I have an herb garden!

I planted it all by myself. I am not a super gardener (in fact I am a super amateur gardener), but I spent a good hour cleaning out a 3ft. x 1ft. area to plant these:

In order there is basil, oregano and rosemary (my favorite!). Since I bought them grown, I assume that I can use them right away, but I've been too proud of them to eat them yet. I'll let you know how t goes, and how much more fancy my food tastes with home grown herbs!

Cinco De Mayo!

I love Cinco De Mayo. I am not really sure why it exists - something about beating up the French - BUT it means yummy Mexican food, margaritas, and for some reason Mardi Gras beads (that may only be in Austin). Sadly, they don't really understand the fantasma that is Cinco De Mayo here, so I took it upon myself to make the Mexican food. I went with what I call the "Yummy Enchiladas".

Filling:
1 cup chopped onion
1 lb. ground turkey
1 can diced green chilies
1 can creamed corn
10 oz frozen spinach
1/2 cup light sour cream
1 cup shredded Monterey jack cheese
salt
chili powder (2-4 tsp depending on taste, I, obviously, go with 4)
10 large tortillas

Heat some oil in a large pan and then cook the onions for 4 minutes. Then add in the ground turkey, green chilies and chili powder. Keep over heat until the turkey is cooked - for me this is always about 10 minutes, but I'm new at cooking ground turkey (it's way to healthy to be a Dullum staple) so I might be a bit paranoid about making sure it's done all the way through.

cooked?

Once off the heat, add in the corn, spinach (defrosted), sour cream, cheese and salt to taste. Mush it all up. At this point it looks a bit like something lurking in the smaller intestine, but keep going it is worth it I promise!

Next step is to put this mush into the tortillas. I have an almost elaborate system for doing this that hopefully I can lay out here. First off it has to be in a good sized baking dish - I normally go with our lasagna pan (with about a TBS of oil coating it so the undersides don't get stiff). The first one is always tough because there isn't any structural integrity, so you just have to dump 2 heaping spoonfuls into the tortilla and roll up as best you can, leaving the final product seam side down. The next one you can lean up against the first before filling and it'll roll up nicely. Then just keep going until the last one where you have to roll it in place just to make it fit in the pan.

Then cover the pan and pop it into the oven for 30 minutes at 350. Meanwhile start on the sauce:

1 cup green salsa (I do medium)
3/4 cup light sour cream
3 TBS cilantro
1/2 cup Monterey jack cheese

Combine the first 2 ingredients. This does not take 30 minutes, so generally this is when I begin sipping on Margaritas. Of late I've been drinking the "Skinny Girl" margaritas made by one of the "Real Housewives of Some Random City". When my friend Blair first introduced me to the concept of margaritas with only 100 calories I was skeptical to say the least. They taste pretty good though, and you don't feel like you've just taken down an entire sugar cane field when you are finished.

Once you've had made the sauce and had a Skinny Girl or two, take out the enchiladas, uncover, then pour the sauce on top. It isn't a huge amount because the filling is already so creamy, so make sure you distribute evenly. Then sprinkle the cheese on top and put it back in the oven, uncovered, for another 10 minutes to melt the cheese.

They are really good and SUPER filling. I generally serve them with saffron rice and black beans cooked up with whatever I have in the fridge at the time (tomatoes, onions, salsa, etc.). Perhaps it was the 2 Skinny Girls talking, but it tasted pretty dang yummy, and brought some Cinco De Mayo to Denver. Next year I'll have to break out the Mardi Gras beads as well.

Re-Circling Back to Easter

Alright, this will be the last Easter post. While I do love this holiday, I want to post about my Cinco de Mayo meal some time in Mayo. What we have left are the cucumber sandwiches and the turkey roll ups. Both of these are great finger foods that please most everyone.

