Pretty simple…we have been cranking sausage! We decided around Christmas to make family and friends homemade kielbasa and did it right out of our clean garage. We made around 70lbs and had so much fun doing it we have decided to bring it to fruition. We are now licensed and operating out of Uptown Kitchen in Eastown (gosh that sounds a hell of a lot easier than it has been). Uptown Kitchen is a certified incubator kitchen which provides small, local businesses such as Basil’s Choice an opportunity to soar above your dreams. To learn more about Uptown, click on the link. http://uptownkitchengr.com/

Starting up Basil’s Choice has been fun, exciting and a challenge all at the same time. My brother and I have committed to keeping this new adventure FUN because without the fun factor there is no point in slangin’ meat and would probably just end up being a headache. We have been accepted to sell in the new Downtown Urban Market and will be there hopefully in the next few weeks. As we finish up our production process, label/packaging details and our website launch we hope to dominate your summer grills with our mouthwatering wieners (Sorry, I had to…because it is hilarious).

There will be other opportunities for us to sell our meat. Unfortunately, until our recipes are USDA approved we are unable to ship the meat directly to you. You will still be able to place your order online at our store, but the pick up location will be at the Urban Market downtown.

Here is a really cool article from the NY Times on what is about to change Grand Rapids all together and introduce some really great local businesses. We all know or hope you all know that in this city all it takes to succeed is passion, a little time and a ton of motivation. If you are lucky enough to have people on your side and on your team to support your visions and dreams then you can make anything happen! http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/14/realestate/commercial/grand-rapids-mich-bets-on-a-food-market-for-growth.html?_r=0

Patrick and I are extremely passionate about our product and the ingredients that go into it. We will use as much local products as we can all the way down to the freshly clipped basil that is in the Spicy & Mild Italian as well as the Greek sausages. For example, we are partnering up with Jacob’s Acres, a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) that launched in 2012. Their goal is to connect community through food. They proudly feature both greenhouse and soil grown fruits and vegetables at next-to-nothing prices. They will also be hosting dinners throughout the summer at their beautiful location…what would be better then eating amongst the food that was planted for your dinner?! Nothing…that is why I will be the first to book. If you are interested in a CSA or a dinner event, contact jacobsacres2013@gmail.com

Clearly this blog/update was going to be short, but I got long winded…shocker!

Stay tuned for our website launch and our first date at the market. We will also be providing recipes through our CREATE blog as well as Pinterest.

We appreciate you so very much and can’t wait for your feedback and support!

Yours Truly,

Wild Wieners

Mike, owner of Doorganics, didn’t want to stop at just produce. He wanted to take the deliveries and experience to a whole new level by teaming up with local folks who share the same passion as him to provide other products as well. Genius, right? The one that excites me the most at this moment is Pheasant Ridge Farms located in Freemont, Michigan.

I had the pleasure of meeting with Dennis last week to discuss his farm and operations and let me tell you, I left that meeting with my head spinning. Talk about a man with a buffet of knowledge. Dennis is a financial advisor by day and farmer by night. His “therapy” comes when Friday morning rises. He has a serious passion for providing his family and community with the best products. His 150 plus acre farm only has plans to get bigger. Their mission is to produce all-natural, chemical-free, delicious and nutritious meat and produce to their customers.  Providing their family with healthy, great tasting meals has always been a priority for them - they are thrilled to share the incredible flavor and quality of their farm fresh products with others!

Here is a neat little recipe that incorporates Doorganics produce and Pheasant Ridge Farms chicken. Stay tuned for more exciting collaborations in the near future…

Balsamic Pheasant Ridge Chicken with Fresh Tomatoes

• 4 Pheasant Ridge Chicken Breast (order online with Doorganics)
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 cups fresh tomatoes, diced
• 2 tablespoons freshly chopped olives (any kind, any mixture)
• ½ onion, diced
• ¼ cup any white wine (the rest is for your drinking pleasure!)
• ¼ cup balsamic vinegar
• 3 cups spinach, washed thoroughly & dried
• 1 tablespoon fresh basil (1 teaspoon dried)
• 1 ½ tablespoon olive oil for pan
• ¼ cup feta cheese
• Salt & pepper to taste

Heat your skillet and drizzle olive oil into pan.

Sauté garlic, onion and basil for 5-7 minutes.

