Lounge 78

[squeekness]

Support your local businesses!

 

[Morg]

 

[squeekness]

Well, we're finally here! Election day! Hold on to your butts! Going to be quite a ride!

 

[squeekness]

Completely shattered today. No happy Squeeks for a long time.

 

[InCali]

My sister's home was destroyed in the Ventura fire. She and her husband are okay, but he had to go to the hospital for smoke inhalation. One of her dogs, her bird, and her chinchilla were all killed.

She won't talk to me because when she wouldn't help take care of my mom, mom left her house to me (not my idea), but I feel terrible that she had to go through such a horrible experience and can't even begin to fathom the trauma she's suffering. I want to send her a text expressing my sorrow, but I don't think it would go over well. I'm sorta torn. I think if you knew my sister, you'd understand.

 

[Brutikus]

My sister's home was destroyed in the Ventura fire. She and her husband are okay, but he had to go to the hospital for smoke inhalation. One of her dogs, her bird, and her chinchilla were all killed.

She won't talk to me because when she wouldn't help take care of my mom, mom left her house to me (not my idea), but I feel terrible that she had to go through such a horrible experience and can't even begin to fathom the trauma she's suffering. I want to send her a text expressing my sorrow, but I don't think it would go over well. I'm sorta torn. I think if you knew my sister, you'd understand.

Sorry to hear that terrible news.

Family can be " complicated " alas.

 

[InCali]

Sorry to hear that terrible news.

Family can be " complicated " alas.

Thanks. It doesn’t help when someone takes no responsibility for their own actions and blames everyone else.

 

[InCali]

@Babillygunn

This may or may not make me very smart, but, per your recommendation, I bought a smoker to try out this Thanksgiving.

I decided to get propane because I thought it might stay hotter if it got loaded up. So, how about sending me a few recipes you like. No one goes to the Kitchen thread anymore.....it's too crowded.

 

[InCali]

So, my wife and I are going to an engagement party and having people over for Thanksgiving. She insists she needs 2 new outfits for them; even though her closet is overflowing and she has taken over more than half of my, and my son's, closets. She says that you can't wear the same thing to special occasions.....even though no one, including me, could possibly have been around when she wore all of that S***. When I pointed that out to her, she said "Men are from Home Depot. Women are from Nordstroms."

Help...........call 911....I need an intervention

 

[squeekness]

So, my wife and I are going to an engagement party and having people over for Thanksgiving. She insists she needs 2 new outfits for them; even though her closet is overflowing and she has taken over more than half of my, and my son's, closets. She says that you can't wear the same thing to special occasions.....even though no one, including me, could possibly have been around when she wore all of that S***. When I pointed that out to her, she said "Men are from Home Depot. Women are from Nordstroms."

Help...........call 911....I need an intervention

I'm not that kind of girl. I hate dressing up so I have no problem wearing the same thing more than once.

 

[InCali]

I'm not that kind of girl. I hate dressing up so I have no problem wearing the same thing more than once.

I've never worn anything once unless maybe I broke it. LOL....even then......

 

[squeekness]

I've never worn anything once unless maybe I broke it. LOL....even then......

I'm the same. Clothes cost too much.

 

[Babillygunn]

@Babillygunn

This may or may not make me very smart, but, per your recommendation, I bought a smoker to try out this Thanksgiving.

I decided to get propane because I thought it might stay hotter if it got loaded up. So, how about sending me a few recipes you like. No one goes to the Kitchen thread anymore.....it's too crowded.

Sorry for the late reply. I’ve been in trial last week and it’s kicking my hindquarters. But no trial today and the end is in sight.

Congratulations on the purchase. I’ve never used a propane smoker. Mine is electric. But I’d think that propane may make regulating the temperature easy as well.

I experiment a lot and don’t always follow recipes, but here’s a few tricks of the trade to live by that I’ve found:

For poultry, such as chicken or turkey:
Stay away from mesquite or hickory woods. Stay with fruit woods. I love using cherry and apple woods. The other strong woods can really overpower the meat. To that end, if you try smoking wings, they will be the best you’ve ever eaten, BUT, don’t sauce them before putting in the smoker. Use a dry rub and if you want sauce, sauce them afterwards. The sauce will soak up the smoke and that’s all you will taste.

As to rubs, if you have a Pepper Palace nearby, I strongly suggest investing in some rubs from them. Go there and they will let you taste test them. But if you don’t have one nearby, they have an online store.

Pepper Palace - From Wild to Mild!