Cucumber sandwiches are pretty much just that, cucumber + sandwich. First off cut off the crusts and butter one side of the bread. This was a very important step when we were growing up since we (or maybe just I) refused any bread that was crusted. I guess I could leave the bread in its crusted state now, but too late, I've already cut them off - ha!

Then spread cream cheese on both slices (yes, on top of the one slice that has already been buttered, if it's a Dullum food, its a caloric food). Then sprinkle some salt and black pepper onto the cheese'd bread.

Then add thinly sliced cucumbers on top and cut into triangles. It looks nice and dainty and is easy to make tons of.

To finish off the finger-foods trifecta there is turkey roll-ups. Now these I make in like 7 varieties, but it is really just a combo of these few ingredients:

1 giant tortilla (10-12 in)
thinly sliced turkey
fresh spinach
bacon crumbled into bits
ranch
avocado thinly sliced
mustard
cream cheese
tomato
chili powder
cucumber
sprouts
salt/pepper

I use the first 3 ingredients in every roll up, then alternate what other flavors I put in. A lot of times whatever I have in my fridge ends up as one of the rotating ingredients. From here it's pretty obvious - lay out the tortilla, put whatever spread you want, then add your mix of ingredients (my favorite is turkey, ranch, bacon, spinach, sprouts and avocado with some chili power). Being the huge nerd I am, I labeled all the different kinds I made:

Its best to refrigerate them for a little while and before you slice them into bite size/finger-width rolls. Really, it's just like making lunch for a kid, but everyone always gets excited about finding out which kind they grab. Sadly, no final pic of them all sliced up, but I can promise they were yummy!

And that wraps up Easter, a fun day even without the normal Easter-trappings. Next up? Cicno de Mayo!

Circling Back to Easter Dinner

Alright, I promised Easter at some point and I will follow through before we hit the next holiday. For the sacred bunny-egg holiday we went over to our friends' house to create a family-type celebration with Easter-y finger foods (and shockingly no chocolate!) I decided to make my favorite trio of finger food - golden cheesy, cucumber sandwiches and turkey roll ups.

Golden cheesy is another amazing family recipe with a silly name. Golden because you know its done baking when the crust is golden and cheesy because it is, well, cheesy. First up up you have to make the dough. I is super simple and one of my favorite doughs.

1/4 lb butter
1 and 1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup sour cream

Mix the butter and flour until it is crumbly - I obviously opt to use my fingers. Then add in the sour cream and blend until smooth. Chill for at least 2 hours in the fridge and divide in half. I guess I should have mentioned that this recipe makes 2 golden cheesies, but really you are not going to eat only one.

Next set up for rolling out the dough - flour both the table/giant cutting board and the rolling pin. Then roll out the dough in a rectangle-ish shape.

Of course mine did not come out in a rectangle shape, but its more of a goal than a must when I'm doing it. Really if I don't end up injuring myself with the rolling pin, I consider it a success. My next step is to brush off the excess flour that inevitably ends up somewhere on my clothes, despite an apron.

Then grate up about 3/4-1 cup cheddar cheese.  Sprinkle it over the dough, leaving a 1/2 inch edge. The shake out some seasoning salt over the entire "rectangle" - no idea how much, just a light dusting.

Next roll up the dough on itself , "hot-dog" style  and fold in the edges like a burrito.

Then sprinkle paprika on top - I'm not sure for flavor or for look, but Mattsy requires it so you'd better do it. Then make diagonal cuts along the top. Pop it into the oven until golden (20-30 minutes at 400) and slice into finger-food sized pieces once it is not burning hot. It's a really great tea-time/party food that people always like.

Unfortunately I didn't get to snap a pic of it finished before people swooped in to eat it, but I'm sure
I'll be making this again sometime soon. I've run out of time/you attention spans at this point so I'll finish off the trifecta of finger food next time!

