Smokenator 1000 Beef Brisket

Thanks to my new Smokenator 1000, I am able to get the kettle temperature below 250 F, welcome to flavour country!  If you have a Weber bbq, pick up one of these muthas!

Brisket begins

The finished product.  

I smoked the brisket with oak chunks I dug out of last year's firewood pile.  Don't believe everything 'purists' say, the smoke did not impart a bitter or weird flavour.  I was very pleased with the results, check out that smoke ring!  I'm glad I planned ahead and had the brisket marinating in the rub for 24 hours, great flavour.

When the recipe says 7-8 hour cooking time, they ain't kiddin'.  I smoked it for ~5 hours and had to finish it in the oven.  Lesson learned.  

What's on this weekend? Fireman's breakfasts! BBQ Chicken! Cold plates! Chowdah!

Our local firefighters have you covered for breakfast on both sides of the river this weekend.

The weather won't stop the Vogler's Cove chicken bbq on Saturday, bring your rubber boots and your appetite.  Hemford's got all things cool with their annual buffet salad supper.  Beat the sticky heat with a cold plate.

A mid-week chowder supper in Petite rounds out the offerings for this weekend, enjoy!

Thanks to Elizabeth for getting in touch with events in Port Medway!  I wish I had checked my email sooner, I missed all the events that happened last weekend. 50 lashes with a wet noodle for this blogger!  Check out their community site for info on upcoming events in August.  

Breakfasts

Saturday, July 20

Firemen's Breakfast, 

Petite Riviere fire hall,

8- 11 a.m. 

Full menu. Adults $7, children $3

Saturday, July 20

Riverport and District Firemen's Breakfast, 

7:30- 11:30 a.m., 

usual menu, $7 adults; $3 children 6- 12; children 5 and under free. 

Next breakfast August 3.

Community Events

Saturday, July 20
7 pm
Ami McKay reading from The Virgin Cure
More info here

Suppers

Saturday, July 20

CHICKEN BBQ,

Vogler's Cove Community Hall. 

3:30 p.m. until sold out. 

Rain or Shine. 

Adults, $8; Children 5-12, $4; under 5 free.

Sunday, July 21

Annual Buffet Salad Supper,

Hemford fire hall. 

Starting at 4 p.m. 

Wide variety of salads, ham, turkey salad, pepperoni and roast beef. And for dessert, fruit salad and cake. 

Adults $10, children (6-12) $3, under 5 free. 

Proceeds for the Hemford and District fire dept.

Wed., July 24

Seafood Chowder Supper,

Petite Riviere fire hall

4- 6:30 p.m. . 

Seafood chowder $12; corn chowder or vegetable soup $7; under 5 free. 

Homemade rolls and cakes with ice cream.

What's on this weekend? Mackerel Snappin'! Horse & ox pull! Variety Supper! Strawberries!

I hope you can get out and enjoy some of the classic Lun. County events on offer this weekend.  I have yet to attend the mackerel snappers picnic, but by all accounts it is a 'must attend' event.  I do love me some mackerel....

The Conquerall Mills horse/ox pull and variety supper is one of my perennial favourites.  If you love comfort food, this is the supper for you.  All the greatest hits will be there (i.e. swedish meatballs, chop suey, scalloped potatoes,etc.) and more!  

Decisions, decisions....have a great weekend!

Breakfasts

Saturday, July 13, 

St. Martin's Anglican Church hall, Martins River

7 - 11:30 a.m.

Scrambled eggs, baked beans, hash browns, pancakes, bacon or sausage, toast, tea, coffee or juice. 

Adults $7, 5-12 $3, under 5 free. Proceeds church maintenance.

Community Events

Saturday, July 13, Rain date July 14

Mackerel Snappers Picnic, 

Graves Island Provincial Park, near Chester. 

Noon until 6 pm . 

6 hours of Classic country Music: Featuring Coastline; Matt Balsor; Buddy Boutilier/Wilfred White; Ron Muise; Memory Lane; Newfound Country. Many others. 

Bingo, games of chance, raffles. 

