Smokey Saturday

Hooked up the trailer and drove to Home Depot at 7:00 AM. Trailer was pretty bouncy and noisy. I had them cut the 4 x 8 sheet of � inch treated plywood in half. Thanks to Jake I have LOTS of straps, so securing the load to the trailer was easy. Treated myself to breakfast at the Coney Island next to Home Depot (I came to regret that, later).
Got the trailer back home (rode much better with just that little load on it, BTW), took a photo and posted it, unhitched it and pulled it in the garage.

Got to the barber's at 9:00 and got a haircut. I was sitting in the chair when I realized I need to use a bathroom (revenge of the breakfast) so when I was done, I drove back home instead of to Westborn, used the facilities, then went back to Westborn for the veggies I need for the pasta salad. I was standing in the checkout line when the revenge returned. So, I asked the checkout lady where the restroom was and could I leave my cart with her. Finally made it home and put the rotini (12 ounces of tri-color rotinin and 16 ounces of plain) into boiling water. At "Al Dente" I cold shocked it and put it in a big bowl in the fridge.

Next, I got the grill set up for indirect heat smoking. Put in an aluminum drip pan with some water in it covered by two grill sections at the end with the chimney. At the other end, I had charcoal lit, but no grill sections as I will need to keep adding the wet hickory chips and more charcoal. While that burned down, I prepared the turkey breasts. I brushed them both with corn oil, then completely covered one with Creole seasoning, and the other with my house seasoning (salt, pepper and garlic powder). When the charcoal was hot, I put them on the grill. I put in my instant read thermometer and found a problem! It said the internal temperature of a cold turkey breast was 194 degrees! Damn, this is the second one I've owned that has gone bad! Well, if I take the probe out, the juices will run out. So, I left it in and decided to use time as my guide, and when I thought it should be done (4 hours), I'll use my old-fashioned meat thermometer to check (I need 165 degrees internal temp).

So, back to the pasta salad (I want it nice and cold before we eat it). I diced up 4 scallions (white and green parts), sliced 6 fresh radishes, one whole seedless cucumber, cut into small chunks, diced two celery stalks, one yellow and one red bell pepper, diced, grated three carrots and added fresh parsley and garlic chives from my herb garden. Then I put in a big can of sliced black olives (juice and all), a cup and a half of shredded Parmesan cheese and a bottle of Italian dressing and tossed everything to coat it well. Covered the bowl with Saran Wrap and stuck it back in the fridge.

Oh, also, I went out and used my pitchfork to work up the horseshoe pits, in case we want to play outside later.

I started cleaning the house, but I have to keep checking on the grill through the open front door. Whenever I don't see smoke, I go out and add more wet hickory chips. I also had to add charcoal twice during the four hour smoke.

Jake and Carla showed up about 3:30, with a big sack of limes, a fifth of 100% agave tequila and the other fixings for making Margarita's. I checked the internal temp on the turkey, it was 180 degrees! I was worried I had cooked it too much and it would be dry, but Jake said it would be okay. So, I pulled them off and onto a cookie sheet, covered them with foil and put them in the oven on warm. Jake and Carla weren't hungry yet, so we postponed dinner for a while. We had some drinks and they told me of their Seattle adventures. More drinks, more adventures, etc., etc., etc.

Carla went out to roast the corn about 7:30 PM. Jake was busy doing something on the computer, so I laid on my bed, thinking a short nap might help... (you see where this is going, don't you?)

I woke up at 2:30 AM, wondering where everyone was and why I was so hungry. I checked the fridge, and there were two turkey breast carcasses, a hug bag of sliced turkey, my pasta bowl with a little bit of it gone and the untouched watermelon that was supposed to be dessert!

I ate some turkey (delicious, but I couldn't tell if it was the Creole or the regular) and a big bowl of pasta salad (good, but needed more salt and pepper) and then went back to sleep.