I'm Already Falling Off the Bandwaggon

And when I typed that title in I initially wrote "bankwaggon" - one of the strangest freudian typos I have made since my venture into finance and restructuring. I won't do a full post now, but just give a teaser for what's to come:

There will be rolling pin adventures, there will be flour mishaps, and of course there will be lots of cheese.

Also, to keep you entertained in the meantime, here's some pictures from New Years were Ian and I (and Christine) have mustaches:

Pre-Easter Dinner

We had a semi-nontraditional Easter this year (no Easter bunny, temperatures below 40) so to make it feel more home-y I wanted to make a traditional Easter dinner. We were doing things all Sunday, so it fell to Saturday night. Now I don't really know what a traditional Easter dinner is. I feel like lamb is normally involved, and my family does not have a traditional anything without wine, so I went with lamb shoulder braised in wine, which also allowed me to use my super cool dutch oven that I got for Christmas. Here's the recipe:

2 cuts lamb shoulder
2 large cloves garlic
1 can diced tomatoes
1/2 tsp orange zest
1 tsp marjoram
2 bay leaves
2 cups red wine (plus 1 for sipping!)
3 pearl onions, peeled and halved
1 russet potato, chopped into 1 in square pieces
1/2 head cauliflower
baby carrots - however many you want to eat
salt, pepper & olive oil

First up, brown the lamb. Just 4 mins a side on med-high heat over 2 tbs olive oil. It already smelled great:

Then you get onto the dutch oven. Another 2 TBS olive oil then add in the garlic and onions for a few. Next drop in the lamb, can of tomatoes, zest, marjoram, bay leaves and 1 cup wine. Simmer it for about 5 minutes then pop it into the oven covered at 375 for 30 minutes.

the lamb looks green because of the marjoram

While that was going on I chopped up the veggies.

Take it back out after the 30 and toss the veggies, minus the cauliflower, into the dutch oven and its another 30 minutes at 375. Sip on the extra cup of wine, possibly read some crappy entertainment blogs. Then pour the last cup of wine into the pot and add in the cauliflower.

30 more minutes, maybe some more bad entertainment blogs and you are done! The lamb was super moist and flavorful with lots of layers. The potatoes and onions  I liked a lot, but I think next time I'd do the carrots and cauliflower separately, for some reason they picked up the orange flavor a little too much.

It took over 2 hours, but it was a great dish. It tasted really homey and warm on a cold-ish Denver day. I'll definitely be making this one again. Happy early and late Easter!

Back in the game!

Maybe. So I have fallen out of blogging of late - apparently once you get out of the honeymoon/training period of working it gets somewhat time consuming. That and the main thing I want to do when I get home is numb my mind out with whatever is the worst tv show I can find.

However, do not fret, I have had an overwhelming 2 PERSON petition to get back to it, so am going to try and re-apply myself. And no worries, Ian and I have not been starving, cooking is one of the few things that really brings me back to center so we have been eating pretty well.

We have had yummy things like this:

And this:

And this:

And many more that I didn't take pics of since I was so behind. Unfortunately, I can't really remember how I made these things. I'll have to get back to you with whatever new dishes I get around to making.

BUT I can tell you we also did fun things like this:

And I got really frustrated by this:

(It was our road and it lasted 3 weeks)

And best of all, I get to see this every day:

And...that's pretty much all that happened over the past 2 months, in the nuttiest of nut shells. I plan on going over the fun Easter-y meals we had this weekend this week, so don't give up on me yet! Here's hoping it won't actually take me another two months.