Flatten chicken breasts to about ½ inch thick. Sprinkle with salt & pepper. Sear each side for about 5-6 minutes or until golden brown. When your chicken is on the last side and seared, add tomatoes, vinegar, olives and vino. Let that cook for 5 minutes, you want to see the tomatoes and vinegar “cook down.”

Dress your plate with fresh spinach, followed with tomato reduction, chicken and a little more tomato goodness! Oh wait…don’t forget sprinkling with fresh feta cheese!

Go to www.doorganicsgr.com to sign up for your first delivery! Boom!

Cheers my friends to eating healthy & country livin!

Above and beyond how 2012 closed out, today I felt inspired for the first time in 2013 to write a blog. Can you even imagine or guess what made me feel elated to come home and write a bountiful blog…it’s about a damn burrito? Ladies and gentlemen this is not just ANY burrito, this burrito is the king and queen of all burritos I may have ever tasted. I must give George Aquino and my sister Emily a huge shout out for leading me there. One may think…how hard is it to make a damn burrito, right?! Well La Taqueria San Jose located at 1338 South Division will put any local authentic burrito to shame and definitely has a couple secrets they shouldn’t share. Please do not be alarmed by the less than charming restaurant…you must accept it for what it is and what it looks like because the flavor of the steak burrito I had was well worth every bite. San Jose is a locally owned restaurant where it was clear that the service (the family) was hard at work in the small kitchen in back to accommodate the packed joint…the word is definitely getting out there…so hurry up and order one!

San Jose Burrito – YUM!

While we were at San Jose a guy asked us if he could take our picture as we were ordering…of course I said “sure.” I knew this was going to be a cool thing. So as conversation proceeded we learned about a new magazine that launched as of this January called Flavor 616.  A magazine that solely focuses on the love for local food, beer, wine and whatever. It is a stunning magazine…the quality of the paper, the colors, along with the honest articles leaving your taste buds wanting a little more. While there are some advertisements, the guts of the magazine is actually about food, local success stories, future up and comings. It sure beats any local magazine I have yet to see. It was quite comical because as we sat there not speaking a word while eating our delicious burritos and flipping through Flavor 616, we managed to comment every so often or with our mouths full because we were experiencing two really great things collided…a burrito and kick ass magazine!

amazing new local magazine

The feel and edginess to the magazine is very tasty & complimentaty.  As we try to move Grand Rapids into a more free-spirited surrounding, we must continue to actually implement the edginess and wild beginnings, such as “food porn” articles or outside the box approaches to local food. There is clearly no shortage to food news, so why not thrive on it and make it contagious. Food, wine and beer are so exciting, it is what brings us together at the end of the day and it isn’t going away! www.flavor616.com

2013 is going to be a great year, I can feel it in my bones. There are going to be exciting and innovative “things” popping up all over the city…we have a desire and duty to keep it going.

Check out both San Jose and Flavor 616. Trust me, you won’t regret it.

Cheers my people ~ it is going to be a wild and spicy ride. Live-Your-Dash.

Ass Lit Fire

A bonus to a stew is that you can whip it up fairly fast, throw it into one cooking pot and forget about it for awhile. You can do a stew on the stove or in the oven, in my opinion it is a personal preference. I chose the oven today for no reason other than I needed to make a decision…probably the most difficult decision I have to make today, so oven it is!

Freshly Chopped Veggies

To accompany the stew, I love a fresh loaf of french baguette to dip into the saucy stew…super delicious. My favorite bread is from Nantucket by Martha’s Vineyard or Wealthy Street Bakery on Wealthy.

The recipe below serves 10, so I would either cut it in half, eat it for leftovers or freeze it for another chilly day!

Ingredients

• 4 pounds beef chuck, cut into 1 1/2-inch cubes
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 cans (6 ounces each) tomato paste
• 2 1/2 pounds new potatoes, scrubbed
• 3 stalks celery, quartered
• 2 medium onions, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 2 cans (14 1/2 ounces each) reduced-sodium beef broth
• 1 can (14.9 ounces) brown ale beer
• 10 garlic cloves, sliced
• 1 fresh sprig rosemary and thyme
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 2 boxes (10 ounces each) frozen baby peas, thawed

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350. In a 5-quart Dutch oven or heavy pot, toss beef with flour; stir in tomato paste. Add potatoes, onions, broth, beer, and garlic; season with salt and pepper. Cover, and bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally.
2. Transfer pot to oven, and cook, covered, until meat is fork-tender, 2 1/2 to 3 hours. Stir in peas, and season with salt and pepper.

