Barbeque, Fire and Ashes!

Down here in the south it’s a given that every red blooded male escapes the womb knowing how to make great barbeque. Give him a match and a bag of charcoal and he can make even the most sensitive of noses quiver with the aroma of a pork shoulder smoking over a pile of briquettes. Unfortunately, the act of playing with fire often brings out the idiotic side of more than a few backyard chefs! It’s good to note that there is a distinction between outdoor cooks; city dwellers and country... Read more »

The Greatest Wine Making Regions In Spain

Spain produces an extraordinary amount of wine each year and growers have significantly refined the production process as well as the quality of the wine itself. However, before the end of the 19th century, Spain was actually known for cheap, tasteless wine that didn’t offer much for the serious oenophile. But all of that changed after Phylloxera, a small insect related to an aphid, invaded the vineyards of France in the late 1800s devastating crops and causing merchants to turn toward Spain... Read more »

Missing Church and Barbequing!

It was a beautiful morning and the aroma coming from my smoker was almost heavenly. Most Sundays at this time I would be in church, but I was home tending to the barbeque I had started cooking the previous evening. This was mother’s day and we were having the kids over for lunch. I was about to remove the pork shoulder when I heard footsteps on the walk way leading to my back yard deck. “We just followed the smoke,” one of the two men said as I noticed pamphlets in their hands.... Read more »

Gift Baskets No Comparison To Fruitcakes Anymore

The gift baskets of the past were such a sorry excuse for a present that they were often included in jokes along with the standard fruitcakes. You do remember the old fruitcake jokes don’t you? Of course, I may be dating myself here but anyway you look at it, this is definitely not the reality today. Gift baskets have really come into their own as well respected in the gift giving department. Due to the variety, quality and wide range of prices they have become quite popular as creative and... Read more »

Barbequed On The Rear View Mirror!

Nothing quite overwhelms the senses like the aroma of hickory smoked barbeque! Sometimes I drive past a barbeque restaurant hoping to get a whiff of smoke from their cooking fires. Just to get a sniff of the heady scent that drifts from genuine pork barbeque cooking on hickory coals, normally will get me through the week until I fire up my own barbeque pit. The tantalizing fragrance that tempts the taste buds has just for a moment, allowed me to escape the battles of everyday life and rest contentedly... Read more »

Buying Green Food on a Budget

One of the most basic things you can do for the environment is to buy foods that are produced in environmentally sound ways. Unfortunately, this can be quite expensive and the foods can be hard to find. The main reason this can seem to be so hard is that people often limit themselves to the grocery stores, where organic foods are priced significantly higher than other foods. But your local grocery store may not be the best choice. Find a local farmer’s market. Not all of the food there will... Read more »

Fourth of July Barbequing Tips!

The Fourth of July has always been an exiting time for me! A few years ago I would have built my hickory fire and stayed up all night shoveling them into the smokers where I was cooking pork shoulders. Now I just get out of bed every couple of hours and add more charcoal and hickory chunks to the fire. I’ve learned over the years to keep it simple and enjoy the holiday. First of all, let us never forget what we’re celebrating! It was the signing of papers that proclaimed a small colonies’... Read more »

Australia As A Wine Making Region

Over the last twenty years, Australia has become the world’s fourth largest wine producer with exports to over a hundred countries and is known for its uniqueness and quality. The largest importer of Australian wines until this year was the United Kingdom followed by the United States. In 2007, the United States overtook the United Kingdom as the primary importer of Australian wines. Australian wine exports mainly comprise the products of large commercial vineyards which competed with other... Read more »

Chocolate Chip Cookie Secrets

Chocolate chip cookies are a wonderful treat for the entire family and really easy to make. The right ingredients can make the most of whichever recipe you prefer to use. First, always stick with real butter. Margarine just doesn’t work as well and it has trans fats. The real butter is in many ways better for you. It is definitely better for chocolate chip cookie recipes. Butter should be melted carefully. Softening it at room temperature works well enough, but better is to melt it in a double... Read more »

Throw That Fish on the Barbeque

Summer is a great time to take advantage of your barbeque. But when you want to eat a little healthier, hamburgers, hot dogs and ribs just aren’t going to cut it as barbeque fare. It’s a good thing that fish can cook quite well on the barbeque too. One of the most important things you need to do before grilling fish is to thaw it out if it has been frozen. Frozen or partially frozen fish doesn’t grill very well. It dries out excessively due to the added cooking time. When choosing... Read more »