Brisket, Wings and a Celebration

 Every year for the 4th of July weekend we go up to Higgins Lake. The kids meet us up there and we stay at my in-law's place. We also celebrate Amanda's birthday. This year Amanda asked if we could have wings with our brisket, so of course, I had to deliver. 

Higgins Lake at Sunrise

Pit Boss is Fired Up

 The sunrising over the lake was to beautiful to pass on. I had to get a picture. Higgins is such a big, beautiful and clean lake. Its hard not to go every weekend but Jake is still playing ball and summer tournaments take a lot of those weekends. 

 I prepped the brisket the night before, trimming the excess fat and adding the rub.

Anyway, I fire up the Pit Boss. In the picture, it is going through the start-up.

After start-up, I leave it on the smoke setting and put the brisket on. I used hickory pellets.

I use my MEATER probe for this cook. In case your not familiar with MEATER, its a Bluetooth thermometer you put in the meat. It gives you constant feedback. There is not a lot of range, so you need to keep the phone close, or you lose the signal. When you open the app and set up the cook it will look something like this:

Tracking the Cook

The green line is the ambient temperature in the smoker. The purple line in the internal temperature of the meat. This information is critical, for this cook we are looking to pull the meat and wrap in butcher paper at 175 or at stall. I should add that we spritzed the butcher paper with a apple cider vinegar and water mix. Then, my wife, swaddled the brisket like a baby and we out it back in the smoker. Turn the temp to about 250 and let it finish. When it got to 197, I pulled it, wrapped in a towel and stuck in a dry and empty cooler to rest. Total cook time for this one was just over 5 hours. I cooked it as low as I could until 175. 

About an hour later the wings go on the smoker. I prepped those the morning of. I used Meat Church Voodoo   on half and  Meat Church The Gospel   on the other.  I didn't do any saucing this time. We had sauces out, then everyone could do their own thing. 

Here we go.... THE BIG REVEAL 

Brisket is Done

Dinner is Ready

 I finally got the bark I wanted. The   thicker end defiantly juicer. As I've   learned the thinner part will dry out   quicker. Still great flavor.

 The wings came out great.

 The biggest reward of this kind of cook   is in the picture below. Everyone at the   table talking about the meal and just   enjoying each other. 

Love seeing the Kids at the Table

I need to add that my wife and mother -in-law had some great side dishes. 

After dinner, we had Amanda open gifts and had cake. 

All in all, a great day, with great food and a lot of togetherness. 

The Smoke Hits West Michigan

From the map above you can see all of the wildfires happening across Canada and some in the U.S. For us in West Michigan the air quality is becoming quite terrible. According to AccuWeather.com we at an unhealthy level. You can click the link to see the air quality report. Grand Rapids, MI Air Quality Index | AccuWeather.

It's nowhere near where New York was a few weeks ago when the skyline was orange. How Canadian wildfire smoke is worsening the air quality of New York & other parts of the US (msn.com). It is getting bad though. 

These pics were taken on the way home today. In both pics, if you look at the tree lines, you can see the haze. You can pick up the smell also. 

 In the building at work, you can see the air just hanging near the ceiling. It is just crazy what is going and the effect of the wildfires. Michigan Department of Health and Human Services is advising that people with heart or lung, older people and young kids:

Avoid strenuous outdoor activities.

Outdoor activities short

Move physical activity indoors or reschedule.

Everyone else:

Walk instead of run.

Keep outdoor activities short.

and I love this one.....be active outdoors when the air quality is better. 

 Oh and I read that if you are going outside, they recommend N95 masks. I won't get on my soap box about the government treating us like idiots or rant about masks. Just make sure you are careful outside and listen to your body. 

Chicken Quesadilla

 A couple nights ago, we decided to do some chicken quesadillas. These were pretty quick and easy with very little prep time. 

Let's see how we got there. 😊😊😊.

I season the chicken with Meat Church's The Gospel. This is a great all-purpose rub. It has more of a sweeter taste to it. Not spicy at all. I hit the peppers and onion with some Kosmos SPG. (Salt, pepper and garlic). I put it on just about everything.

I already have the Weber Grill and Blackstone Griddle heating up. Once they are good, I go out to the pit and get to cookin'. I liked cooking these pieces of chicken because they are more uniform in the thickness. I have them on a lower heat, so I don't overcook them. I pulled them off a 165.

The peppers and onions go until they are soft and a bit brown. 

Look at that nice color on the chicken.

When the chicken and vegetables are done, I bring them in the house and hand them off to Melissa. 

Melissa heats up the tortilla, loads it up with chicken, vegetables and cheese. KA-POW!!!! Some dang good quesadilla.

A Return to Work and a New Perspective

After my follow up on Monday, my doctor released me from any restrictions. He supported my request to ramp in the work hours for the next couple of weeks. So I returned to work on Wednesday. I worked Wednesday-Friday 4 hours each day. With some of the aliments still lingering, I wanted to see how I would hold up. The answer? I held up ok. Some pain in areas but not too bad overall. Next week I go to 6 hour days so we will see how that goes.

 I had plenty of people welcome me back and mentioned that I looked so much better. Of course, that always makes a person feel good. 

 Now I start in a new area. I have a person that does the mold setting and other things, so that will let me focus on my actual supervisor responsibilities. This leads to a new perspective. Things like, how can I make this area better?  What does the team want to accomplish? How do we stand out as one of the top bays in the building? 

 This gives me a chance to utilize my years of experience and make a difference. It has to be done in the right way. 

 There is a lot of mistrust with management right now and seems like morale is low on the production floor. To lift morale in my bay, I need to earn the trust from my team. They need to see that I will go to bat for them whenever possible, stand my ground with management and hold them accountable when needed. Management needs to walk the walk.

 I may lose some battles, but I will make a lot of noise doing so. At least, in my own sensible way. 

 From what I can see, getting management to walk the walk will take time. What I can have a direct impact on is how I go about my business. Organized, clean and attention to detail. It starts just by picking up, wiping machines down, sweeping the floor, responded to quality issues in the appropriate manner, etc. 

 That is all I have on this right now. I could go on and on, but it would be redundant and boring. I'll update as I get more settled in. 

Country Road.....

 Tonight, is an overcast night with a temperature of 76 degrees Fahrenheit. My wife and I decided to take the dogs for a walk. 

Tucker and Timber

Don't let this picture fool you, both dogs love their walk. The route we go is pretty quiet after 6:30pm. Tucker will get pretty ramped up when vehicle's drive past, so we have to make him sit. Timber is pretty calm all of the time so walking him is a breeze.

 There is a large field just down the street from us. We pass this barn on our walks. 

The Barn down the Street

We have some our best conversations and our most quiet moments on these walks. It gives us time to step away from the day, no matter what it threw at us, and  lets us decompress. 

The Road one Block Over

Sometimes we will see deer or turkey's hanging out in the field. Heck, sometimes they come through our back yard but that's another story.

But the walk, it will end up 1.5 miles. So, get out there and walk. Its easy, helps with stress and clears the mind. I also hear it can help with creativity. Which is why I need to take more walks. 😁

Turkey

Deer