Steamy Stew

Well ya’ll, have an enjoyable evening…wrap up and stew on!

With all my love,

Ale Brown

There were a couple reasons as to why I baked this special pie…#1 Char Morse who I briefly worked with on the Silver Spork inspired me to bake one. She has been baking pies for 15 plus years, put herself through culinary school later in life and really hits it home with her pie, homemade whip cream and caramel sauce…so that is the number one reason. #2…it was family dinner and Kyle’s parents have been working hard to take care of close family members in time of need so we offered to cook dinner & dessert for them so they could come home from the hospital to a hot meal and a pie that would just take you to a level of comfort and togetherness. (I think it worked…I know it did for me because I ended up sleeping on the couch for a while)

The apple pie is to be believed as an American dessert staple…clearly they based a pretty hysterical movie on it, but beyond that, apple pie is a tasty token of comfort, warmth and sweetness, something you surely want to share with family. I must admit that I do feel a little guilty that I haven’t made one for the Peters family yet this year, so their turn is next for sure!

Although the pie was a success, I have to give props to William Sonoma for providing the recipe! I had no idea which apple pie was the “best” on the internet, so I went off of a friends referral and it WORKED!

It took me quite a while to make dough, filling, whip cream and caramel sauce…but with the help of my Sous Chef Kyle, we worked at it together…so grab a friend and bake a damn pie…it’s worth it!

Ingredients:

For the dough:

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 tsp. granulated sugar
• 16 Tbs. (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch dice
• 3 to 4 Tbs. ice water

For the filling:

• 2 lb. Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and cut into slices 1/4 inch   thick
• 2 lb. Pink Lady apples, peeled, cored and cut into slices 1/4 inch thick
• 1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
• 4 tsp. cornstarch
• 1 Tbs. fresh lemon juice
• 2 Tbs. cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 1 egg white, beaten with 1 tsp. water
• 2 tsp. granulated sugar

Directions:

Beets are totally underrated and are making a comeback in the restaurant & home world. Beets are everywhere and they are more beautiful than ever. You will see beets used in salads as the main spotlight, soups, pickled beets to accompany a dish, beet tapenade, stuffed beets, beet juice, beet sauce and crazily enough beets made into wine. Beets have a rustic, earthy flavor, but also has a unique sweetness to it. To me they almost taste like candy, in fact there is such a thing as a candy beet and they are so pretty and so tasty! Don’t let the rustic, earthy flavor scare you off…it is from the ground ya know. Embrace it because beets are so very good for you and your body!

Sweet & Savory Beet Soup

• 1 bunch beets boiled, peeled and cubed
• 1/2 red onion diced
• 2 cloves garlic chopped
• 1/2 red pepper diced
• 2 cups low sodium chicken broth
• 1 tablespoon fresh parsley
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon all spice
• salt and pepper to taste.
• 1/4 lemon squeezed
• 6 ounces light  cream cheese
• 2 ounces goat cheese

* Cook the beets by boiling them for 20-25 minutes or until soft. Make sure you wash and cut off the greens. You can pre cook them, mine have been cooked in the fridge for 2 days. Once you cook them, let them cool then take a paring knife and gently peel off the skin.

* Saute onion, red pepper and garlic for 7-10 minutes. Add your spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, fresh parsley, salt and pepper) and chicken broth. Squeeze your quartered lemon making sure there are no seeds in it. Let simmer together for 20 minutes. Then let cool for about 10-15 minutes before blending.

* Bust out the blender or food processor. Add your soup to the blender and pulse a few times. Then add your cream cheese and goat cheese and pulse or blend until smooth. Pour into bowl and top with some more goat cheese! Why not right?!

As I was raiding our fridge to come up with ingredients, I was also creating this blog…so of course I was tasting as I was making headway, typing, chopping, typing, stirring, adjusting, stirring…well you get the picture. As I sit here and finish the blog I have been sidetracked with a small bowl of this delicious beet soup! I will admit that I had an out loud moment with myself about the flavors, color and texture of this soup. I surely wish someone was around right now to taste and share in my excitement! There is something about adding cinnamon and all spice to dishes…it SCREAMS fall…then finishing it off with a little goat cheese, life just doesn’t get any better! Well I could say it is better than sex, but I would be lying…however it does come in a close second though! A warm, rich, healthy soup that leaves you wanting more…I would say is a success. If that doesn’t make you want to cook it, then I wouldn’t know what would!