Best ever Mackerel dinner with all the fixins. Variety of pies for dessert; 

$9 per plate. No admission. 

Come and bring a friend, don't forget your lawn chair. More information: 275-3645.

Suppers

July 13

Horse and Ox Pull,

Conquerall Mills community hall, 

weigh-in 9-11:30 a.m. Pull starts 12:30 p.m. Random prize draws for teamsters. 

Variety supper starting at 4:30 p.m.

Adults $9; children 5-12 $4; under 5 free.

Saturday, July 13. 

Strawberry Supper. 

Lapland & District Fire Hall 

4 p.m. 

Ham, beans, scalloped potatoes, potato salad, breads, cakes and strawberry shortcake or just berries. Adults $8.50, 12 and under $4, 5 and under free. Sponsored by Auxiliary.

July 14

Seafood and Corn Chowder Supper, 

LaHave fire hall,

4- 6:30 p.m. 

$12 (seafood) $7 (corn) 5 and under free.

First South Variety Supper: Table Cake Staging Area

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church

First South, NS

April 21, 2013

I mustered up the nerve to ask permission to take photos of the room where all the desserts were located.  The kind woman guarding the sweets room graciously accommodated my photo request.  After I took one shot she felt the need to tidy up the presentation.  I think she was surprised that I wanted to take a picture of her moving the cakes around.  I told her it was an 'action shot'.

So many delicious cakes.  I enjoyed my slice of carrot cake, though the nearby chocolate cake also looked excellent!

Have satin jacket, will travel

First South, NS

April 21, 2013

I'm glad I snapped this shot, it was a spur of the moment capture.  

I was headed towards the open door, in search of the washroom when I saw this couple heading for the parking lot.  They represented the majority of attendees at the variety supper.  Odds are pretty good they were driving a Buick. ^_^

Full English Breakfast: Glasgow Style

Glasgow, Scotland

June 28, 2013

A classic full English breakfast, served up in a neighbourhood greasy spoon.  

Here's what's on the plate (clockwise), starting with a lorne sausage at the bottom.  Yes, that square thing.  Tastes just like any other processed breakfast link/sausage you've ever tried but the meat was a bit coarser than links .  Next up is some breakfast ham, a greasy egg, baked beans in the middle, delicious blood pudding and a tattie scone.  The tattie scone and lorne sausage are apparently what makes this a Scottish version of a full English.  

The blood pudding tasted similar to our local Lunenburg pudding...basically lots of blood and spices to cover up the flavour of the blood.  The toast was thin and drenched in margarine.  No nutritional value in those soggy slabs, that's for sure.  Jamie Oliver would not be best pleased.

All in all, a great way to start a day of travel.  I think I read somewhere that you should eat a lot of protein before a flight...at least, that's what I kept telling myself as I scarfed it all down.

St. Norbert's Big Breakfast Review

Central United Church Hall

Lunenburg, NS

April 6, 2013

This was my second visit to the 'big breakfast'.  I decided to limit myself to a normal size breakfast (for once).  It was a brisk and chilly Saturday, though that didn't stop the crocuses from popping up around the entrance to the church hall.  Hopefully a harbinger of Spring 'proper'.

The hall was 2/3 full when we arrived, unfortunately we arrived just after ~10 other hungry breakfast'ers so it took a while to work through all of their orders before our food finally arrived.  No matter, this is a fundraiser after all!  While we waited, I took a couple shots of the space when the sun decided to come out and made for some nice light, like this one:

 Central United Church Hall

Lunenburg, NS

April 6, 2013

Eventually, our plates arrived and we dug in.  For those who are unaware of the menu selections, there's a reason they call this the big breakfast.  I could have ordered every type of eggs and pancakes and sausage and an order of white toast.  I decided to stop at a rash of bacon, whole wheat toast, beans and 2 sunny side up eggs.  I really enjoyed the beans, though I should have ordered dry toast; it arrived sopping wet with margarine.  Oh well, lesson learned for the next time.

