Another brisket on the smoker allows me a short amount of time to enjoy my own thoughts. Sure, I still have the "Frozen" song, "Go, Diego", and "Super Why" filtering through my brain, but I suppose it just takes a little time for that to wear off after a long week of keeping children alive.
This past week, including today, I've been lucky enough to do things that I really like to do. Last weekend I journeyed up the hill a bit and fished the Cache le Poudre River. I did well, except for the snot-covered bowling balls under foot that prompted yet another slip into the drink. Everytime I fall in the river, it's that river. No harm done, aside from a cut up wrist and bruised ass. The couple dozen brown trout landed and the stupid-nice scenery made up for any minor injuries. The rivers, lately, have been generous. I've been fortunate to have caught more fish this spring than I deserve. Each trip has yielded more trout than expected, and have helped make the time in between river visits more tolerable. If my trips would have been shitty, than I'd be itching to get back out there and make it right. But I've been satisfied. It's helped that I'm able to take the kids for a walk over to the neighborhood pond and pull out a few crappie and bluegill from time to time. Those moments are irreplacable. For my nephew's birthday Tuesday, he requested ribs. So I smoked him a rack of babybacks. Not my favorite meat to smoke, but it scratched the itch and turned out decent. Like this morning, the ritual of building a fire, trimming the meat, and drinking the coffee (or whiskey, depending on if it's AM or PM) satisfies me. The cook is more fun than the eat, as is the case with most cooking. I wish I had a better feeling about this brisket today. The lump charcoal that I'm using sucks--the chunks are entirely too big and takes way too long to catch. S'pose I'll do the best with what I've got. A little later today, there will be a game-time desicion to put a rack of spare ribs on the little smoker or not. Crowds will dictate that move. I've gotta admit, I'm excited about today. First time I'm barbecuing for a big crowd--a crowd of people that I'm not that close with. Neighbors, acquaintences. I get to pretend that I have my own BBQ biz, with the exception of getting paid any money... Thursday, I drank a lot of whiskey. Met up with a couple buddies at Laws Whiskey House in Denver. It's a great little distillery that puts out some amazing products. After a few samplers of bourbon and rye, we went to the School House in Arvada. This joint has the most extensive whiskey menu I've ever seen. An actual binder filled with brown spirits you've always wanted to try. They have top, top shelf booze, accompanied by lower shelf action, shit you can't pronounce, and shit you've never heard of. It's interesting, fun, and expensive. I sampled two Scotches that I've had before, but wanted to try again to verify that I liked them as much as I thought I did. The first was Lagavulin 16yr. The creme de la creme. The cat's ass. It was good...damn good. Tasted like a meal of shortribs. Meaty, smokey, dense, filling. Definitely a sipping Scotch, as a little goes a long way. My second glass was Johnnie Walker Green Label. Yeah, I know...a blend. I don't care, though. It's really, really good. At least to my uneducated pallet. And I can kind of afford it, whereas I cannot the Lagavulin. Very balanced, earthy, and smooth. Goddamn I like Scotch. I also like baseball. But unlike football, which I could kind of give a shit about, I only really enjoy watching the Cardinals. Football, I can turn on most any team and zone out to it. Cardinals baseball, though, that's all I'm interested in. We started out terribly at 3-8, but have since gone on a pretty nice tear to capture first place. It being only May, that doesn't really matter. Every team in our division is seperated by only two or three games right now. It's still fun to watch them win, though...or pick them apart and play armchair GM when they're losing. There's a new kid that they called up from the low minors to fill in on the major league roster when basically all our outfielders got hurt at once. Name's Sierra, and he's a blast to watch. Faster than shit, a smart baserunner, and pretty good fielder. He's gotten a handful of hits already and completely breathes life into our at-times stagnant team. He reminds me of my all-time favorite player, Willie McGee. Runs like him, bats like him, and seems humble like Willie. Hope Matheny starts him today. Time to stoke the fire, get a refill on coffee, and prepare my mind for awake children. I enjoy fishing, smoking meat, whiskey, and Cardinals baseball. Have a swell day. The end. //re.
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AuthorI am Earl. Archives
May 2024
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