Family Recipe # 2,375, Chicken Divan

Chicken Divan is one of those dishes that just tastes like home. It's a specialty my mom made for us as kids, and we now request it whenever there is a family get together. Despite my years of eating the Divan'ed Chicken, I hadn't really thought about what "divan" meant until I sat down to write this post. In fact, I'm not even sure I am spelling it right. So I went to the online dictionary, and the results weren't too encouraging:

1) the privy counsel of the Ottoman Empire
2) a large couch without back or arms often designed for use as a bed
3) a collection of poems in Persian or Arabic usually by 1 author

None of these things sound like the chicken I ate growing up. Divan to me means curry and creamy and some broccoli thrown in:

3 chicken breasts, cleaned
2 (10oz) packages of frozen broccoli
1 (10oz) can cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup light mayo
1/3 cup evaporated milk
1 tsp lemon juice
1 1/2 tsp curry powder
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1TBS melted butter

The first step is to clean the chicken and boil it in salted water until cooked (8-15 minutes depending). You all know I LOVE the smell of onions cooking - something that most people can't stand - since I know that means good food is coming. So, you'd think that I'd love the smell of chicken boiling up. You would be wrong. The first time I made this by myself I almost didn't eat it because I HATED the smell of the chicken boiling so much I lost my appetite. Since then I either try to con someone else into boiling it or, I light a candle in the kitchen so it doesn't smell so bad. Does anyone else have this problem?

Chicken cooling after boiling

Next step is to set the chicken aside to cool and cook the broccoli according to package directions. (I have also made this dish with fresh broccoli that I have steamed and it tastes about the same). Then place the broccoli in a lightly greased casserole dish and put the cooled chicken on top.

Set aside and start in on the sauce. All you do is combine everything except the breadcrumbs and butter and pour it over the chicken. Lastly, you combine the butter and breadcrumbs and sprinkle it on top of everything to create a nice crust. Pop it into the oven for 25-30 minutes at 350 and enjoy:

4.5 out of 5 on the Yum scale
5 out of 5 on the home scale. 

For those keeping record, this is one of the dishes that Ian thought tasted like something we ate at 4 star restaurant. It's funny, even though I've been trying to stretch out of my comfort zone with all these fancy-pants French dishes, it's the one that my family has been making for years that is gourmet.

This meal it pretty hearty in itself, but I can't eat without the trifecta of food - meat, veggie, and starch/carbs. So to round out the meal I made some orzo with cheddar cheese and some spices (onion/salt/pepper).

So good!

Orzo has been my saving grace in altitude. It's a pasta so it is relatively easy to cook no matter how high you are above sea level, but it still has the rice-like texture that I prefer. And, it takes flavoring/saucing pretty well, so it can go from just a side carb to a creamy risotto-esque addition to the meal. I give it a 4 out of 5 on the Yum scale pretty much every time, unless I do something pretty major to screw it up.

It was a great dinner, and even though I was looking for it, it didn't taste anything like an Ottoman poet's furniture counsel meeting. It did, however, taste like home.

Pie

I had a specific request for a pie entry since "pies were my specialty." I would definitely not call pies my speciality, especially since I cannot roll out a proper crust for the life of me, but it's a great excuse for me to use the special pie tool Mattsy (my grandmother and mother of all family cooking) gave to me. This pie cutter belonged to her grandmother, and she gave it to me over Thanksgiving, during the big lemon meringue fiasco. Needless to say, it's a pretty special utensil.

family heirloom pie tool

The circular side is used to cut the dough and the flat/rounded side is to shape the crust - but more on that later. First, I need to tell you about how to make the infamous Dullum family dough. Here's the recipe:

3 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 cup shortening
4 TBS butter
1/2 cup cold water beaten with 1 egg white

This makes 3 pie crusts or tops (or 2 crusts and 1 top etc.)

