Stuff and things . . . . .

Looks like the next weekend will be here and gone before I get my Illinois State Championship post up. So, instead, I'm going to touch on a couple topics quickly before getting ready to cook this weekend.

Congrats to Joey Mac of Joey Mac's Smoke Stax for winning Shannon. Also, congrats to Neal, Chris and their wives for their Reserve Grand Championship. Well done to Shad & Angie of A Boy and His BBQ for winning ribs and to Gary (Coach) of Coach's BBQ for winning the pork category and qualifying for the Butt to Butt XI. We won the Chicken and Brisket category, but the judges didn't care much for our pork. Oh well, there's always next weekend.

Last Sunday was my birthday. I'm getting older. I never think of myself as being 40 plus years old. Mentally, I feel like I'm in my late twenties or early thirties. It's hard to think of being middle aged. Anyway, based on a subtle comment I made a month or so back, a group of friends got me a present. We'll just call them the Motown Three. I was totally surprised and a little shocked. I've been scouring the internet to find this discontinued Lodge Outpost cast iron grill. It's sort of a modern looking Habachi was extra space, yet small enough to store in the bench of the competition trailer and I thought it would be cool to have for Friday evenings and such at contests. We often wish we had a grill at events. Well now we do. It's an awesome little grill and it's very heavy for it's size. I even hear it has a storied history, including traveling far distances and is undefeated in competition. Sadly, it didn't come with any winning recipes. I want to thank the Motown Three for this really great gift. You guys made my birthday this year.

Sheri talked me into cooking two events this weekend. I was against it, especially after this past long cooking weekend in Illinois. Just the same, we're headed to Waterloo to cook the Friday/Saturday event and on to LaPorte, IA to cook the Saturday/Sunday event. Luckily, LaPorte is only about 12 miles from Waterloo. The forecast calls for rain but after last weekend, I think I'm ready!

Good luck to everyone this weekend. The contests are spread out. I don't know who's going where, but there are plenty of choices in the midwest. If it's not raining, the dog days of summer will be sure to heat things up. We'll see you all somewhere are the bbq trail!