The Smoking Car #5 - WhiteTrash BBQ

Welcome back to the Smoking Car. Tonight the train's empty as it rolls across the country. It's just you, me and my thoughts. To be honest, I'm glad the train's empty tonight. I can use a quiet night and I've got a lot on my mind.

As my faithful readers know, Matt from The Hampton Smoker and I are putting together "NYC's first sanctioned BBQ contest, Grillin' on the Bay to benefit the St. Mark Sports Association." If you're interested you can find more information about it on their website at St. Mark Sports.

While this is for a great cause, and I'm enjoying the work, putting this thing together is like working 3 full time jobs. Sponsors, cooks, judges, volunteers, advertising etc etc etc. It just never ends. Working with the sponsors has turned out to be the most frustrating and rewarding part of this whole experience. I just wish that if a sponsor can't or won't contribute that they'd have the decency to just say no, so that we can all move on. I have no hard feelings to a company that says no.

I promise you Grillin' on the Bay will be a great event. Some of the top teams of the North East are going to be there and it will give me a chance to renew old friendships and create some new ones. We've got some great bands coming for entertainment and hopefully a few surprises along the way.

On the home front, I ran into an old friend last night and while catching up we went over all the drama that has been my life the past two years. Wow. I'm glad all of that is over and thankful whenever a week goes by without a life changing event.

My son and daughter are growing fast. Too fast now. The teenage years go by so much faster then the years from 1 to 12. Once they're a teen, it's over. They're ready to fly. I know that we have a good relationship with our kids, but it would be nice to spend more time together. Yeah, we still do the "quality" time together, but there's no substitute for the "quantity" time. You know what I mean just spending time watching TV together, shopping, doing the lawn, whatever. Any activity that keeps you close is important. I am really thankful for these two kids. They're great kids. I'm really lucky.

I'm really feeling the need for the smoke. I can't remember the last time I fired up a cooker. I'm also beginning to feel the need to get back to the woods. I need to get back and touch the earth for a while. I guess I'm still a caveman at heart.

This weekend looks surprisingly free. I've got a couple of racks of spares in the freezer. I've got a recipe for "Martini brined Salmon" that I want to try out. And the butcher has brisket on sale. It's time to cook!