Cookout with Av and Mick

word to your mother

Avniel decided to drive out to Pittsburgh for a visit this weekend and we ended up assembling an epic cookout feast Saturday night. We got fresh sausage -- 1 pound each of hot Italian and spicy Sicilian -- sweet red peppers, and old style whole grain dijon mustard from Donatelli's in Bloomfield. At the grocery store we picked up all natural chicken thighs, yellow squash, green peppers, and a sweet red onion. I had asparagus, zucchini, and potatoes from the Bloomfield farmer's market, and we used cilantro, oregano, and mint (for mojitos) from the garden.

I skewered and brushed the potatoes with olive oil and Old Bay seasoning: 

Av chopped the onion, green peppers, and squash into large kabob chunks and tossed them with olive oil, coarse sea salt, fresh ground rainbow peppercorn medley, and fresh herbs from the garden. I used my Amazing Sauce on the chicken. 

I sliced the zucchini lengthwise and just brushed it with olive oil, salt, and pepper.

I grilled the asparagus in foil with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and just cooked the sweet red pepper plain and whole on the top rack of the grill. The chicken of course I cooked slowly, turning and re-applying sauce half a dozen times.

I made more mojitos with the mint from the garden.

Candles Burning

I have a couple of my candles burning nicely today around the house. Neither has any wax left unmelted along the side.

soy wax, honeysuckle, triple wick

paraffin wax, not sure of the scent, double wick

Solo Cookout for Game 7

Last night I cooked out alone for Game 7 of the NBA Finals. I loaded up at the Bloomfield Farmer's Market. I made my amazing chicken sauce to grill with bone-in thighs. I made my grilled broccoli recipe with goat cheese, which tasted spectacular. Plus I grilled asparagus and potatoes as well. Tremendous. I timed everything perfectly. I got the chicken on the grill during the second quarter of the game. By the time half time started I put the veggies on, and as the second half got underway, everything finished cooking. Absolutely perfect. I had a couple of fine Newcastle brown ales while I cooked.

My chicken sauce requires four ingredients: something spicy, something thick and viscous, something spreadable and/or sticky, and something sweet. Use these in roughly equal parts. For this one I used soy sauce, siracha, dijon mustard, and brown sugar. I brushed the asparagus with grape seed oil, course salt, and ground black pepper. I coated the potatoes with Old Bay seasoning and a little oil. And I tossed the broccoli with balsamic vinegar, grapeseed oil, salt, and pepper.

I use high heat on the left side and a lower flame underneath the food on the right side. Once something cooks, I move it over to the hot side to get a little char (if desired).

I sprinkled goat cheese on the broccoli. Amazing.

Cook the chicken slowly. It should take about 45 minutes for bone in thighs. Keep turning it over and spreading more sauce, over and over. You'll want to straight up lick the sauce by the time you finish cooking...

Enjoy....

Jesus Christ

The food I'm about to cook and eat is going to be so fucking good I might eat it and just kill myself. Oh my god...

JoeSoGarden Update -- Poppin' Off

The garden has really exploded over the last month. I need to reign in the tomatoes before they destroy the onions. The broccoli has sprouted nice, large, dense heads. The carrot row looks like a little forest, and the triangle plot got some transplants and a row of yellow and pink flowers. I've made mojitos twice with the mint. The cilantro has turned into coriander and the basil looks fantastic. Take a look!

broccoli head

broccoli plants

carrots

onions, crushed by tomato plants! 

cilantro, grown from seeds, very easy and fast

basil

cilantro from seedling that flowered into coriander (I guess?)

need to figure out how to handle those tomato plants in the middle/right...

the other little plot with some flowering plants

broccoli transplants from the other side ... need a splash of water

this will have yellow and orange flowers in the fall

mint for mojitos

New Batch of Candles!

I started working on a new batch of candles. I think my skills have reached the point where I can start giving them as gifts. I made an orange martini glass soy wax candle that came out really nice -- thanks Caitlinn! 

I made two lavender colored candles -- one with lavender oil for the scent and one with a lilac scent block. I made the lilac in a round, 4 inch wide glass candle jar and the lavender one in a 16 ounce mason jar. I think I will give the lavender candle to Silay-Sylanski as a baby congratulations gift. (EDIT: I ended up making a new one the next week, still lavender scented, for the baby (Lily), with an "L" bead on the bottom. This 'candle/lavender ' has come to be known as the 'calender.' 

I tried using a bead in the martini glass candle -- Cait's idea -- and that worked well. I put a wick in a mason jar with a C for the Corbetts. And then the wide lilac candle, which has a double wick, I might give to Jessica and Reed for getting married / buying a house. I used an "F" and an "M" since I know Reed from way back at WRCT 88.3fm Pittsburgh. 

beautiful pour, double wick

I made the wicks from my new beeline spool -- organic hemp wick dipped in beeswax. For the mason jars I actually tripled it -- I used three lengths of wick all twisted around itself. I think that will produce a nice, large flame and good burn. It might burn fast, but I think it will help produce a strong aroma. Maybe I should test one before giving them away. For the wider candle I doubled the wick and used two of them. That should make a nice pool in the middle, but I don't know if the flame will reach the sides and melt all the wax. We'll see. Unless I give them away, then I won't see. I will have to request pictures.

I melted the soy wax in a melting pot sitting in another pot with a little bit of hot/boiling water. Once it hit about 180 degrees, I added the dye and removed it from the heat. I let it cool to about 160 before adding the scent (or even lower if using liquid). Then I let it cool further to about 135 before pouring. The mason jar  and the martini glass required topping off while the wider candle filled perfectly with one pour.