Small Batch, All Natural, and Award Winning sauces and seasoning that are Hand Crafted in the Great Smoky Mountains. $5 Domestic Shipping and FREE Shipping over $65.

pepperpalace.com

My personal favorites for rubs are as follows:

Rub dat butt is a great all-around rub that I use primarily for pork and sometimes chicken.

Rub Dat Butt Original

Get your head out of the gutter—we’re talking about a world-class Boston butt rub, here! Grab a “butt” today and try it for yourself!

pepperpalace.com

Sweet Bourbon Rub is amazing. It’s my go-to for brisket. I’ve also used it and/or Rub Dat Butt for pork ribs

Sweet Bourbon Rub

Season your meats with our Sweet Bourbon Rub to lock in that smoky bourbon flavor and create a perfectly caramelized crust. Grab some today!

pepperpalace.com

I’ve used Apple Rub for turkey and chicken. It’s very good but sometimes I’ve found that I can make the bird a bit too fruit with the rub and the wood combo. My wife’s one complaint was that our last turkey was a bit too apple-y, which was a very fair assessment. Still, it’s very good.

Apple Rub

With just a hint of chili powder and a hefty dose of real apple, pacify your desire for drool-worthy pork and treat yourself to the best apple rub today.

pepperpalace.com

If I had it to do over again, I’d probably get their All American rub, which I’ve sampled in the store but not bought. I’m thinking that it would be a good all purpose rub that would be especially good on poultry.

All American Rub

Pepper Palace's all american rub is a bbq game-changer, featuring bacon flavor and a blend of spices for burgers, steaks, and more. Shop now!

pepperpalace.com

If you are going to smoke a whole turkey or a whole chicken, you will be in for a treat. I suggest investing in two things: a flavor syringe to inject chicken or turkey broth under the skin prior to putting it in the smoker; and a vertical roasting rack like this one:


By roasting the bird vertically, the fat that is near the next slowly goes down through the bird. It results in a very juicy bird when you’re done. I just inject the broth, rub coconut oil on the skin, put a rub on the bird and set it up on a vertical roaster and put it in at 250-275.

For brisket, I wrap mine in parchment paper and not foil, so that the smoke still gets to the meat.

 

[Babillygunn]

So, my wife and I are going to an engagement party and having people over for Thanksgiving. She insists she needs 2 new outfits for them; even though her closet is overflowing and she has taken over more than half of my, and my son's, closets. She says that you can't wear the same thing to special occasions.....even though no one, including me, could possibly have been around when she wore all of that S***. When I pointed that out to her, she said "Men are from Home Depot. Women are from Nordstroms."

Help...........call 911....I need an intervention

My wife is more Nordstrom Rack because she’s incredibly frugal.

But I actually enjoy seeing her get dressed up and just embrace those situations. Those opportunities only present themselves maybe once or twice a year, so we just go for it. As my wife puts it, she doesn’t usually dress up for Halloween, so if we get invited to a black tie event for work or to the Kentucky Derby, she uses that as an opportunity to dress in a costume as a fashionista. So she goes all out on it.

It’s funny because my wife is a total jeans and sweatshirt girl almost every day of the year and is all about comfort. But give her an invite to a black tie event and she’s going all out with a long dress, gloves, and her hair doing some cool stuff.

It makes her feel special, which is important to me, and let’s face it, I find my wife in a dress to be easy on the eyes, so I’m definitely not complaining.

 

[InCali]

My wife is more Nordstrom Rack because she’s incredibly frugal.

But I actually enjoy seeing her get dressed up and just embrace those situations. Those opportunities only present themselves maybe once or twice a year, so we just go for it. As my wife puts it, she doesn’t usually dress up for Halloween, so if we get invited to a black tie event for work or to the Kentucky Derby, she uses that as an opportunity to dress in a costume as a fashionista. So she goes all out on it.

It’s funny because my wife is a total jeans and sweatshirt girl almost every day of the year and is all about comfort. But give her an invite to a black tie event and she’s going all out with a long dress, gloves, and her hair doing some cool stuff.

It makes her feel special, which is important to me, and let’s face it, I find my wife in a dress to be easy on the eyes, so I’m definitely not complaining.

Mine is......not..... She liked Nordstrom Rack too, but the one near us closed down. It's not really quite as scary as it sounds because she likes to return stuff almost as much as she likes buying it. I swear, I can't go shopping with her. She goes meandering around, walks up to a rack, pulls something out, walks over to the mirror, looks at it for a couple of minutes, and puts it back. After doing that about 5 or 6 times, she takes one to the dressing room, puts it on, walks over to the mirror, looks at it for a couple of minutes, and goes back in to change. After doing that 5 or 6 times, she buys something, and decides alter whether or not to return it because it has to go through the home testing process (which I will forego explaining). I wouldn't mind going shopping with her if the store had a couch, big screen, and a bar.

