5. Mock Prime Rib

I saw a really tempting recipe on America's Test Kitchen TV show the other day, slow-roasted beef. They roasted the meat in an indoor oven, but I wanted to push the envelope a bit and try it on the Weber grill.

You start out with a relatively cheap piece of meat, the eye of round roast. We bought a four pounder, cost about $10. This particular cut of beef has very little fat and if not cooked right can easily end up to be a tough, dried out piece of shoe leather. However, the Test Kitchen claimed that with their method, you would end up with a tasty, juicy roast.

Let's just see, shall we?

Above you see the roast as it is first set on the grill over indirect heat. The grill has very little charcoal in it and is running at a low, low temp, 225 degrees. Twenty-four hours ago I dry rubbed the roast with Kosher salt. Just before placing on the grill I rubbed it with oil and pepper and seared it on all sides in a smoking hot cast iron frypan.

While the roast lazily cooked on the grill, Chunky whipped the daylights out of some heavy cream.The whipped cream will be combined with horseradish to make a topping for the sliced beef.

After a few hours in the grill, that bad boy finally came up to temp.I know, I know...it doesn't look all that different from the first pic. But inside you might see a little difference...the internal temp is now 130 degrees, medium rare. Time to tent and rest for a 15 minutes or so before slicing.

Oh my, my, my...this is looking pretty amazing.

Yup.

It was outstanding...believe it or not, it tasted just like prime rib. We will definitely be adding this little gem to our bag of BBQ tricks. And I can't even talk about the horseradish sauce without my mouth watering. That stuff would be good on anything!!!

4. Fun, Fun 4th of July

We were thrilled to receive an invite to Patti and Brad's house to celebrate Independence Day with the traditional backyard barbecue. We met up with Genie and Kathy and headed out to enjoy the day.

Patti and Brad had quite the appetizer spread to enjoy while we waited for the rain to subside. We had vege's and dip, and incredible deviled eggs that Kathy made.

Then Patti got the bar going with a new cocktail for the occasion. It was a delicious, refreshing drink with tequila, pineapple juice, lime juice and who knows what else!

Patti and Brad have a backyard that takes your breath away. Take a look at the view from the livingroom.

Thank goodness the rain let up and we were able to get outside and enjoy it.

As you can see above, Brad has a great trick to quickdry the sitting area...a leaf blower!

While Brad was working outside, we continued to chow on the appy's inside.

They were so tasty.

Then we were treated to Brad and Patti's fantastic backyard sanctuary.

Here is Brad giving Chunky a little tour.

While Genie got to work grilling the hamburgers.

Man, they smelled so good!

Evidently, my job was to sit back and enjoy.

It was just so relaxing. Chunky and Brad were also laying back and enjoying the scenery.

While Kathy and Patti put the finishing touches on a meal fit for kings.

We had burgers, baked beans, a beautiful tortellini/tomato/spinach salad, salami/mozz cheese/tomato basil skewers, chips, and more of the before mentioned deviled eggs and veges/dip. Wow! And I didn't even get a pic of the beautiful Margarita pie that Patti made...it disappeared!

All this food was made even better eaten in this lovely setting.What more could you ask for?

After dinner Brad's twin showed up.

A scarecrow that he made in his own image...a little mini-me for Brad.

Oh, and we can't forget the token doggie at the party.Brad and Patti's sweet, friendly black lab, Chance. What a dog...and quite the Frisbee player.

Oh, and in addition to the beautiful flower garden, Brad also has a vege garden.

Imagine all the goodies this little plot will produce!

Now, here is something I have never heard of.

That is a little vial of coyote urine hanging in the garden. It's supposed to deter rabbits...um, ok.

Now, it is time for the traditional group pic.

In the first attempt above it looks like I am being goosed, and Chunky resembles a centaur from Greek mythology. I think I can do better.

Ok, that is much better.

But now, it IS Independence Day and what is the 4th without fireworks? So off we went to the Mississippi River to check out the display.

Above you see the river looking upstream from downtown St. Paul, and below downstream.

Soon, we had a few sidewalk fireworks to entertain us until the real show began.

It was fun to watch the boats start coming to see the show.
Brad was on the lookout.

A few people had their stars and stripes a'showin.

The Circ De Soleil is in town.

Their tents made quite an impressive presence by the river.

Genie and Chunky chose the comfort of the car to wait out the fireworks.

Comfortable indeed, but they missed out on the great boat parade.

Below you see my favorite.

Now that's a pretty nice little piece of equipment there.