Combine the flour and salt, then cut in the shortening and butter until it has cornmeal consistency. Add the water/egg mix and mix lightly. Form into 3 balls and refrigerate until it is ready to use. At this point Mattsy always tells me "dough does NOT like to be played with or kept warm - stop playing with it and put it in the fridge!" You better do it. Mattsy will know if you don't.

dough ball getting ready to be wrapped up in
aluminum foil and refrigerated

The next step is to make the filling. Ian and I are not big traditional pie fans - pecan,  lemon meringue, rhubarb - but we both love apple pie. Unfortunately, the only recipe I have for apple does not use a crust (it's an "apple crunch" - baked apple with a cinnamon sugar crumble crust). So, I went to the recipe books and cobbled together an apple filling recipe that I thought would do. This is based on a Mastering recipe by MC [Ms. Childs]:

5-6 big apples, cored and pealed
1/4 cup brandy
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 TBS butter
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 orange rind grated

First up, core, peel and chop up the apples. Then you chunk the apples into a big pan and put them over low heat until they are soft - I did about 30 minutes. I figured that you would have to put butter or something in there so they wouldn't stick, but not at all.

unsticky apples

Then add in all the other ingredients and inhale because the scent is awesome. You let it simmer for a while, its suggested 20 minutes, but I did it for like an hour because I got caught up in making dinner and it tasted fine.

nom, nom

While this was going on, I also made the crust so I could pre-bake it for a little while. First step is to roll out the dough. I am reknown for my lack of skill in dough rolling - I always have one side a little bigger than the other, and about 25% of the time get the crust stuck to the cutting board. But, according to Mattsy, the trick is to pick up the dough and swish it around the board frequently, sweeping up the excess flour. Then use the pie dish to measure the size you want for the pie crust and flip it in.

Mattsy's trick for flipping it is to pull half of the dough onto the rolling pin the use that to place the rest of it into the pie pan. I did not get a picture of that because I only have 2 hands.

Then turn up the sides and make them pretty. This is where the pie tool comes in. Here is how I try to "make things pretty" without it:

blerg!

BUT with a quick press around the sides with the pie cruster tool it looks like this:

beautiful!

I need to work with it some more to get the technique down, but I'm pretty happy with the result so far. The recipe called for a "semi-baked crust" so I popped it into the oven for 15-20 at 375, then took it back out and filled it with the filling. Next I got started on the top - I rolled out another ball of dough, and got to use my pie tool again to cut out a perfect circle. You just set the pie plate on the rolled out crust, then follow the edge to get the perfect sized crust:

You also get a nice ridge design on the edge too. Next, lay the crust on the top and bake. I silly-ly folded it a bit in the middle since it was "too big", but I forgot to factor in the shrinkage that happens while banking, so the top was a bit shy of the edge. I should have trusted the pie tool that is 3x as old as I am.

I think the top was a little undercooked, so next time I'm not going to pre-bake the crust (take that MC!). On the top I have the "rosebuds" that Mattsy used to make for me when I was a kid. You take the leftover dough and form little flower buds (mine are more post-modern rosebuds), and roll them in sugar and place them on the top of the pie before you bake it. They may be my favorite part of a pie.

4.5 our of 5 on Yum scale

It was really yummy, and the whole process reminded me of  baking with Mattsy when I was a kid - probably where all this love of cooking came from. I think next time I am going to use a little less zest. It was perfect that night, but eating the leftover for breakfast this morning (yes Ian does that), Ian said it was a little too orange-y. With those modifications, this recipe is definitely going down in the family recipe book.

Small Personal Victory!

Ian and I try to go out on a fancy date once a month. On Friday we had a pretty open night, so we decided to put on "Colorado nice" clothes [this can be as casual as jeans and a clean shirt] and headed up to Larimar Square. As far as I can tell, Larimar Square is the only place to go for a fancy meal in Denver. It's sort of bizarre that all of the nice restaurants are stuck in a 5 block radius, but it's at least convenient.

We ended up going to Rioja, a Mediterranean influenced eatery. The meal was amazing, but the best part was that twice during the meal, Ian turned to m and said, "Hey this tastes like [fill in blank here] that you make!" Things I make taste somewhat similar to food in a Zagat rated restaurant! It's a small victory, but I'll take it.