EDIT: I'm getting a 4 pack of chips which they say works better than pellets (Hickory, apple, cherry, and...uh....something else). Do you put water in with the chips??

Sorry for the late reply. I’ve been in trial last week and it’s kicking my hindquarters. But no trial today and the end is in sight.

Congratulations on the purchase. I’ve never used a propane smoker. Mine is electric. But I’d think that propane may make regulating the temperature easy as well.

I experiment a lot and don’t always follow recipes, but here’s a few tricks of the trade to live by that I’ve found:

For poultry, such as chicken or turkey:
Stay away from mesquite or hickory woods. Stay with fruit woods. I love using cherry and apple woods. The other strong woods can really overpower the meat. To that end, if you try smoking wings, they will be the best you’ve ever eaten, BUT, don’t sauce them before putting in the smoker. Use a dry rub and if you want sauce, sauce them afterwards. The sauce will soak up the smoke and that’s all you will taste.

As to rubs, if you have a Pepper Palace nearby, I strongly suggest investing in some rubs from them. Go there and they will let you taste test them. But if you don’t have one nearby, they have an online store.

Pepper Palace - From Wild to Mild!

Small Batch, All Natural, and Award Winning sauces and seasoning that are Hand Crafted in the Great Smoky Mountains. $5 Domestic Shipping and FREE Shipping over $65.

pepperpalace.com

My personal favorites for rubs are as follows:

Rub dat butt is a great all-around rub that I use primarily for pork and sometimes chicken.

Rub Dat Butt Original

Get your head out of the gutter—we’re talking about a world-class Boston butt rub, here! Grab a “butt” today and try it for yourself!

pepperpalace.com

Sweet Bourbon Rub is amazing. It’s my go-to for brisket. I’ve also used it and/or Rub Dat Butt for pork ribs

Sweet Bourbon Rub

Season your meats with our Sweet Bourbon Rub to lock in that smoky bourbon flavor and create a perfectly caramelized crust. Grab some today!

pepperpalace.com

I’ve used Apple Rub for turkey and chicken. It’s very good but sometimes I’ve found that I can make the bird a bit too fruit with the rub and the wood combo. My wife’s one complaint was that our last turkey was a bit too apple-y, which was a very fair assessment. Still, it’s very good.

Apple Rub

With just a hint of chili powder and a hefty dose of real apple, pacify your desire for drool-worthy pork and treat yourself to the best apple rub today.

pepperpalace.com

If I had it to do over again, I’d probably get their All American rub, which I’ve sampled in the store but not bought. I’m thinking that it would be a good all purpose rub that would be especially good on poultry.

All American Rub

Pepper Palace's all american rub is a bbq game-changer, featuring bacon flavor and a blend of spices for burgers, steaks, and more. Shop now!

pepperpalace.com

If you are going to smoke a whole turkey or a whole chicken, you will be in for a treat. I suggest investing in two things: a flavor syringe to inject chicken or turkey broth under the skin prior to putting it in the smoker; and a vertical roasting rack like this one:
View attachment 111184

By roasting the bird vertically, the fat that is near the next slowly goes down through the bird. It results in a very juicy bird when you’re done. I just inject the broth, rub coconut oil on the skin, put a rub on the bird and set it up on a vertical roaster and put it in at 250-275.

For brisket, I wrap mine in parchment paper and not foil, so that the smoke still gets to the meat.

Thanks for the tips. I was thinking about making a dry brine and leaving the bird in the fridge for a couple of days before smoking it. I've heard that if you brine it, you can forego injecting it with anything and it'll still come out juicy and tender. I was just going to use some kosher salt, a little pepper, lemon zest, and some fresh herbs (like maybe thyme or sage or something like that). I guess if you smoke it, upright that stuffing is going to have to be stovetop.

I wonder what @DKDetective thinks. I believe he's done just about everything.....

Also, you are under no obligation to respond, but I appreciate your response and understand your situation. A close friend of mine worked for the California State Insurance Commission up in San Francisco and he'd completely disappear at times. It was convenient for me because if I was having a problem with an insurance company, and as I'm sure you know, they can be pretty sleazy at times, I'd just contact Scott, explain situation to him and if he thought they were skirting the rules, he'd just fire off a nice little letter to them. Once he told me "Oh yeah.....I know that *****. I'll touch base with her". About 2 weeks later, I got a check in the amount of the contractor's insurance. Funny how that works. LOL

 

[Babillygunn]

Mine is......not..... She liked Nordstrom Rack too, but the one near us closed down. It's not really quite as scary as it sounds because she likes to return stuff almost as much as she likes buying it. I swear, I can't go shopping with her. She goes meandering around, walks up to a rack, pulls something out, walks over to the mirror, looks at it for a couple of minutes, and puts it back. After doing that about 5 or 6 times, she takes one to the dressing room, puts it on, walks over to the mirror, looks at it for a couple of minutes, and goes back in to change. After doing that 5 or 6 times, she buys something, and decides alter whether or not to return it because it has to go through the home testing process (which I will forego explaining). I wouldn't mind going shopping with her if the store had a couch, big screen, and a bar.