If you make it…savor it and share it!

Enjoy this beautiful fall weather.

Betty the Beet

Here is the recipe below! Enjoy!

Quick Tomato Sauce

• 1 quart tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste (optional)
• 1 small onion
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 hot peppers
• 1 tablespoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• black pepper to taste

* heat saucepan with olive oil, add onion, pepper and garlic and saute for about 5-7 minutes.

* add tomatoes, basil, salt and pepper and cook for about 20 minutes. if it is too runny then add a tablespoon of tomato paste.

Lasagna

• 1 spaghetti squash, cook accordingly (http://www.food.com/recipe/how-to-cook-spaghetti-squash-77554)
• 1 large yellow squash or 2 small
• 1 pepper, yellow, red, green or whatever you desire
• 2 cups mozzarella cheese
• 1/4 cup goat cheese
• sliced green olives

* lube up a 9×13 glass pan with olive oil. layer the bottom with your yellow squash (reserving some for another layer). then layer with spaghetti squash, tomato sauce, half mozzarella cheese. repeat layers until you are out of goodies.

* top it with goat cheese and sliced olives

* bake at 375 for 30 minutes, then broil on hi for about 5 minutes to give you a bubbly, golden topping.

* let cool for about 10 minutes…ENJOY! (I just had a little bowl…and WOW…what an explosion of flavors)

A little tip with the spaghetti squash…I cooked mine on Monday morning and just using it now. It is nice to cook it in advance so you don’t feel like you are spending a lot of time on it at once. Also, do not be shy about adding WHATEVER you want to this…add meat, add eggplant, add carrot…shoot…add bacon if you want! Ha. Whatever you do, have fun and enjoy it with a glass of wine. You deserve it!

Mange Amico Mio!

Yesterday we spent all afternoon canning tomatoes and salsa at the Dressanders. It was a great (long) day sans Patrick’s quick trip to Urgent Care for some stitches. Well come on…it wouldn’t be a good time if someone doesn’t visit Urgent Care in this crew…I was just really glad it wasn’t me for once. Ha! However, I didn’t go unscathed. I was in charge of chopping the hot peppers, all the way down to those little pumpkins, I mean habaneros. Until this morning, my hands were feeling the rage that those damn things bring to the table. As the chopping continued and the blood bath cleaned up…Grandma Dressander was sitting across from me just ROCKIN out onions…no tears, no coughs, no complaints…just blazin through. It was clear this wasn’t her first rodeo. We had the chance to chat a little bit one on one and let me tell you that she is one sharp woman. She grew up on a farm out in Marne where they canned just about everything that came across their table. During those times, there was no such thing as waste, especially during the Depression. I asked her if she ever had people come onto their farm begging for food during the Depression and she said “Yes, whatever we had leftover we would just give away to the poor.” She made it clear that despite the hard times they always made sure the family was taken care of. They canned EVERYTHING. Six hours yesterday gave us 60 plus cans…can you imagine canning full time? Such a fascinating time in life that I would never want to experience myself. We canned yesterday for “fun” so we could have delicious tomatoes throughout winter, but Grandma Dressander canned to utilize all that was coming off the farm, to feed 10 plus family members. There is such a huge, fascinating difference that could really create a cool story. It was really neat that she was there…91 years old…the Chief of the party.

This weekend we are competing in the 31st annual Cottage Bar Chili Cook Off downtown on LaGrave. You better believe we will be using some of these tomatoes. The blood, sweat and tears that went into them (not literally) will be enjoyed with each bite of red, rich chili! Three Bros and a Chili Ho are back for the 2nd time and we are coming back with a recipe that should please not only the people, but the judges that hide themselves back in the kitchen. I am curious to see how this year turns out…it should be a really great time. I encourage you to come down and visit us! It starts at 12:00 and tasting starts at 3:00…live music, chili and cold beer.

Once the competition is over, I will provide you with our chili recipe! Speaking of CHILLY…this morning was 46 degrees. Alrighty…let’s get to it. Why not right? So I kicked it off with a Kale & Potato soup that will be delicious all week long. This recipe does not have meat in it, but I would encourage you to add some spicy turkey sausage to take it to the next level if you so desire.

