Yesterday, my wife and I got up early, had a quick cheese and mushroom omelette- with our fresh ground morning coffee- and headed up to Traverse City, for a little day trip R & R... Casino was under construction, so play was limited and really not that much fun. We drove over to a little municipal park on Grand Traverse bay, and checked out the beautiful view. We then stopped at North Point Brew Pub for an early supper bite to eat. With the breeze off the bay, it was perfect weather to eat on the deck, and watch the world go by... T.C. is an upscale, kind of hip place (for Michigan!) with many specialty stores, restaurants, and things to see and do. The service, menu, prices, and quality of food was a pleasant shock- T.C. is not known for cheap or being overly friendly to "fudgies" (that's one of their terms for down state tourists!). We ordered an appetizer of hot melted Gorgonzola, dried cherries, and walnut pieces, served with a cracked grain fresh bread. Delicious! My wife had a fried Walleye sandwich, and I had their Deli sandwich (Italian ham, turkey pastrami, Havarti cheese, tomato, lettuce, and a delightful chipotle mayo that really had a kick!). Long, relaxing ride home down some less busy highways...
Today, I tackled the project I alluded to earlier this week- I assembled my new smoker grill! This was after I grilled marinated chicken and made mashed potatoes and chicken gravy for my son and me! Dinner done, I started the task that the manual clearly had stated would go better with two people working on it. My son had to work, and my wife was down at Festival 2008, and attending a play later, so it was me, myself, and I who got it done! Right in the middle of this project, with parts strewn all over the driveway, we get a thunder and lightning rain storm! Put everything inside garage, and waited until it blew over, then finished it up. Really wasn't that bad to assemble- the instructions must have been written by an American! I took some pictures of the retiring smoker grill.. 10yrs old and still works, but I wanted a new vertical one. The new unit has a regular charcoal grill over the firebox for grilling, while the smoke chamber has lots of racks and room for competition BB-Q! It's compact, but heavy and well-built. I have to "season" it before cooking in it- which means I have to build a hot, smoky fire in the firebox and take the unit up to about 400F for a couple of hours, to cure and seal the painted metal with a layer of smoke residue... I may add another thermometer, as I have heard the one that it comes with isn't that accurate...
I hope everybody has a full-of-good-news upcoming week!
