DerHusker

Keeper, I've been by that spot (or a spot very similar) in Estes Park. Stayed twice in a hotel on Fall River there although I don't know where the Arkansas is from it. Best spot for me isn't a cooking spot so much as a picnic spot on the Madison River in Yellowstone N.P.

While you're there if you could finally find that "guy named Charlie" for us it would be great!

When shopping and got some groceries we needed. Picked up some nice brioche buns and we made cheeseburgers on the Akorn Jr. again. Sliced up the veggies. Cooked up the burgers. Assembled my cheeseburger and plated it with a slice of water melon, some pringles and a Modern Times Blazing World Hoppy Dank Amber. Delicious. Thanks for looking

Braised Lamb Shanks are heavenly. Link:

SoCal has been scorching hot these last 3 days. Friday was 111 in the shade of my patio. Unfortunately this was the day my neighbor’s air conditioning decided to quit working. They brought over their dogs for us to try and keep cool while they worked on it and went out to eat to cool off themselves. Saturday was 104 and Sunday was a were 100 so I braved the patio to cook something up. I’ve made a Buffalo Buffalo Smash Burger before that is IMHO the best burger ever. Unfortunately, our fridge quit working 2 weeks ago. It has since been repaired but my supply of pickled red onion went out with 3 trash bags of other food items so I decided to just use what I had on hand and make Smash Cheeseburgers. I stared out making some seasoned steak fries. I took 2 russet potatoes and cut each into 8 approximately equal wedges. I then drizzled on some EVOO and seasoned them with salt, fresh ground black pepper and a little cayenne pepper. I microwaved them for 6 minutes (stirring them every 2 minutes) to give them a head start on cooking. I then spread them out on a half sheet pan and placed it in the middle of my gasser with the burners on each side on high. (for an indirect heat of approximately 400) With the fries cooking I turned my attention to the burgers. I took some Nice organically grown ground beef and mixed in some diced onion and blue cheese crumbles. I started up a 3/4 chimney of charcoal and poured it into my charcoal baskets. I placed my C.I. griddle over them and let it get smoking hot. I divided the ground beef into 4 roughly equal size balls. Once the griddle was smoking hot I placed the balls on. Once they had developed a nice crust I smashed them. I let them cook a few more minutes and then flipped them and cooked them approximately 3 more minutes. After approximately 40 minutes the fries were ready. Here it is plated up with a Modern Times Black House Coffee Rroasty Stout. This was excellent! Thanks for looking.

After a few months of sitting idle, my Jr. has been cooking up a storm recently. It's a great size for cooking for 1 to 3 people. I keep reusing the charcoal from each cook but usually add a little fresh each time to help it get started faster. May 15th cook. I've had 3 more cooks since that time. I still have pieces that I started with on that May 15th cook.

I saw this package of Wild Caught Ono filets for a good price at Costco and decided to put it in my cart. Ono is the Hawaiian name for what we call Wahoo in Mexican waters. Here’s a picture of one. It’s a delicious tasting white fleshed fish. I’ve never had the pleasure to catch one but it’s one of the most sought-after game fish. It’s something like a cross between a Tuna and a Barracuda but with the size of a tuna and is one of the fastest fish in the ocean. I thawed out a couple of filets and then coated them with some Tajin seasoning. I let them marinate for a couple of hours while I prepared others things for my tacos. Once Jr. was 400 degrees I put the filets on for approximately 2 minutes per side. (They were triangular so that was 3 sides) Here they are plated up on some corn tortillas with red & green cabbage, onion, cilantro, avocado salsa, avocado slices, some Mexican Creama and a Modelo. Muy Bueno! Thanks for looking.

Thank you Josephine, Thank you Dan. My accountant will appreciate me letting him in on this. Thank you Ted. Thank you very much!

Thank you Herman. Thank you KK. A calendar? Hmmm! Thank you Rob.

Thank you K_sqrd. Thank you Ben.

Yesterday I inched closer to retirement as I had my 61st birthday. In the morning my wife blessed me with some nice gifts. She said these were all to help me enjoy the outdoors more. (Not sure I needed more things to do that but ) First thing she had me open is this Landman fire pit. Next thing I open was a cover for the firepit. Next thing I open was a nice insulated shoulder bag. And finally, I opened the last gift which was and assortment of frisbees for Frisbee (Disc) Golf. As a youth we used to play Frisbee Golf a lot at La Mirada Regional Park. She thought I might enjoy getting out and doing this again. The rest of the day we spent it at home doing a few redecorating chores that we had been meaning to get to and generally taking it easy and enjoying ourselves. Towards dinner time I fired up the Akorn Jr. and made us some cheeseburgers. Here’s my burger with a slice of watermelon, some Pringles and a Stone Ruination Double IPA. A very relaxing day that I thoroughly enjoyed. Thanks for looking.

You get an "A" for effort and it still looks like it was very tasty so it wasn't a fail in my book.

The Guru Moderators Challenged me to create a “Weave Your Way Through May”. I thought long and hard at what I could create. Create something delicious by weaving ingredients together? At first, I thought I kept thinking and then came to the “point” where an idea “stuck” with me. If I had the correct ingredients then I studied up on my past cooks and if you will I’ll provide you with a little educational reading and show you I assembled most of my ingredients Greased up my CI pie pan with some Crisco. Did my crust weave in it but it looked a bit (Not my best work. I should’ve done this on the glass pie dish like last time but since the crust won’t show this was no biggy) Now I placed the glass dish in the CI dish to try to control shrinkage and keep its shape. Now place it upside down on the kamado to let the bacon grease drain. I let it cook this way for 30 minutes. While that was cooking I whipped up the egg, milk, sour cream and Bisquick Once the bacon crust was cooled I placed in a layer of thinly sliced potato. Now some slivered onion and then the Hatch Chiles. Now I added half the egg mixture and 1 cup of cheese. I repeated this process and placed it on the kamado for 50 minutes at 300 degrees. Here it is after 50 minutes. I thought we could clink our glasses in a toast but alas it still wasn’t alive like I wanted so I threw a little temper tantrum. It needed one last ingredient So I added a bacon weave on top of mostly already cooked bacon and cooked it an extra 10 minutes. (Didn’t want to deal with the shrinkage or the extra grease) and in a last desperate attempt, I yelled out Here it is after the additional 10 minutes. IT’S ALIIIIIIIVE!!!!!!!!! Close-up with flash. Without flash. Today I cut a slice and heated it up for breakfast. It was so delicious it had me dancing! THE END!

Decided to make Chicken Enchiladas again on Sunday. (One of my wifes favorites) Started out making up the verde sauce. Here are most of the ingredients. Roasted most everything. Tomatillos go straight into the blender. Other items need to go inside to be cleaned up. Everyone into the pool for a spin. Add the cilantro and lime juice and spin some more. Now I prepped the chicken breasts to shred. Took 2 boneless skinless breasts and butterflied them, covered with plastic wrap and pounded them flat. Seared them for approximately 5 minutes each side and proceeded to shred them. Now I made some Mexican rice. Most of the ingredients are here. While the rice was cooking I made up the enchiladas and put them on the kamado at 300 degrees for 15 minutes. Here they are plated up with the rice, some frijoles and a Modelo Negra. Muy Bueno! Thanks for looking.

Ham / Cheese burgers are just so easy and delicious to make on the Akorn Jr. that I made some more on Saturday. Plated with some watermelon, potato salad and a Modelo Negra Thanks for looking.