Happy Martin Luther King Day

I had the day off work. That's always a good thing!

I spent some time looking over my favorite barbeque book Peace, Love & Barbecue. It's all about smoking meat and the folks who do that. There are as many stories as recipes, so it's fun to sit and read. I tried one of the sauce recipes this weekend--Lexington style BBQ sauce. It sounded too bland with only ketchup and vinegar as the base, so I added a little Texas Pete and Louisiana Hot Sauce. That was a real hit with our Boston butt smoked on the Smokey Mountain by Weber. That's one of our best buys of 2005. We'd been wanting a smoker for a long time and were thrilled to get that.

Our most recent outdoor cooking toy was a turkey fryer. I was a little hesitant on that, since I'd heard they are pretty dangerous. The Masterbuilt electric has a UL rating and also an auto shut off, so I felt better about that. It really does make the best turkey I've ever tasted. I didn't know what I was missing until we fried one up. I don't think we'll be baking the big birds any more. That also frees up oven space to do the other foods for a feast. Gotta love that.
Tomorrow I go back to work. The boys have the day off and also Wednesday. Hope they don't make too big a mess at home while I'm gone. I won't hold my breath though.