Sex Pistols Ear Buds

While out running some errunds last weekend, I stopped into the 5 Below discount store.  Low and behold, I found these cool ear buds.

2011 Labor Day Weekend BBQ - Monday

I got started a little later on Monday.  It was about 12:30pm when the Traeger started up.  I had 3 racks of St Louis ribs and 3 racks of baby back ribs to make (about 25 lbs).  I pulled them off after about 4 hours when I noticed more smoke than normal coming out of the grill.  After looking into it, the left fire pot had filled with pellets for some reason and was smoldering.  I am not sure why it happened considering it had been running properly for 4 hours.  Strangely, the St Louis ribs were ready, but the baby back could have used another 30-60 minutes to get to the tenderness that I prefer.  They were all still edible.

I also made 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts that I had marinated overnight in Lawry's Caribbean Jerk marinade.  I fired up the Weber Spirit for them.

2011 Labor Day Weekend BBQ - Saturday

Saturday morning, I had the Traeger running at about 9am.  I had almost 19 lbs of pork shoulder and 17 lbs of beef brisket to make.  They ended up taking between 9 and 12 hours to make.

Brisket Rub

Here is my newest brisket rub I made yesterday.  We will see how it tastes on the brisket that has been on the Traeger since 9:30am.  It tasted very earthy with a spicy kick.

3 tsp Chile Ancho Molido
3 tsp Chile Arbol Molido
3 tsp Pinqin Molido
3 tsp Chile Guajillo Molido
9 tbsp Ancho Chipotle Rub
3 tsp Hot Paprika
3 tbsp Smoked Paprika
3 tbsp Sweet Paprika
3 tsp Jalapeno Molido
3 tsp White Pepper
3 tbsp Garam Marsala
3 tbsp Worchestershire Powder
3 tbsp Ground Mustard
18 tbsp Turbinado Sugar
6 tbsp Ground Cumin
3 tsp Cayenne Pepper
6 tsp Chipotle Molido
3 tsp Hot Chili Powder
3 tsp Chili Powder
6 tbsp Spanish Paprika
3 tbsp Ground Cinnamon

2011 Labor Day Weekend BBQ - Friday

Yesterday, I had the Traeger going for about 5-6 hours.  The first batch was 3 lbs of Hormel thick cut bacon.  This was the first time that I have smoked bacon, and I was quite pleased with the results.



Up next was a supreme pizza that I bought at Jewel that morning.  I had made several pizzas on the grill in the last few months.  This was the best I did on the cheese, but the crust could have been a little more crisp.







After the pizza, I made some 2.5 lbs of Cavanaugh's spicy sausage I bought at Sam's and an apple wood smoked bacon marinated 4 lb pork loin that I also bought at Sam's.  Both of these have been hits at the house in the past.  The neighbors like them too.



Chicago Fire v Richmond Kickers 2011-08-30

Tuesday night, I went to see another Fire game with my friend Mario and a friend from work, Scott.  This game was part of the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup Series.  We were fortunate to have seats below the overhang so that we could stay dry as the rain fell most of the game.  The Fire move on to the Final on October 4th versus Seattle.  Last week, I also found the song "Fire" by Deal's Gone Bad that is played during the game when the team scores a goal.  Here are some pics.

The Section 8 crowd who chants the entire game.

Cutlery and More Shipment #3

Here is the 3rd (and I think final) shipment from http://www.cutleryandmore.com/ .  There is another knife guard, a 2nd digital dual probe thermometer since I liked the first one so much, 2 spare grill brush heads for the Raichlen grill brush I bought earlier, a $10 gravity pepper mill, a $4 set of tongs with silicon tips, and 2 more pair of the $2 grill tongs.