If you’re a home gardener, you’ve probably experienced the dreaded Zucchini Syndrome. Over-producing squash plants make the zukes faster than your family can eat them. You try to give them away, but no one wants them because they’re now larger than your cat. Well, the same thing can happen to chile plants, which is why I wrote Too Many Chiles with Nancy and Jeff Gerlach. But at least you can dry the chile pods to preserve them—something you can’t do easily with zucchinis and large tomatoes.
Scovie Award Program Expires in Four Days
Are you planning on entering the 2014 Scovie Awards but are just waiting for the deadline to come around? Well, wait no longer because we have a couple of rewards for you if you enter before August 10th.
Frankenburger: Our In Vitro Burger Recipe
Dutch scientist Mark Post and his team are all set to fry up and serve the world’s first stem cell-grown hamburger for two lucky taste testers to try. While everyone else is wondering how it will taste, I think the bigger question is, how long is it before Frankenburger turns bad, kills a villager, and gets its creators killed by a mob wielding pitchforks and torches? It’s thoughts like this that keep me up late at night.
Barbecue Styles Explained
I expect a lot of services from an insurance company–motorcycle, car, house, boat, Sharknado, just to name a few. I don’t ask them for barbecue advice, well, ever. My insurance agent could be the best rib smoker on the West Coast but I’d never know because our worlds don’t intersect that way. Still, Titan Insurance took it on themselves to put out this handy graphic guide to ‘cue styles around the country. Check it out.
Your Reward for Entering the Scovies Now
Are you planning on entering the 2014 Scovie Awards but are just waiting for the deadline to come around? Well, wait no longer because we have a couple of rewards for you if you enter before August 10th.
A Pellet Smoker Simplifies Barbecue
I gave up smoking meat a few years ago because it was getting to be too much trouble. First I had to locate the wood, which meant calling firewood lots and asking if they had any pecan or fruit woods around. And then, during the smoking process, was the constant adding of the wood to the firebox, which interrupted anything else I was trying to do. The best time to smoke was during a football game when I could add wood during the timeouts for commercial breaks. But football isn’t on during the summer, which is the traditional time for smoking. Finally, I gave it up and just went to the Pork and Brew Cookoff and bought a year’s supply of pulled pork and brisket from my friends, the Texas Rib Rangers.
Beer, Bikes, and Buffalo Chili
This year, the largest motorcycle rally in the world kicks off early with a chili contest at the Buffalo Chip Sturgis. If you’re riding out to the Sturgis motorcycle rally a little early this year and you want a little fire in your belly before the crowd hits max capacity, it’ll be a great chance for you to do just that. Especially if, like me, you love the idea of motorcycles and buffalo chili.
