Edwood

After having an unscheduled car battery hunt, (car battery suddenly died, and I had a helluva time finding a place that sold an appropriate replacement) it's pretty much mandatory to crack open a cold, refreshing brew. Hop Stoopid. An employee at Total Wine recommended this one as a similar alternative to Pliny the Elder. She was actually pretty spot on. It's very similar. Maybe edging close to The Younger, but it's not as citrus-ey.

Definitely going to "shorten" the cook to 7-8 hours next time. Was a bit too flakey and a bit overcooked. LOL, check out the piece that just broke off when scooped it up with tongs. I think I'm ready to tackle Pork butt next.

I "bake" bacon all the time in my grill in a cast iron deep dish pizza pan. Now I use the term "bake" loosely, as it's pretty much deep frying in it's own rendered lard. Mmmmmmm.

Yeah, if you look at the bottom of my Big Steel Keg in the pic above you can see the fan attachment (with the wire coming from it, attached to the bottom metal vent opening). It pulses the fan, on and off, to regulate the temperature. Here's a pic of the set up I use when cooking turkey, or anything that requires specific "doneness" temps for moderately long cooks. So the Auber controls the temps, and I have a Maverick ET-732 for remote temperature monitoring with the thermometer probe stuck in the meat. Eventually I'd like to make some kind of custom table for the Keg to rest in, and give me some counter/ workspace, but this ghetto-fabulous set up works for me now. At least until the HOA bitches about it.

Yeah, I'm at home. Between projects now. So I pretty much have the day off. Kind of nice to have time off finally. The Auber Instruments temp controller has been quite reliable, so I could leave it unattended, but I haven't worked up the courage for that one yet. I do have my Panasonic NetCam on it, so I can check the temps on my phone while out and about. I just make sure to load it up with a nice charcoal lump and apple wood load, and it's good to go completely untouched for the whole cook, and even longer still. There's always unburned charcoal leftover, even after 10 hours. So pretty much, I spend the first hour making sure the temps are stabilized, and then I can just leave it alone until it's time for the final glaze at the end.

Started another set of ribs this morning. Should be done by 7pm at the latest here. Going for an 8-9 hour cook, nice and low.

LOL, now if that doesn't make turkey more flavorful, nothing else, will.

Wow, Mike, turkey looks fantastic. Best wishes, -Ed

LOL, so very true. Even chocolate chip cookies were better with bacon lard. I am not kidding.

LOL, uh, speaking of which... I put my Panasonic wireless Netcam next to the Auber's LCD read out so I can remotely monitor the temps from my computer, phone, etc. Ultimate tech laziness. Well, with an 8+ hour cook, it's nice to be able to check quickly while doing other stuff.

Did a small dinner for my small family (no relatives this year, first Thanksgiving by ourselves, actually). The Turkey was really easy and really fast (compared to doing Pork, LOL). Took only 2 hours at 325F. A little bit of Apple wood in the beginning. Basted every 20 minutes after the first hour. Was done an hour later. 2 hours cook time for around 8 lbs of turkey breast (bone in). This one looks better than it tasted, at least to me. The skin was not crisp, perhaps I should've skipped the basting process? Likely better to have used a sugared glaze at the last half hour to get the crispiness. I think I'll have to try brining next time, while it was very very juicy and tender, it was kind of bland for my tastes, but my wife likes turkey, the plainer the better. Yuck. Then again, I'm not a huge fan of turkey to begin with. Pork, pork, pork....... Hrm, I'm going to have to try tri tip or brisket next. -Ed

Since I blame Head-Case for getting me started on the BBQ Path, I thought I'd start a thread for Grillin and Chillin folks. I've mastered steaks, so I've ventured into pork. (other than bacon) Just finished a nice low and slow set of Baby Back Ribs. Apple wood chunks for smoke, indirect on my Big Steel Keg. Cooked them at 225 F for 8 hours, with 300 F for 1 hour at the end for the final sauce glaze for that nice candy coating. Fall of the bone, indeed. The third rack is missing from the photo because it's been eaten. I use an Auber Instruments temperature controller so I can be extremely lazy about "setting and forgetting". And with a nine hour cook, it's nice to have the peace of mind. -Ed

I recently made some Eggs Benedict. I found that the Canadian Bacon was better when it was cooked in Bacon lard I've saved up.

For me it's easier killing others because I use the XIM3. Usually I turn aim assist off if possible, since it usually cocks up my aim.

Kewl, I'd like to play. I normally go as Assault, or Recon. Sometimes Engineer. Seems that most people are Engineer's and Recon.

I bought it direct from TomTom.com I think it's the only way to officially buy the US version. http://www.tomtom.com/en_us/products/car-navigation/top-gear-edition/index.jsp

The Co-op missions are a missed opportunity. They should've at the least allowed more than 2 players, like at least 4. Even better, the Co-op missions could've been expanded into a different Multi Player scenario. The Fire in the Sky mission, several people fly in the choppers, the rest on the ground. Other team could be the opposition. So it's basically the same as the Co-op scenario, except no AI. It's all people playing. So instead of just bombing generic M-Com stations or Conquest, you can have more scripted objective based maps. With 64 people, it would entirely be possible and a lot of fun.

They were way off on those specs. For the UK Version it's based on the Go Live 825. For the North American Version it's based on the Go Live 1535. It's a 5" screen and has a microSD slot as well, which is empty, since all the Top Gear stuff is internally stored. Funny thing is the Car Icon has several versions, including the Hammer-head Eagle-i Thrust, the Snowbiner, that Red Stretch Limo, and a Blimp? The default one is a blue car with the Ford GT like racing stripes, and a little white Stig at the wheel.

Yes, there is indeed a number 1 in front of that number 8. 18.2% !

I'm ...a .....yes, I'm an idiot. I bought a TomTom Top Gear Edition. While Garmin is certainly better, it's just too awesome to have Jeremy's voice in this SatNav. Since it's a pre-recorded voice, it won't do text to speech of street names, but even though Jeremy's pre-recorded phrases do get repetitive, it's a lot more entertaining than listening to a robotic voice repeating itself. I'll have to say it was completely worth it when a wrong turn was made, and Jeremy says "and now you've cocked it up, turn around, and Pay attention!". -Ed

Hit ~ (tilde). Then type render.drawfps 1 or render.drawfps true.

My Origin Username for PC Battlefield 3 is 3DW00D It's two "zeroes" instead of "O's". Recently upgraded video card to a Radeon 6950 with 2GB DDR5. Have it set mostly on "High" with Textures and some FX set to "Ultra". I was really tempted to go with the XBox version since it's console gamers are easier to play against, than PC gamers it looks like so far. I was doing much much better in the XBox beta. But for the PC it's hands down, the best looking FPS. In the World.

One of my all time favorite old school games. Amazed that there hasn't been a remake. Although maybe that's a good thing. coughX-Comcough...

Yeah, sounds good. I'll send ya a friend request. -Ed

Wow, just wow. http://www.shacknews.com/article/70683/battlefield-3-multiplayer-trailer-shows-off-back-to-karkand Download of video here as well: http://www.shacknews.com/file/29129/battlefield-3-multiplayer-gameplay-trailer -Ed