Chilebrown's Pepper Project

  As some of you know I have a fondness of chile. This year my project was to grow chiltepin peppers and dry them. They are fiery tiny hot balls of fire. You crush them and put them on pizza or anything you want to liven and fire up. I am proud of my small crop and have put them in a hanging air dryer. I also added some home grown Calabrian & Habanero to make this spicy hot melody.

Savory Dave's "Women Make the World Go Around" Rib Cook-off & Jr. Chef competition

 

A fantastic bbq & steak contest in Natomas California. The bbq teams were made up of Women only Pittmasters and the steaks were cooked by Jr. Chefs. (Kids) What a tasty day!

Seoul Fried Chicken (Pinole, California)

Not sure if it is still Grand Opening (8 months) but new to us. It was fried crunchy chicken with fun and unusual flavors. We enjoyed our meal.

 

Frank’s Red Hot Squeeze Ghost Pepper Ranch Sauce

To fuel my chile addiction, I had to try Frank’s Red Hot Squeeze Ghost Pepper Ranch Sauce. It is available at your local grocery store and cheap. I tried it with some bbq wings. I was pleasantly surprised how good this sauce is. It is creamy and has a familiar ranch flavor. It has a sleeper heat that impressed. At first bite it was cool, smooth and a refreshing accompaniment to the smoky wings. Then the heat slowly creeps in and grabs you by the throat and says “HELLo”. Maybe a slight exaggeration but it did have a medium hot pepper heat. I liked it a lot. Ms. Goofy did not even want to have anything to do with this sauce

BASEBALL STEAKS

We cooked up a couple of 'Baseball' steaks the other night. They are a cut from the sirloin. They have a ton of beef flavor. They are not as tender as a filet but the flavor department shines through to make these steaks delicous.

 

GRACIE'S BBQ

We paid a visit to Gracie's bbq in Vallejo California. This was not our first visit but it has been over 15 years since our last. To be honest our intention was to visit the micro-brewery Vallejo Brewing Company owned by the same people. After a couple of very quenchable beers we decided to revisit Gracies. The nice thing about being next door is you can place your order and they will deliver it to the brewery.

 I had the ribs and Ms. Goofy a pulled pork sandwich. I liked the ribs. They were tender, smoky and meaty. Sauce was on the side as requested. Ms. Goofy liked her sandwich but did not lick her paws afterward. All the side dishes were very pedestrian. This was decent bbq but did not get us excited. It may be another 15 years until we return.

R & W LIVESTOCK

 

 

We were approached by a gentleman at the Rio Vista bbq competition who represented a local livestock Company. He told us about his beef from his company R & W Livestock. We gave it a try. Last night we had a New York strip and a Filet. They are lean but what a umami flavor beef bomb diggity bomb flavor. They are grass raised and corn fed bliss finished. Ms. Goofy's filet was fork tender and my New York had a little tug to it. They both were delicious.