Potato & Kale Soup (serves 6)

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 onion, diced
• 3/4 cup diced carrot
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 2 cups water
• 1 cup white wine
• 3 potatoes, halved and sliced
• 1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
• 1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh sage
• 1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
• 1 (16 ounce) can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
• 2 cups finely chopped kale leaves
• 1  small red chile pepper, seeded and chopped fine
• ground black pepper to taste

* Heat the olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat; cook and stir the onion until softened and translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir in the carrot and garlic, and cook for 5 minutes more.

* Pour in the chicken broth, water, and white wine; stir in the potatoes, rosemary, sage, and thyme. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes. Add the cannellini beans, kale, chile pepper, and black pepper, and simmer, covered, for 30 more minutes.

* Top with freshly grated parmesan (optional, but why wouldn’t you?)

Everyone enjoy your week…do something different!

Each time an opportunity comes around to get to know his family more I am eager to accept just as he would with mine. We all know that half the battle to a successful relationship is getting along with the in-laws, so I feel very blessed & fortunate that we all are a perfect fit for each other. Everyone is so friendly, inviting and warm…as if I have known them my whole life. Their door is never locked and if it ever were they would tell me to break a window that could be fixed later.

When we arrived to the lake we unloaded our bags and headed down to the beach where there were about 15 family members clapping and wooting our arrival. A tunnel was formed for the soon to be newlyweds (still so weird to say) that we floated through the tunnel to blaze out on the other end with smiles, hugs and kisses and his dad saying “it’s about time” as if we have been together forever. But that is the funny thing, I feel like Kyle and I have somehow known each other for a very long time…like we have been working on other things each day of our separate lives so that the timing would be perfect…and the timing would be right. If you ask my parent’s they will tell you that I am not the most patient person, that I have always been “on the go” and while this is all true, I believe that was the only way to get to Kyle. Kyle was the piece that was missing…he is the patient to my impatient, he is balance to my unbalance, he is the right and I am the left. You can see the different pieces that make up Kyle…not only is he his own self, but he is everyone around him. The bits and pieces that make him his own man are a sure tale of a very fortunate life he has lived.

Ok, ok…enough of the mish, mash and mush. Now just envision the summer sun is casting upon us, the waves crashing endlessly and the specialty cocktails are overflowing. It is sure fit to be a good time! It is so easy to lose track of time when you are lake livin…which is fine by me! To forget about the day to day and just enjoy the moment is enough for me to say “pour me another!” Ha. As we all know, time moves quickly, as much as we try to slow it down and enjoy, it just sails on. The night crept quickly and the darkness set in. The campfire was blazin and the black sky was asking for some light. If you don’t know where I am headed…see the picture below. Uncle Dan and Uncle Brad thought it would only be appropriate to light off what seemed to be better than Grand Rapids 4th of July Fireworks. It was about a ten to twelve minute show of ear plugging, heart throbbing booms. For ya’ll who know me, you know that if there were a bed around I would be under it! However, I had to man up and be calm in front of my new family! As the show went on, you could hear claps and cheers all the way down the lake shore…it was clear we were entertaining quite a crowd. With the grand finale only to be obvious it led us into late night, what I like to call, “solving world problems” chatter around the fire. You know who you are and I know where to find you. Haha…in all seriousness night one was unstoppable…a force to reckon with. It was one for the books.

As the morning rolled around my mind was already racing about what was going to be cooking for Sunday. Kyle and I trucked up a TON of veggies…I mean a TON. Our whole cooler was full of JUST VEGGIES. I had one goal with those veggies…and that was to cook & eat the livin begeegus out of them. As you are aware, we have a co-op garden on my sister and brother-in-laws land a little north of Grand Rapids. Each year we get better and better as a team and produce all organic vegetables to enjoy throughout the summer & fall. This year has been absolutely crazy! I harvested for almost 3 hours last week and had so much to bring home with me I was overwhelmed. I spent an additional 2.5 hours that afternoon washing the dirt off, drying and putting them into storage containers. As I was washing the produce a pain of guilt came over me as I was using all the water to wash the vegetables…I was using so much water so that I could provide clean vegetables for whoever enjoyed them. Images of children and women came into my mind…the children and women that would do anything for that water going down the drain and anything to eat a bountiful amount of dirty vegetables. It was such an overwhelming feeling that I then thought to myself…I really need to make sure that when these are eaten, they are appreciated…and I am pleased to say they were definitely appreciated. We are so blessed and so fortunate to have the amount of food that we have that it was only fair to enjoy them the best we could!

