The weekend

I spent so much time in the night fooling around in the garage with Scruffy that, after I went back to bed, I didn't wake up until after 9:00 AM on Saturday. I put on a pot of coffee and posted the Blog.

I decided to focus today on cleaning the house rather than on the lawn, so that's what I did. I did take out the two pork loins I had thawed out and gave them a quick dry rub of seasoning. Now I doubled the recipe, but here's what I mixed up: One teaspoon garlic powder, one teaspoon of dried oregano, one teaspoon ground cumin, one teaspoon ground coriander, one teaspoon dried thyme, salt and minced garlic. I cut off four one-inch chunks for boneless pork chops (later) and rubbed down the rest. I put them into a plastic baggie to cure and smoke later.

Oddly enough, I never felt hungry, so I never made any food on Saturday. I also kept all the windows open (but with the security guards on and the furnace off). I was reveling in the fresh air! I took a short nap, but woke up with thunder and lightning. It was a quick storm and I didn't have to close any windows.

I quit working around 7:00 PM and watched the end of Cutthroat Island. Then I started in on the taped Saturday morning cooking shows. I filled in the little hungry spot in my belly with some pretzel sticks. I went to sleep about 10:00 PM.

I woke up on Sunday morning, starving! So, I had a cup of coffee and heated up a can of roast beef hash. I plated that and topped it with two over-easy eggs.

I went out and fired up the grill. I pulled off two grille grates and, when the charcoal chimney was red hot, I dumped the charcoal into the bottom grate.

Next I put some mesquite wood chips into a bucket of water. When they were thoroughly soaked, I threw some of them on top of the hot coals. Then I put the 1 1/2 lengths of the rubbed pork loins onto the grates at the other end of the grille to smoke over indirect heat.

I stuck my thermometer into the biggest chunk of pork loin and set the alarm for 145 degrees F. Back inside, I opened up two pounds of ground hamburger and mixed it with Emerild's essence and a chopped Vidalia onion.

When the alarm went off, I pulled the pork loins off. Then I grilled my hamburgers and one smoked sausage. I took them off and shut down the grille.

I watched my usual Sunday evening shows and went to bed at 10:00 PM.