Epic BBQ Bash: The Leftovers

Ha! You probably thought we  were done with all this BBQ nonsense. Well, so did I...then I realized we had 5 lbs of brisket-y goodness leftover. It was time to get creative. The first thing we did was make a bunch of brisket sandwiches with the thinly sliced brisket. I actually liked the brisket better on a cold sandwich (a BBQ sin I think), but after a day or two I was sandwiched out.

I decided to go to the trusty google and find out what to do. I typed in "what do I do with leftover brisket?" and got about a million hits. The one that looked best to me was brisket chili. Here's how I did it:

2.5 lbs of brisket, chopped up to bite size (we sill wanted the sandwich option)
2 jalapenos (seeded and chopped)
1 can black beans
1 can salsa
1/2 cup chili powder
1 TBS cumin
1 TBS paprika
1 lb of the leftover roasted potatoes

I was a little concerned about using salsa instead of regular tomato paste and diced tomatoes, but it was all I had on hand and I really did not feel like going to the grocery store (this is how most of my "new inventions" come about). I just dropped that all into a big pot then covered it with some beef broth I had in the fridge, and when that ran out, finished covering it with some water. Then it sat bubbling on the stove for a few hours, making the whole house smell amazing.

5 out of 5 on Yum sacle

The smells did not lie, it was amazing. With some cheese on the top and some orzo underneath (my current easy alternative to rice), it tasted like a completely different and really good meal. And thank goodness, because at that point I'm not sure I could have looked at another piece of brisket, much less eaten one. 

The last thing we did to get rid of el beef was to make brisket chili scrambles. Initially I intended them to be brisket omelets, but the brisket was too heavy/I flipped it too early so it became a scramble. 

Not a looker, but 5 out of 5 on the Yum scale

I put in some milk, lemon pepper and cheddar cheese with the eggs to keep them fluffy and tasty, then just dumped the leftover chili on top and mixed it all up. It was a great Saturday morning brunch food - but I would not attempt this for breakfast, unless you wake up with a very strong stomach. 

So after about 2 weeks of brisket, we finally made it though all 10 lbs of meat. As the indigestion slowly wears off, I am starting to wonder when Ian is going to attempt smoking another one, and if he will consider only doing 2 lbs. 

Epic BBQ Bash: The Desserts

I really only made one dessert for the BBQ, but I am going to count the margaritas we made as a second dessert - it qualifies in the high calorie category at the very least. This margarita recipe was my birthday present, and I am a jealous birthday person so I'm not going to share it/it's not my recipe to share. BUT I will tell you that it involves Paula's Orange, an Austin-only triple sec, which was the other part of my birthday present.

5 out of 5 on a Yum scale
Hat tip to Blair and Schex for the real Mexican Tequilla

I think the grad kids learned a valuable lesson about tequila drinks. Also, I didn't take a picture of it the first time around, so I just had to make a second batch tonight to show you all the glory. (This blog is not only a way for me to write non-legal things, but also gives me great excuses for indulging!)

The second dessert was oreo balls. It sounds disgusting at first, and then you think about it, and then it sounds amazing. And it is amazing. Here's the recipe:

1/2 bag oreos, crushed
4 oz cream cheese, melted (I used lite to make myself feel better)
1/2 bag of white chocolate chips

First step mash up all the oreos. I used a potato masher and it worked surprisingly well. Then add in the melted cream cheese and consider how much you underappreciate your arteries. Then form into 1 inch balls and put them to "dry" on a wax sheet. After about 30 minutes or so, melt down the white chocolate chips and cover the balls.

5 out of 5 on the Yum scale 

There are 2 strategies for this and I don't know which I liked better - (1) dunking the ball in the chocolate (which made the come apart a little bit, but were re-formable) or (2) pouring the chocolate over the balls with a spoon (which didn't get to the bottom part of them). I think I like (1) better, it's at the least messier - my favorite! - and also gets everything covered.