Some say that may be a little over the top, a little dramatic, but it is a reality…a reality we all to often dismiss and forget about. With that said I was so over joyed that when Sunday dinner time came around at the cottage and a little rain started to drop that we all ended up in the kitchen, which is the BEST place to all be together in my opinion. I say if you can figure out how to all work together, throw a little music on, pour a little vino and dance the dance together…it will be a successful meal no matter how it tastes. Needless to say – the meal was FANTASTIC. Everyone’s hands were working together on something and I think that is so cool and so authentic. If you could bottle that up and sell it, you would be set for life…a life full of happiness that is….nothing less than that.

So this is a FOOD BLOG, right peoples?! Well I enjoy telling the story first…and although I am not going to fully recap our meal into a recipe (because I usually forget half the time the ingredients I use) I will leave you with a simple way to use eggplant, mushrooms and onions…a great way to top an already mouth watering steak that was provided by Jack Sr. I must provide a clear & loud shout out to Jack Sr., because it is rare that someone knows how to cook a steak properly…I get the hot sweats when other people cook my meat. It is something that I continually work on as an individual, to step back from my title of being “The Boss” as my dearest friends call me when I am in the kitchen to the person that is simply supposed to enjoy the meat being cooked for me…but MAN, those were some of the best steaks I have had in a LONG, LONG time. Cooked to perfection, seasoned well and timed perfectly. Difficult to do, but simply AN ART FORM!

Blue Cheese Shrooms & Eggplant

• 1 eggplant diced
• 1 package mushrooms, sliced
• 4 small onions, sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/4 cup table red wine
• 1/2 cup blue cheese crumbles
• 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped

* Heat a skillet with olive oil, add onions and garlic, saute for about 5 minutes or until onions are translucent and soft. Add mushrooms and eggplant and cook for additional 10 to 12 minutes.

* Add your wine and reduce for about 5 minutes on a medium-low heat.

* 5 minutes before you are ready to eat, add parsley and blue cheese and stir in until melted. This will provide a creamy consistency your buds are sure to drool over.

* Pile on your steak!

Again, thanks everyone for such an unforgettable weekend! A special thanks to the Bowen’s for opening their home for us to enjoy! I am really looking forward to future gatherings and spending more time together. Everyone be safe this holiday weekend and enjoy the last bit of summer sun…it is coming to a close quickly.

Signing out with all my heart…

The Future Mrs. Erin Marie Dressander

The smoking began around noon, a tad late than it was supposed to, but nonetheless the meat was spiced up and thrown on its home right as the first beer was cracked I am certain. I was at work when a trio of men threw on their aprons and got to cookin. I was really excited to make it home around 3 o’clock because I knew that I would pull up to the driveway and it would be taken over by manliness…meaning smokers, grills, coolers, chairs and a simple game of bags. Clearly when God made men, he made them in a simple form…chair for when they get lazy, beer for when they get thirsty and a grill for when they get hungry. I won’t even go into the needs of women because we all know I wouldn’t have enough room to write.

From left to right above are your cooks for the day…Patrick on the salmon, Nick on the ribs and Kyle on the wannnngs! For these men, they needed their own task, their own meat…(Tim Allen grunt)…that is how they “compete.” All kidding aside, it was a fun day! It was a nice blend of family and friends. The weather conditions were perfect and the music was thrown back to Phil Collins era…so life was good, finger lickin good.

Every time one of the cooks opened a smoker (which was on a timer) we were all there to ohhhh and ahhhh over the progression it had taken from the previous 30-45 minutes. They made us drool for about 6 hours until everything was ready to be pulled off.

It was a day and night to remember…there is nothing like an all day event ended with a game of euchre, laughter and that one last beer. The food turned out amazing…everything was smoky, homemade and made with love. A special thanks to Kyle, Patrick and Nick for manning the smokers, making the rubs, sauces and most importantly spending time with each other. Also, thanks to everyone for coming…Mia, Pat, Michael, Jamel, Bobby, Heather, Mike, Kate, Nate and Isaac. We were missing some important crew members, but we raised a toast to the ones that were celebrating life elsewhere.

Looking forward to the next get together!

Smoke on man, smoke on.