Best Steak Competition Announcement

On July 23rd we are hosting a “Best Steak” Competition.  We are looking for a few contestants and judges.

Sign up to be a judge or contestant

Official Rules

• Entry deadline is 7/16/2009
• There is no entry fee but you must provide all ingredients.
• You can enter any cut of beef you want but the total cost of the meat cannot exceed $15.
• You can prep your steak at home but you must grill it on site.
• You will have a total of 30 minutes to grill your steak.
• Each entry will be scored on flavor and appearance, official contest white plates will be provided.
• The entry should not include any side dishes

Prizes to include:

• Weber Spirit® series 2-burner propane grill
• 55 bottle estate wine rack
• US Sankey Keg Tap & Pump
• 25lb bag of Super Lucky Elephant jasmine rice
• And many more….

Spring Training 3

Luau Tables Are Not Round

While cleaning out the shed I discovered a great piece of tongue and groove paneling about 4×7 feet in dimension. I thought that if I cut it in half it would make a great pair of table tops and I could use them during some of these barbecues. Of course these table tops needed table legs… and I thought for a few minutes about how I could make some. I almost turned this project into one of those woodworking shenanigans where I tell my wife that it will take $10 and a couple hours but what I really do is I max out my credit card on five trips to Home Cheapo and then never actually finish. Luckily I had a flashback to my childhood… the young and spacey 8 year old Bobby recalled these simple folding table stands that my grandfather would put plywood table tops on for parties and luaus. I remember rolling out butcher paper over the table tops upon which designs could be painted or center pieces and favors would be placed. Of course the butcher paper thing was simply for easy cleanup and indeed I have tons of memories setting up these tables before the luau and then tearing the paper off after the luau was finished and throwing it away in the trash.

Ah yes, the venerable luau table, a noble yet simple design, the long straight rectangular table was ubiquitous during my childhood in Hawaii. It is such a fixture in Hawaii, during the planning stage of Shannon and I’s wedding (it was a luau), my mother did a double take when Shannon told her the tables were going to be round. “Round tables?” She said. “You’re going to have round tables? … but how are you going to put butcher paper on round tables?” Shannon explained that we’re going to rent linens, “Whoa… fancy” replied my mom. Keep in mind that it had been a while since my mom lived in Hawaii. The day before our wedding, several of my family members from Hawaii were helping to set up the tent and my uncle Carlton asked me if I had a plan to follow. I handed him a chart which I carefully prepared that showed where each table would be placed. He looked at it for a quick second and then asked me “What are these round things on here?”

I can understand why luau tables are long and rectangular, it’s such an efficient design. You can fit a ton of people on one table and they break down and store easily. Round tables take up extra space during storage. In particular luau tables can be dirt cheap to make yourself. I realized that these tables had been time tested by generations in my family and no such woodworking shenanigans were going to be needed to build me some table stands. So I high-jacked some left over scrap wood from my parents house, purchased some hinges, and got to making some luau tables. I was done in 2 hours and everything was less than $10. The best part is they brought back so many memories.

Pimp My BBQ

Please HGTV… Pimp my BBQ.  I had a habit of leaving my grill outside all winter and now it needs some TLC.  It has been missing a hubcap for about a year and the wheel kept falling off, which allowed one of the legs to come loose.  At that point it would spew ash like Mt. St. Helens.  Well no more!  I’ve saved up and bought new hubcaps and they arrived this past weekend.  So I gave my BBQ and overhaul.  I’m pleased with the results, clean grill and new hubcaps.  The process has motivated me even more and I’m thinking that some bodywork and a new paint job would look killer.

 

Spring Training 2

Part of my my grill woes is due to the fact that I didn’t store it properly. I left it out in the cold harsh Seattle weather for three straight years and now It just sits there like a really old dog, a sad look on it’s lid, anguishing in it’s own decrepitude. I had a plan to keep all of the barbecue equipment in our shed. The only problem is that there was no room in it. So Shannon and I spent last weekend cleaning it out. It is amazing how much crap I can hang on to as long as there is space to put it. I read once about a great method for cleaning out your closet. It involves separating your stuff into three piles. One pile is for stuff that you use on a consistent basis. Another pile is for stuff that you are

planning on using at some time in the future. The last pile is for things that you don’t use at all. Then after that its pretty simple, you just throw away the last two piles. This plan is ingenious, after a trip to the dump, 66% of the shed is now free to put more stuff in it. This season my grill, charcoal and tables & chairs will have a nice dry cozy spot in our shed.

Shannon can’t stand clutter, as for myself as long as clutter doesn’t get in the way of what I want to accomplish, I don’t see any reason why you should throw away any item that in 10 years from now might have even the minutest chance of being used. Take cans of paint for example, never mind that I don’t know how old it is, paint lasts forever right? Never mind that the colors are black, brown, and puke green. The U.S. is going down the tube, war might break out on our very own streets and I’ll have to paint our house camouflage.

All husbands will attest, there is no winning these types of scenarios with your wife, we are getting rid of all the old paint. For those who might ask how, if it is latex paint you can open the lid and let it dry and just throw it in the trash. All other solvents can be taken to a hazardous waste collection facility. The closest one to our house is on 125th and Stone, just a few miles away. I haven’t actually gone yet but I hope it will be a quick and painless procedure.

Leme Leme Upgrill

After 3 season’s of barbecuing, my once new Weber charcoal grill is struggling to hang on.

I thought for a while one of the legs was missing but I have since recovered it. One of the hub caps that hold the wheels onto the axle is lost, so the wheel constantly falls off, which in turn causes the leg to fall off. The handle melted one day while I was barbecuing… I nearly burned the crap out of my hand! I don’t understand why Weber would make a BBQ with a plastic handle. I’m currently looking for a replacement/upgrade for this grill. In the mean time I checked out the Top Ten Coolest BBQ’s on Neatorama for insporation. My favorite is RUB restaurant’s bbq bike and sidecar built by Orange County Choppers.