I been wanting to do this for a long time but didn’t have a proper equipment or the correct weather conditions. I recently bought an A-MAZE-N smoking tube.

It was expected to get down to 41 degrees (fairly cool nights for Southern California) and it was only 67 during the day so I decided to give this a try. Around 4:00 PM I started by cooling the kamado down by placing 5 pieces of Blue Ice in it.

Around 8:30 it reached 50 degrees outside, so I started up the A-MAZE-N smoking tube in my gasser so as not to heat up the kamado.

Once it ignited, I let it burn for a few minutes

before blowing out the flame.

I let it smoke while I went in and prepared the cheese. I had purchased 2 lbs. of Gouda, Colby Jack and Sharp Cheddar at Costco.

I took them out of their wrappers.

I cut them up into smaller sizes so they could absorb more smoke and placed them on a wire rack.

I then placed the A-MAZE-N smoking tube in the bottom of my kamado. I next put in both of my ceramic heat deflectors, then the grill grates and then the rack of cheese. (You can see some of the smoke coming up around the deflectors)

I closed the lid and observed a small amount of smoke coming out the top vent.

An hour later it looked like this.

After two hours in the smoke I opened the lid. WOW!

I brought the rack in the house where I could see a subtle change in the cheese color.

I vacuum packed them all and placed them in the fridge to age and mellow for 3 weeks.

This morning I when out to see how much of the pellets were left in the A-MAZE-N smoking tube. It looks like approximately 1/3 was left unburnt. I’m thinking it could’ve gone at least another hour.

I can’t wait to try them but will wait to let time do its thing on them first.
 
Thanks for looking.

I am getting my plants ready for spring planting and some going to friends.    What you see in the photos is Roma tomato plants in bin and on on shelf, some basil, jalapeño peppers, peppercini peppers, and sweet bell.   I have some seeds germinating for spearmint, peppermint, lemon basil, sweet basil, Thai basil, cinnamon basil, marigold regular and jumbo, tarragon, lavender,
 
my my other seed starter has English daisy, rosemary, sage, summer thyme, Greek oregano, and egg plant that not yet ready for transplanting to small pots yet.  The English daisy, sage, summer thyme should be ready for transplanting next weekend.     

I have been consumed lately with the desire to smoke some cheese on my classic.  It just seems that everywhere I have been reading the last little while, someone has been talking about grilling cheese.  I do not have a smoker tube or maze yet (that will probably be my next grilling purchase, but need to wait and see what Santa has in the presents first), but I got to wondering if it is possible to cold smoke without one.  So here is my setup:   just a small amount of charcoal, in a string, with a few apple chunks on top.  The plan was to light the one end, and the chunks would slowly burn around my half circle.  I had the vents almost closed, just a sliver open.  Didn't start out too bad, I was holding grate temp right at 90, but after about half hour the fire was almost dead.  I was forced to open the grates a little more, and the grate temp went to 120.  That was about as low as I could hold it, so I just put a big pan of ice under the cheese.  The smoke wasn't as clean as I would have liked, probably due to very little air circulation.  After about three hours I pulled the cheese off and left it sit, then wiped it gently and bagged it.  I just sliced a piece after a week and half of fridge time.  The swiss is really good, the cheddar is o.k., but I probably should have gotten sharp instead of mild.  Would I do this again?  Probably not, I think the smoke tube is worth waiting on, but this did turn out better than I expected.  

Our favorite meal (because it is restaurant worthy and really simple) is grilled Salmon and Fettuccine Alfredo with a Caesar Salad...
Found a copycat recipe for Alfredo Sauce like Olive Garden : its easy to make so we just cut the ingredients in half for just the two of us (full amounts are shown for recipe)
1 stick of butter / 3-4 cloves of garlic (minced fine) / 2 cups of heavy cream / dash of black pepper and salt / 1.5 - 2 cups finely grated fresh Parmesan cheese / 12 oz or so box of Fettuccine or other favorite pasta
Melt butter gently in sauce pan over medium to low heat / Add garlic, cream, salt & pepper / bring to gentle simmer (not boil) / Add cheese and continue to simmer and stir for 8-10 minutes. Do not bring to hard boil as the cheese and cream will separate. Last night I used a Trader Joe's pasta that was really good...
The Salmon was drizzled with Butter, Lemon, Dill, and Dizzy Pig "Raging River" rub. This fish had skin-on (which I prefer for grilling). Placed fish on folded foil tray and cooked direct at 400 for 15-18 minutes.
George was anxiously awaiting leftovers...