Summer Cookout

Had some friends over on Saturday for a barbecue. I decided a while ago that I wanted to make brisket and just needed some people over to try it. The cooking process started at 2 am Saturday morning when I woke up and started the grill. After seasoning the meat and letting the grill heat up I put the brisket, all 11 pounds of it, on the grill and I went back to bed. The whole cooking processes didn't end until around 4 that afternoon, and it was worth the wait.

For sides I made some guacamole and buffalo chicken dip, and Laura made some chocolate chip cookies which didn't make it through the weekend (they were awesome). All of the food combined with a substantial amount of beer made for an excellent time. Here are some pictures from the party.






The recipe said 8-12 pounds of brisket would serve 8-12 people. Well I got 11 pounds for 10 people..... It was way too much. I think it could have served 20 people. Actually we had it for lunch on Sunday, and I'm eating it for lunch all this week.








David and I accidentally wore the same clothes. This shit always happens to me.

Fourth of July

This Fourth of July weekend was awesome! The founding fathers had a lot of foresight to sign the Declaration of Independence in the summer knowing that that was the best time to celebrate. But seriously, we are so lucky to live in the greatest country ever invented. Americans are the smartest, most determined, hardest working, and creative species on the planet. It is that American spirit and the sacrifice so many people have given to make this country completely badass we celebrate on the 4th of July.

So here's how my Independence day went down. I woke up a little early and started trimming and seasoning up a couple racks of spare ribs. And in no time these slabs of meat were on the grill and cooking low and slow. The pig is so generous to share its tasty ribs and bacon with us. Thank you, pigs!


Here are the ribs with a delicious mustard moisturizer and chili powder rub.

While the ribs were cooking I made a pot of some American coffee of which the beans were prepared by Hawaiians (they count as Americans too). I relaxed and watched television for the next couple hours while I enjoyed my coffee.


This is my freedom chalice. One must get my permission to drink from this mug of liberty. (It was made in china)



By this time Laura had woken up and we decided to go for a walk. The weather was incredible! It had cooled down to the mid 80's from the mid 90's earlier in the week. After that I came home and started tending to the meat a little more. I was starting to get pretty hungry.

Around 3 the ribs were done. Laura's family joined us for the meal and a good time was had by all. The ribs didn't last long enough for seconds so I was proud. We also had beans, corn, and tater tots.





After the meal I slammed a couple beers and took a nap. Now what made this nap super patriotic was while I was dozing off I had the television set to baseball. Strategically I placed the remote control under my arm. If anybody wanted to change the channel because I wasn't "watching", the would have to pry the remote from my grasp. Doing this would cause me to wake up, thereby releasing a profanity laced tirade that would make Patton (God bless him) blush. Yeah, it was a great nap, and a great day.

Hawaii Day 10

This was our last full day in Hawaii, and by far the most beautiful day on Kauai. Early on in our Kauai stay we were a little discouraged by the weather, but this day reminded us of why we love this place so much.

I woke up pretty early for no reason, I just kind of opened my eyes. Seeing there was some sun peaking through the window I went over to see the sky. It was spotless! So I grabbed my camera and ran down to the pool in hopes of getting some good pool reflection shots. Last time I tried this, there was some dude swimming at 6:45. But I was getting there at 6:30. Anyway, I got lucky and the water was smooth as glass. Take a look!







I was very excited to get these pictures. Last time we were here Laura took this same picture in the evening and it was probably my favorite shot of our honeymoon. So I told her that I would try to match hers or beat her shot. I think we'll call it a tie.

I went back up to the room to report the good news of beautiful weather. I drank some coffee and we ate some muffins and headed down to the beach. While there we read our books and admired the scenery. I read about James Monroe our 5th president and an understated badass. If you don't know about him, you should learn.

While on the beach I decided to walk down the coast of Hanalei Bay to get some pictures while the tide was out and the water was calm. I hope you like these!




These picturesque mountains are normally covered in clouds.....but not today.


The tide was out exposing all of the dead coral. You can walk out on the coral (its already dead) pretty far, but I recommend some type of water shoe.




I believe the hotel owns this boat. It pretty much just sits there all day. We did see it in use two years ago for a wedding. The bride was sailed in on the boat. A little dramatic if you ask me.