They were a big hit at the party, and I will definitely be making them again. This pretty much covers everything we had at the BBQ, except for what people brought...mainly beer. It was a really good way to get to know Ian's colleagues better, and reminded how much I love our little Tudor cottage-home.

Happy Valentines Day!

One day late. My Valentines Day got pretty hectic, so I didn't have time to post, BUT Ian gave me the best present ever.

No, it does not say "Big Love" it says PIG LOVE. And yes, that is a pig running around the bottom right side.  I saw this shirt at the fancy-pants grocery store when we were getting the brisket and mentioned how I thought it was awesome. Fast forward to yesterday, and on the way home from work we stopped by Ye Olde Fancy Pants Grocery Store again so Ian could get some steaks (part 2 of my Valentines Day present) and he came out with this! So perfect.

The dinner was also amazing, but I can't tell you how it was made because I didn't make a single bite of it. Ian made the rub, put it on the steaks and BBQed it with some broccoli all while I sat on the couch.

I forgot how nice it was to all of a sudden have a yummy meal to eat that you didn't make. To top it off Ian even watched a girly movie with me afterward (or at least pretended to stay awake during it). It was the perfect way to wind down after a crazy day.

Epic Superbowl BBQ Bash: The Meat

Ian has been studying the art of brisket making non-stop for the past month. He has called my brother in law (the ultimate brisket-er) about 10 times, cross referenced with my dad, and looked at every online recipe known to man. Here's the dry rub he came up with:

2 tsp seasoned salt
1 tsp black peppercorn
1 tsp white peppercorn
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp vinegar

Armed with the most researched rub ever, we went out to Marczyk Fine Foods Inc., the most fancy-pants grocery store in Denver. I fell in love with the grocery store on sight - it had 3 kinds of foreign cheese I had never even heard of. That is what I want in a grocery store, unknown, probably unpasteurized, dairy products. The butcher at Marczyk did a beautiful job at trimming down all the fat off our brisket, making it nice and lean. However, according to the 50 sources Ian checked with, you want up to an inch of fat all around the brisket to juicy it up. Sadly, the fancy pants Marczyk butcher didn't know that. Lesson one of the BBQ adventure: don't buy fancy pants brisket, you want the gross, cheap, nasty looking kind. On the plus side, we will pay much less for the next one.

10 lbs of beautifully inappropriate brisket

After about 10 minutes of moping over our too-trim meat, we mixed up the rub recipe and started marinating the brisket. To do this, we combined everything but the sugar and vinegar in a bowl, then massaged it into the meat. It was hands on, up to the elbow messy, just the way I like it. Then you sprinkle half the sugar on one side, followed by half the vinegar, flip and repeat. We kept it wrapped up in the fridge over night, then Ian got up bright and early the next morning to get the grill going.

For those who don't know, grilling on a charcoal grill in the cold is somewhat difficult, but manageable once you get the heat roaring. However, brisket smoking takes a low, steady heating of 200-250 over 8-12 hours. Thus, no roaring heat, and not as much success in the cold. But, Ian battled the elements and kept the grill going between 350-200 most of the day.

After a while we got concerned that the smoker itself might not get that hot since it is in a different section than the thermometer and is closer to the cold ground. So we brought the brisket into the oven for the last 2-3 hours to make sure we didn't food poison 20 guests. Lesson number two: try to wait for a warmed day to smoke meat.

After about 12 hours of effort, we had brisket. Unfortunately, there were a bunch of people over by the time it was done so I didn't snap a picture of 10 lbs Ian's labor of love, but I did take a picture of the last leftovers, sliced up for sandwiches.

4 out of 5 on the Yum scale

It ended up being a little dry initially (lesson 1 - don't try to be fancy), but the flavoring was great. The best part was the leftovers. Somehow "resting" for a day [does it count as resting if it is over 30 minutes?] intensified the seasonings and made it even better. And since we only made it through about 5 lbs of brisket during the party, we got to make all sorts of brisket leftovers throughout the week. Yummy!