My wife tends to go shopping, buy several things, then takes them home and returns what she doesn’t want. So I get the luxury of the couch, tv and drink while she models for me. lol.

Thanks for the tips. I was thinking about making a dry brine and leaving the bird in the fridge for a couple of days before smoking it. I've heard that if you brine it, you can forego injecting it with anything and it'll still come out juicy and tender. I was just going to use some kosher salt, a little pepper, lemon zest, and some fresh herbs (like maybe thyme or sage or something like that). I guess if you smoke it, upright that stuffing is going to have to be stovetop.

I forgot to mention the brine! Yes. I brined my turkey last year, but I used a mixture of apple cider and saltwater and brined it for about 10 hours. I still injected the broth just because I was concerned about drying out. It ended up being crazy juicy, but not overly salty.

Also, you are under no obligation to respond, but I appreciate your response and understand your situation. A close friend of mine worked for the California State Insurance Commission up in San Francisco and he'd completely disappear at times. It was convenient for me because if I was having a problem with an insurance company, and as I'm sure you know, they can be pretty sleazy at times, I'd just contact Scott, explain situation to him and if he thought they were skirting the rules, he'd just fire off a nice little letter to them. Once he told me "Oh yeah.....I know that *****. I'll touch base with her". About 2 weeks later, I got a check in the amount of the contractor's insurance. Funny how that works. LOL

Ha. My in laws had a similar situation where they had the power company make a mistake while working on a transformer which caused a power surge that fried all of their appliances as well as their neighbors’ appliances. They were told to submit claims to the power company, but everyone’s was denied. I “knew someone” there and made a phone call and turned their receipts over and got them a check a week later. But I had to tell them “don’t let your neighbors know” because I didn’t want to tick off my contact at the power company’s legal department. Lol.

 

[InCali]

My wife tends to go shopping, buy several things, then takes them home and returns what she doesn’t want. So I get the luxury of the couch, tv and drink while she models for me. lol.

This is an approximation of our conversation when she asks about the new clothes she's wearing (ie modeling)

How does this look?
Fine
<later>
What about this?
Fine
<later>
And this?
Fine
You always say everything looks fine.
That's because it does. Everything looks good on you.
<Stares/Glares> Nice try <leaves the room>

 

[ComicChick]

good answers though lol

 

[Babillygunn]

You should shake things up a bit like I do. My go-to’s include:
“Babe, you look like a million dollars!”
“Wow. You’re gorgeous” or
“Woah. Foxy!”

Those are my typical answers.

 

[Babillygunn]

And yes, to answer the question on everyone’s minds:

I do the Garth “foxy ears” when I say it.

 

[InCali]

And yes, to answer the question on everyone’s minds:

I do the Garth “foxy ears” when I say it.
View attachment 111237

So, I guess you never go with the "Well, that one makes your butt look kinda big"? ⚰️☠️

I'm shocked it never occurred to me, but I'll bet the smoker would be great for my legendary jerky. I usually make it in the stove and use toothpicks to hang it by rack, but it'll be interesting to see how different woods flavor it. I make a really spicy jerky using soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, onion/garlic powder, minced jalapeños, red pepper flakes, pepper, and various other seasonings/rubs I have stashed away. I'm curious how the woods will affect it. London Broil is probably the best beef. It doesn't have much fat and slices well. I cut a little on the thicker side. When I was at the bank, people would come into my office and ask me if they could have another piece.

 

[Lily Adler]

Dave Coulier Reveals He Has Stage 3 Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma: ‘I'm Going to Be Strong Throughout This’ (Exclusive)

Dave Coulier was shocked to learn he has stage 3 Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. He opens up to PEOPLE exclusively about his diagnosis and how he has been leaning on family and humor through his cancer journey.

people.com

 

[squeekness]

Cancer sucks.

 

[Lily Adler]

Cancer sucks.

First Danny and now Uncle Joey. Aunt Becky's in jail and Uncle Jesse is doing commercials. 😔

 

[Lily Adler]

John Krasinksi is Sexiest Man Alive.