I was lucky to catch this surfer going out for the day. He is tan as hell! Judging by his skin I would say he's in his early 50's. However, his skin is so leathery he might be 20.


You might be asking yourself. What is a grown man (or young man) doing surfing on a weekday? I'll tell you, he's not making money. There are very few industrious people on Kauai. One of the poolside servers told us, "You have to find your niche on Kauai." Translated that means, "You have to find somebody to pay you for your lack of meaningful skills on Kauai." Still, its a pretty good life to be able to enjoy the ocean on a week day and not worry about things.




I had to walk out in the water for this shot. As you can see, the water is remarkably calm when the tide is out. I think all of the coral serves as a barrier to the waves during this time.

A few more pictures to come! Cant believe it's taken me this long to post them.

Hawaii Day 9

Because of my sickness I had to delay playing golf a few days. Luckily that wasn't a problem to reschedule because the Makai golf club wasn't very crowded. I decided to play early in the morning to avoid the intense heat of the afternoon. Actually, that was Laura's idea, and it was a good one.

A little background on the Makai golf course. It's a mile away from where we were staying in Princville. It was renovated last year and is supposed to be one of the top golf courses in the country. Ok, that's all I really know about it. So I had a tee time for 7:50 and got to the course around 7:30. I had to rent some clubs which was no big deal, but when you do that its always nice to have a few minutes to warm up. However, the starter told me I had no time to hit a few balls because I had to tee off very soon. Oh well. Laura and I drove up to the first tee where we waited 20 minutes to start. But all of that didn't matter because I hit a 220 yard bomb down the middle of the fairway. What a way to start the day! Then I hit a perfect 6 iron to the center of the green and three putted my way to a bogey. (I don't work on putting very much so three puts are pretty much my calling card.)

I brought about 6 balls from home because I thought they would be expensive on the island. This was smart on my part. At the golf shop they were charging 10 bucks for 3 balls. No sir, not gonna do that. So I had to play the whole round with six balls; not an easy task.

The rest of the round was a ton of fun. Laura rode around in the cart enjoying a book and the gorgeous views of the pacific while I played solid round. I ended up shooting a 101 and staying within my self imposed quota of 6 balls. Success!!!

That afternoon we relaxed in the pool and enjoyed a spectacular sunset. The whole day was perfect!


The third hole at Makai. About 160 yards with a twenty yard drop. I hit a nice 8 iron to the back of the green then two nice putts for a par.


Me waiting for the group ahead of us on 6. There was very little waiting the whole day which was nice. From here I hit another 8 iron to the front of the green and two putted for par.


F' that, I can't wait for these slow mofos. I'm hitting.


artsy picture....we had a few minutes here.


7th hole. I got a 5 because I hit my tee shot way to the left. At least it didn't fall into the canyon like one of the scrubs in my group. Actually, the dude hit two balls into the water. I forgot to tell him you cant lay up on this hole. BWHAHAHA!!11!!


Laura and I overlooking Hanalei Bay and the Pacific. This course had the best views EVAR!!


I think this is the 14th par 3 at 220 yards. I hit a 3 iron off the tee hoping to land somewhere in front and right of the green. Instead I landed short and left on the hill. I had a crappy chip, then a decent chip, then three more putts to score a par!


The Kilauea Lighthouse. We could have paid 10 bucks to walk a mile to it, but I just took a picture, zoomed in on the preview image and figured there wasn't much to see there. So we just admired from afar. While there a park ranger pointed out two monk seals on the rocks below. He said, "we don't know why their numbers are falling each year." Uh, Ranger Rick, maybe because they are super lazy and just lay on rocks all day. Perhaps if they weren't so fat they could have the energy to bump those numbers up if you know what I mean.

Get it on, monk seal style, and reproduce.






The sunsets last for about 20-30 minutes and are beautiful the whole time.




A perfect way to end a perfect day.

Hawaii Day 8

After the roller coaster that was day 7, Day 8 was much more relaxed. We spend the morning on the beach. There was more sun than clouds so it was a success. Unfortunately for me I didnt read (correction, didnt mind) the directions on the prescription advising to avoid sunlight. This resulted in a pretty nice sun burn on my legs and arms.