 Central United Church Hall

Lunenburg, NS

April 6, 2013

During our meal one of the volunteers announced that they were drawing tickets for the afghan raffle, just to make sure we were all witnesses.  I doubt there are many shenanigans when it comes to church breakfast raffles, maybe there is a story here that I'm missing.....

As the weather gets warmer, there will be more community suppers on offer.  Stay tuned for more church supper, fireman's breakfast and other community fundraiser food reviews!

Scotland: Food, Glorious Food!

Glasgow, Scotland

June 19, 2012

Sometimes it pays to ask.  I spotted this nice display of fish while walking somewhere in the West end of Glasgow...I entered the store and asked in my most polite voice, if I could please take a photo of his fish on display.  The shopkeeper shrugged and said yes.  

It's not the most exciting shot ever, maybe I was just excited to see some mackerel fillets in the window.  At any rate, I'm glad I took 'mundane' shots of grocery store shelves and shots like this one.  If anything, I regret that I didn't take more!

Scotland: Sausage Dinner @ Mario's Plaice

Mario's Plaice

Glasgow, Scotland

June 19, 2012

If you find yourself in the West End of Glasgow, hankering for a feed of chips or a deep fried slice of pizza...head over to Mario's Plaice.

After several pints and whisky chasers at the Òran Mór Whisky Bar, my Glaswegian guide took me to this joint for a sausage dinner.  This consists of a deep fried, battered sausage and chips (of course!).  

I have little experience with chips for comparison but I found them tasty and they did their job well....soaking up the alcohol.  The shopkeep was nice enough to put a fresh batch down for us and kindly let me lean behind the counter to snap a shot.  I'm glad I asked.

File under: food pr0n

July 03, 2012

Lunenburg, NS

Barbecue all the things! 

The Big Ex: Laughing the Day Away

The Big Ex Dining Hall

Bridgewater, NS

July 25, 2012

These two women were having a good time serving up a delicious corned beef dinner this summer at The Big Ex.

A little levity at the workplace sure goes a long way!

The Big Ex: Corned Beef & Cabbage Dinner

The Big Ex dining hall

Bridgewater, NS

July 25, 2012

This may come as a shocker to my regular readers, but this was my first meal at the dining hall at TBE (aka The Big Ex).  I've walked past it every year but this time I finally made it inside for some down home grub served up Big Ex style.

It was pretty much what I expected.  Salty corned beef, luckily not too salty. All the veggies spent the requisite amount of time having the life boiled out of them in large pots.  The carrots were especially salty, bordering on unpalatable...but I soldiered on. The lemon meringue pie was a predictably delicious end to the meal.

It was a fun time, mostly for the people watching.  As you can see, there was no shortage of plaid in this joint!  The vinyl gingham table cloths were a nice touch.  Most men were sporting mesh backed ball caps and suspenders to accompany the regulation Dickies slacks.  Local yokels held court with their buddies, trading yarns about livestock and various diesel fueled machines.

I will definitely be returning to this eatery next year!

Pentz United Lobster Roll Dinner

Lobster Roll Dinner

Pentz, NS

Aug. 19, 2012

First off, apologies for the lack of posts in recent weeks.  Hopefully the delicious shots from this church supper back in August make up for it.

Believe it or not, this was my first lobster roll dinner.  I know, I know...shocking.  My mom and her sister were the instigators to attend this event.  It was held on the same day as the Conquerall Bank Planked Halibut Supper.  That was my first choice, but we checked that one out last summer so we decided to try something different this time around.

Tickets were sold in advance, by all accounts most were sold before the day of the event.  We had no problem finding a table and our plates arrived shortly after we sat down.

The lobster roll was....amazing.  I'm not sure what I loved more, the food or the presentation.  The cardboard 'sleeve' was just right.  The white bread, New England style hot dog roll was perfect.  The potato salad sure hit the spot, especially when combined with a nosh of delectable cucumber salad.  Not as good as mom's, but a close second!

The desserts were to die for, are the shots making you hungry?  I'm getting hungry remembering the great meal.....

