mess making, knuckle skinning and general creative chaos

Friday, January 02, 2009

Ribs-n-Wings

The BBQ with gas regulation was tested on New Year's Eve. I smoked spare ribs, wings/drummies and salmon.

I set the gas to keep heat at 235 and added soaked black oak and mesquite throughout. The ribs were on for about 4.5 hours(until the therm reading was 160) and the wings and salmon for about 9o minutes.

The wings I experimented with a honey-garlic glaze after a moderate dose of Deen's house seasoning (4 parts sea salt, 1 part black pepper, 1 part garlic powder). They were fall off the bone and out of your seat good.

The ribs were rubbed with my neighbor's pork rub, http://www.ceedawg.com/. FANTASTIC!

After having my mind blown by the chicken and ribs, the salmon was anticlimactic. I did a sea salt and OJ marinade and added a light sprinkle of house seasoning once it was in the smoker. I served it with lemon slices from the neighbors tree (had some left after making fresh lemonade.)

It is tough to follow the savory with such a mild-flavored bit like salmon. But, the missus was pleased and able to enjoy the smoker's offerings (she doesn't do pig, poultry or beef>>sniff, sigh.)

Shadow Puppets

Here is an example of some of my student's latest work.

This is the result of a unit on puppetry, specifically shadow puppets. We use a pair of overhead projectors for the light source and gel material to create the "backdrops". All puppets are card stock and dowel.

The greatest satisfaction as a theater teacher is seeing your student's work as an audience member; when I can sit back and watch them perform for an audience of strangers, without having to micro-manage or provide a "safety net," it is truly the best lesson to teach!

Script is original. Thanks for watching.