Getting burned wasnt much fun, but with plenty of aloe I didnt feel much pain. Really not much else went on this day as we were trying to keep it low key and cool.


better picture of the lobby

Hawaii Day 7

Our second day on Kauai was pretty rough. It all started when I woke up several times throughout the night with a vicious sinus infection. Around 6 or 7 I tried to contact the doctor in Atlanta to see if I could get a prescription called out. The lady at the office said there was no guarantee the doctor would call out the prescription so I would just have to wait until 5 o'clock eastern time (11 Hawaiian).

In the meantime I tried to get a doctors appointment on the island but learned that the only place I could get into wouldn't take my insurance. Just a sec, let me correct that. They could take my insurance, but they do not take out of state insurance. So when I asked how much a doctors visit would be I was told somewhere between 60 and 200 bucks. Hmmm, so I asked, "How do you determine if its on the 60 end or the 200 end?" The lady replied, "oh its up to the doctor's discretion."

Let me tell you, if I were a doctor, I would just charge the 200 because I'm not stupid. So needless to say, I took my chances with the prescription. While waiting for the doctor in Atlanta to call me back we drove about 15 minutes to this burger joint called Ono Char Burger. The word was they had the best burgers. When we pulled into the parking lot and saw the place, I was pretty excited. It was run down and there was a line. I like those shack style restaurants. Anyway, we ordered our burgers and were told it would take 30 minutes to get the burgers, onion rings and milkshake. What?! McDonalds can do that in 30 seconds. Oh well, we can wait. It's not like we have anything better to do. However, while waiting I decided to look in the shack to see why it would take so long to make the food. I wasn't surprised to learn that Hawaiians were running the operations. Hawaiians have never been accused of being efficient. They would cook one order at a time. So they literally had 2 or three burgers cooking at one time on a grill that could accommodate 24. I had to laugh when I thought about any of my Industrial Engineer buddies taking a look at the operation and immediately shitting a brick.

The burgers were alright, not special, but the milkshake and onion rings were terrific. At this time I also learned that my prescription was filled at the local supermarket. When I went to pick it up, I found out the supermarket didn't take my insurance. Damn you, Foodland!!! Oh well, that was the best $120 I've spent on pills in a long time. :)

Here are some pictures from the day. Sorry, no pictures of the sinus infection.


Talk about a great view! This is from the hotel room. (Not pictured - me feeling like crap)


Ono-Char Burger menu. It's called Ono because after you order you say, "Ono! It's going to take 30 f'ing minutes?" Or, "Ono! You only cook one order at a time?!?!"


I did really like the look of the place. Cool vibe.


My burger had terryaki sauce, pineapple, and cheese. It was good, but 30 minutes good??? Not so much. Denny's could whip this out faster.


Walking along the beach

Hawaii Day 6

This was the day we transferred islands from Maui to Kauai. We had to take a small turboprop airplane, but the flight was only an hour. Once landing on Kauai we had a small wait for our luggage. After that we quickly got our rental car and head up to Princeville on the north end of the island. The weather was a little cloudy but that's normal for this end of the island. Although last time we were here we didn't have clouds except for the last day. Oh well.

We had to do battle with the less than competent hotel staffer named Henrick. He was pretty stupid. We were told before arriving that we would be put on a high floor (which is important at this hotel otherwise you are pretty much right next to the pool). He told us, "I see you are on the 4th floor, but we have up graded you to a room on the second floor." Excuse me? That is not an upgrade, Henrick. Eventually, we got to talk to somebody else who quickly looked at the computer and told us there was a room on the 7th floor. So we took it.

That night we went to the Hanalei Dolphin for some great sushi! This place loves to put tempura flakes on all their rolls, but they were still good.


Outside of the lobby overlooking the cloudy Hanalei Bay


The centerpiece of the lobby at the St. Regis. I got a couple more pictures of the lobby because I liked it so much.


Our pre-dinner Lava Flow drinks.




Outside the Hanalei Dolphin. It's fake.


One of the sushi rolls with a bowl of corn flakes on top. It was delicious.