Finally darkness descends and the fireworks begin in earnest.

With all the traditional oooh's and aaah's.

It really was a perfect night to take the family out and enjoy the show.

Lots of folks sitting on their blankets and lawn chairs checking out the festivities.As you can see the photo below, Brad is goo-goo eyed with excitement.

Thank God Patti is there to keep him calm.

It really was a pretty good show...and the evening could not have been more beautiful.

Even the little sparklers added to the ambiance.

But the fireworks weren't confined just to the riverbank. On the drive home we saw fireworks bursting in the sky all over the city...along with a smoky haze blanketing it.

This was the view from our very own front yard when we got home.

Indeed, it was a fun, fun 4th!

3. Paint Job

One of the projects slated for this summer was painting the garage door and window trim on the house. Bah!!!

Step by step, day by day, we plodded away this grueling task. Below you see the house after scraping and sanding the old paint. We also have the blue painter's tape on the windows, ready for primer.

The white paint we slathered on was like thick marshmallow creme...two coats!

But, I have to say, the end result looks pretty good.

Bright and shiny new.

Our only hope is that this paintjob lasts years and years...and years...and years...

1. Joseph's Grill Lunchdate

I had a delightful lunchdate today.
It was so much fun to catch up with Julie and Ali, a couple good friends from SPPD. It's wonderful to have so many friends that I still connect with after being retired over four years. The laughs and stories come as easily as if we still see eachother everyday.

Oh, and the food was great. I had a pasta dish called country tortellini straw and hay. Holy moly, it was delicious and the serving was gigantic. I took the leftovers home and should gotten about 4 more meals out of it. Unfortunately, I had no will power, stuffed myself and polished it off that night for dinner!

27. Breakfast Barbecue

During the summer we usually sleep on the porch. Last night was no exception. We woke up to a lovely rainstorm this morning, which always smells so fabulous. As we were languishing in bed enjoying the rain, suddenly we heard a "BOOM" and most of the electronic devices in the house beeped. Obviously, we lost a transformer somewhere in the neighborhood and had lost power.

Now, today is Saturday and anyone who knows Chunky knows that this is the day he really enjoys a pancake breakfast and Bailey's in his morning coffee.

One might think this could be tough to accomplish without electricity. But not for us! I ran to McDonald's and got a big cup of coffee for Chunky, and he fired up the grill.
Out came the old cast iron griddle and viola...

Pancakes!

Then, I tossed the sausage that we smoked last night on the hot griddle.

And, last but not least...

...a couple fried eggs. Breakfast is served.

Oh, it was at this exact time, that everything in the house beeped signalling that the power had been restored...of course!

26. Black & Blue Beer & Barbecue

Another beautiful Minnesota summer day. We were enjoying the backyard and asked our neighbors, Brian and Staci over to hang out with us.

Brian brought over some beer and introduced Chunky to a new concoction called a Black and Blue. First, you pour a half glass of Blue Moon beer.
Then you carefully top off the glass with the dark Guinness Draught poured over a spoon (or knife in this case) to keep it separate from the lighter Blue Moon.

And voila!

A perfect Black and Blue.

Chunky got quite a kick out of it...and said it was really tasty , too.

Along with Brian and Staci, our favorite canine buddies came over, too.

Above you see Brian trying to convince Mickey to relax and enjoy the festivities. She is never quite as comfortable visiting as her brother is.

Pe-nut, as you can see here, loves hanging around his "second" home.

Even likes to try on Chunky's flip-flops sometimes.

Soon, it was time to fire up the grill.

Today, we tried a little something that our buddy, John from Memphis, gave us.

See the bottle of spices above? This is what John sent to us and, just as instructed, we combined it with the other ingredients shown to make a marinade. John said it was great for shrimp and/or chicken. So we tried it on both.

We ended up grilling a storm...chicken, shrimp, sausage fatties, even antelope.

Above you see the shrimp...along with antelope that Brian brought over. Everything was delicious. Brian said it was the best grilled shrimp he's ever had.

Even Pe-nut enjoyed some of his favorite Pupperoni.

We ended up having a delightful, impromptu evening with great food and even better friends.

Thanks Brian and Staci!

25. Backyard Sanctuary

It was a beautiful day today and we were so happy to be able to enjoy it right in our own backyard.
Chunky is having his favorite snack of poppers and a beer. And then he was lured to his favorite spot.

Yes, a little hammock time was in order. See the red lawn mower in the background? Chunky actually earned his hammock time today!