My First Beer by Tuffy Stone

I have a few short topics on my mind. They don't really constitute a blog post. I thought if I threw them together, maybe it would work. So, here you go . . . Oh, and by the way, the title of this post is really the caption for this picture of Tuffy at Norfolk, Virginia a couple years ago. Sometimes pictures really do say a thousand words.

We received our third EVER comment card from a judge in Mason City this past weekend. Accompanying a score of 8 9 9, the judge wanted me to know that my pork presentation lacked originality. Now maybe I slept through the part of the Certified Barbeque Judge class when Ed Roith was teaching, but I don't recall any conversation about judging a turn-in based on the uniqueness of the presentation. Without cooks and judges there would be no barbeque contests, but sometimes the judges just put way too much thought into it all. We'll cook to the best of our abilities that day and all we want from you folks in the tent is to just judge the meat!

It's Monday morning. We arrived back home about 10:00 PM on Saturday night. Took Sunday off, both mentally and physically. This morning I've cleaned the ashes out of the pit, taken it to the car wash, dried it off and put it away. In anticipation of this weekend the rubs are restocked, the dishes are washed and I even split wood and stocked the pit. To whomever wrote those instructions on that maul about allowing the weight of it to do the work: Please come over and split some of my wood. There's no way in hell the weight of that maul will split the stuff I have without a little extra effort.

Before the rumors start, Pellet Envy dropped out of the Prilosec OTC BBQ Shootout Series. SMI Group and Prilosec are doing a great thing for barbeque and everyone involved should be proud. However, we have to do what's best for us. Best of luck to NASCAR, SMI, Prilosec and the competitors in Bristol and Atlanta in the coming weeks.

With the season a little more than half way over, we find ourselves in a points race for KCBS Team of the Year. I don't want to get caught up in all the hype and strategizing associated with trying to come out on top. I did that a couple years ago and the added stress totally took the fun out of competition barbecue for me. Best of luck to the teams in the hunt and the whole thing will most likely shake out by late October, whatever happens, happens.

Reading Adam Perry Lang's new book Serious Barbecue, I want to try so many of his recipes that I don't know where to start. Well, all that was solved when my week long house guest Johnny Trigg, stole the book from my home last week. Return that book unharmed Trigger, and nobody has to know you're planning to change up all your recipes at the next contest. Hey, maybe he already did that at Mason City. After all, he did finish 3rd overall. Hardy, har, har.

Thank you for putting up with my random barbecue thoughts. I've got ideas for recaps on the last three events we cooked in Iowa. Those events should be up on the blog very soon.