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OK, how do I do this.....

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    OK, how do I do this.....

    .....without it sounding like a Craigslist personal or a 12 Step Program?

    "Hi, I'm TwoWheeler and I like piña coladas, getting caught in the rain...."

    -or-

    "Hi, I'm TwoWheeler and I'm a food-a-holic".......

    I guess the second one is closer - except that I am not at all repentant about my love of food. I can quit any time, I just don't want to.

    I was brought up in a house where both parents cooked - my mom did the day-to-day and my dad had his specialties (breakfast and applesauce). Pretty much everything was made from scratch from the best ingredients we could afford. My parents even had their own garden. While it was a combination of my mom's devotion to nutrition and economics, it also instilled a belief that food wasn't something you half-ass. (Must have been a pretty potent lesson because my sister cooks for a living).

    I cook because I enjoy it, because I like to know what's in my food, and because it's a way of giving to my friends and family. I just wouldn't feel right saying "Here, I nuked you up a plate of Frankenfood....enjoy..." I also cook because I like doing things the hard way. (More on (moron?) this in a minute....)

    I first got introduced to "real" BBQ by a Cook's Illustrated article on "St. Louis style ribs". I used a cheap-ass Walmart clam-shell charcoal grill, built a fire in the back, rubbed the ribs and threw on a couple of chunks of hickory. I propped the front open with a rock. I was blown away by how well it came out - even with my ghetto setup.

    After that, I bought a Brinkmann smoker, but really didn't know what I was doing (pre-Internet days). I made a few things that came out _ok_ but when it rusted out in fairly short order, I didn't replace it. When it came time for a new gas grill, I went with the Weber Genesis Silver A that Cook's recommended. I got signed up for Weber's email recipe of the week and started turning out some really good stuff. I tried smoking on it, but it was mediocre at best. My wife bought me a WSM for my birthday a few years ago and it's been all downhill from there..... I have a WSM, a new Genesis (also a gift from my wife....I'm thinking she has ulterior motives...) and the Silver A got "retired" to my camp. I also (don't remember why) have a Weber tabletop grill. As you can tell, I'm somewhat of a Weber whore. I'm perilously close to adding a Primo Oval to my "collection" but I promised myself I was going to finish the deck it's going on, first.

    As I said, I like doing things the hard way. I scratch cook pretty much everything, keep bees, make my own maple syrup and homebrew. (I would make my own whiskey -with an e- but it takes too damned long. I'm not doing all the work so that fifteen years from now someone else can drink it....). I dabble in snausage-making, too. I'd really like to get into dried snausages like sopressatta, but the whole "curing" thing scares me a little. As I said, I cook as a way of "giving" to my family and friends, but "salmonella" is not something I'd like to give them. I do almost all my own home repairs and remodeling - although the older I get, the easier it is to just say "screw it" and write a check.... I dabble in woodworking. Used to have a garden and can stuff and may again someday, but put it aside when I dove into remodeling the house. ("The siding project from hell" has eaten most of the last two summers....) I hike, I bike, I ski, I snowhshoe and I run.

    I've been using this site on and off for a while now and was finally "guilted" into joining after making Meathead's bodacious pastrami. Pastrami is one of those things you just can't get around here and I miss it. (Lived in the NYC area when I was a kid).

    Don't have much in the way of knowledge to contribute except this: The legs on a WSM get hot - hot enough to melt into the snow, even though you packed it down. So if you see the temperature on your Maverick plummet, don't go on a tirade about "....the sh*tty thermometer probes failing...." because when you then go outside and see your WSM lying on it's side in the snow, like a sad little R2D2, you'll feel bad that you doubted what the thermometer was telling you.

    Oh, and the username stems from my love of two wheeled things - powered and unpowered.

    Bonus: here is the pastrami above mentioned being carefully monitored by the QC department:

    Last edited by TwoWheeler; January 10, 2016, 07:13 AM.

    #2
    Awesome intro! I LOLed at the ending. Welcome aboard.

    Comment


      #3
      Welcome and thanks for the support.

      QC department resembles more of a Security Control department.

      Comment


        #4
        Welcome to the Pit.

        Comment


          #5
          Welcome, TwoWheeler ! What a GREAT intro!
          You mentioned you grew up in the NY area. I grew up in Pleasantville, about 50 miles north of the city.
          Where are you now?
          And yes, Meathead's pastrami is AWESOME!
          Welcome aboard, and I look forward to learning of your cooks!

          Comment


            #6
            2Wheeler....That was a great intro...You Weber whore..Welcome...From a 3wheeler...

            Comment


              #7
              TwoWheeler, Welcome to the Pit! I enjoyed you Bio! 👍👍👍 We have a lot in common except I am too stupid to Play with Gas so I use Charcoal mostly Weber Kettles although I have some others! The Gents that preceded me in Welcoming You are some of the Best and Many More Will Follow!
              Eat Well and Prosper! From Fargo ND, Dan

              Comment


                #8
                Welcome and great first post. Looks like that dog could snatch a whole brisket and eat if before you turned back around.

                Comment


                  #9
                  Originally posted by richinlbrg View Post
                  Welcome, Guest ! What a GREAT intro!
                  You mentioned you grew up in the NY area. I grew up in Pleasantville, about 50 miles north of the city.
                  Where are you now?
                  Born in scenic Newark NJ - I'm the odd one out, both my parents and my sister were born in Brooklyn. We moved fro Elizabeth NJ to the Syracuse NY area when I was 7, so it's been a long time and I'm pretty much not a city person. (Never forget the pastrami, though. Any time someone's coming up from downstate, I ask for some. Now I don't have to.)

                  Comment


                  • richinlbrg
                    richinlbrg commented
                    Editing a comment
                    Kinda small world, TwoWheeler. I was born in the Syrcuse area (Auburn), moved as a toddler to Bloomfield, NJ before spending my formative childhood in NY.
                    Again, welcome aboard!

                  #10
                  Originally posted by John View Post
                  Looks like that dog could snatch a whole brisket and eat if before you turned back around.
                  He could.....but he never counter surfs. Don't know why. He DOES, however, take an intimate interest in anything that comes off the smoker. Much more so than "regular" food, or even anything that comes off the grill. When I'm through, I have to clean everything up, or else he'll keep coming and telling me that "there's meat up there, Y'know......"

                  In Germany, they're called "Metzgerhund" which means "butcher's dog" because they were original used to herd cattle and pull carts. Looks like he got that gene I spades.

                  Comment


                    #11
                    Originally posted by Fine Swine View Post
                    .You Weber whore..Welcome...From a 3wheeler...
                    I've actually considered adding a kettle to the list. Since they're fairly inexpensive, I might "just because".

                    By 3 wheeler, I hope you mean the road-going variety, not the death-trap ATV version. There's a good reason they banned those!

                    Comment


                    • Fine Swine
                      Fine Swine commented
                      Editing a comment
                      Nope..It's the banned one..Still riding my 30yr old Honda350X...

                    #12
                    not the death-trap ATV version
                    Got my first 3-wheeler for my 3rd birthday and my dad drove cars too old for seat belts, pretty sure they were trying to kill me.

                    Comment


                      #13
                      Welcome to The Pit TwoWheeler . We're glad you're here!

                      Comment


                        #14
                        TwoWheeler should be the next Gold Giveaway winner. Fantastic Intro
                        BTW, scratch cooking is not "cooking the hard way". It's cooking the RIGHT way.

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                          #15
                          Welcome to the pit TwoWheeler !

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