For dessert, I sampled the blueberry cake.  It was moist and sweet as it should be. There was a dusting of sugar (and...cinnamon?) on the top too.   Combined with the usual weak tea (not as good as the Maitland suppers, that's for sure!) it was a great way to end my meal.

We probably lingered longer than 'allowed', but I have seen plenty of oldsters take liberty with their post-meal chats so I didn't feel bad about having an extended sit, digest and chat.

Next summer, keep your eyes peeled for this event and add it to your 'must attend' list!

Dessert Table

We're not in Kansas anymore...

The end of my first day in Glasgow was in a Tesco Express in the Shawlands neighbourhood.  I wonder if anyone noticed (or cared) that I was taking pictures of every aisle in the store?  I'm glad I did and wish I had taken more product shots throughout the duration of the trip.  But, at some point I had to stow the camera, stop documenting everything and use my brain/camera instead.


I love the prodigious use of British flags on these boxes 'o' cake!  I wonder if it was a tie-in with the Royal Jubilee or if that's just the normal packaging?  


I was trying to think of an equivalent American or Canadian product that is swaddled in theat nation's flag?   How about you, faithful readers?  Do you have any examples of flag branding/packaging?


Also wishing I had bought a box of that Cherry Bakewell cake...it looks scrumptious!

Hula Hoops, Walker's Crisps and Twirl

File under: we're not in Kansas any more, Toto....or Canada, for that matter.


Shot in Glasgow's airport, while waiting for our bags to arrive and before I saw the "no photography" sign.  


For the duration of the trip, I was on an eat/drink things I can't get in Canada mission.  I tried all manner of crisps, candy and chocolate.  Perhaps not the healthiest of missions, but it was fun. 


Don't worry, mom.  I managed to eat some healthy food as well, eventually. 

Welcome to Flavour Country: Skyr

When in Iceland (or if you are lucky enough to find it in North America), you MUST try Skyr.  


Skyr is a delicious live culture milk product.  It is similar to yoghurt, technically it is a fresh acid-set cheese.  It is similar to Liberty's Méditerranée product, it is thick and chocked full of protein.


The packaging of this product was fun.  The spoon came nestled under the dome on the lid, folded in half. It clicked into place when unfolded.  The first, and not the last, of many design-y things I was to discover while in Iceland.


Skyr, a great start to the day...or any part of the day!

Welcome to Flavour Country!

It was a wee bit chilly last night, but never too cold for some charcoal grilling!  Kurt Wentzell (of Wooly Mountain Farm fame) has started selling pork 'grilling chops' at the Lunenburg Farmers' Market.  As you may have noticed, they are niiice and thick.  Why anyone would grill anything under 1" thick is beyond me.


Grilling pro-tips (courtesy of America's Test Kitchen):  
~30 minutes before the meat hits the fire, immerse chops in brine consisting of 2 tbsp. salt dissolved in 4 cups water.  
Rinse chops and thoroughly pat dry, apply a little olive oil, season with salt and pepper.  
Grill over direct heat, ~4 minutes per side.  
Remove from direct heat, check internal meat temp.  
When chops have reached ~135 F, they are ready to pull. 
Let meat rest for ~ 5 minutes, internal temp. should rise to ~140F by the time it's ready to eat.  
To keep chops warm, loosely tent with foil while resting.


SOFA KING GOOD!

Last feed of local asparagus, first feed of fresh mackerel

Sad to see the end of the local (read = Lun. County) asparagus, delicious as always.  


SO EXCITED to have my first feed of fresh mackerel.  Tastes even better when you catch 'em yourself.  Mack attack is ON!

Maitland Christmas Tea - The Sweets

Oh, the sweets. Sweets so sweet, they make your teeth hurt....in a good way. Sweets that make you diabetic in one bite.

The butter cookie was 'melt in your mouth' perfection. A tart square that had rhubarb in it was a pleasant surprise. A slice pumpkin cheesecake was sinfully tasty.

Paired with delicious, strong tea. I can think of no better way to spend a warm November afternoon.

That;'s my kind of bus

No Yum Yum Bus at Crescent Beach last weekend, *sob*....