practice to become adept at the art of BBQ.  ANYONE can become accomplished at cooking good BBQ.  All it takes is a passion for savory smoked goodness.  Everyone has their favorite meat, favorite seasoning and rubs, favorite spices, favorite woods to use, favorite sauces.  The novice can be successful using a regular kettle charcoal grill.  That is how I learned.  Then bigger smokers come into use.  Mine is an Oklahoma Joe Smoker that was given to me by my brother-in-law.  That's right - GIVEN.  It took a backhoe to move the heavy son-of-a-gun!  After receiving that beautiful piece of equipment and getting it cleaned up and BBQ-ready, my cooking became quite a bit more serious.  Reading BBQ manuals and blogs, asking friends their BBQ methods, learning from some who showed me the ropes on good rubs and preparation - all of this helped me become somewhat of an amateur pit master.  It is gratifying and enjoyable to cook, nay BBQ, good meat, enjoy some good Blues music and some cold adult beverages while my masterpieces slowly cook, then share the goodness with my family and friends.  It is an art when done correctly. 

BBQ is social... and it is in our DNA.   That's why I have a smokin' good time when I BBQ.