Ya ever have a hard time frying a pork chop? Ever sit down to your meal and just shake your head and think maybe some day you’ll get it right? Well, we’re smarter now, huh. We have that dumb Cook’s Illustrated and we all know now that we need to brine or make sure we get a thick one. Blah, blah, blah. But what if you’re at the store doing some shopping and you get the urge for a nice pork chop dinner for tonight? No time for brining and finding a thick pork chop at the local grocery can be few and far between. Aroo?
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Where’s Ted? – 1st in a series in which we experience a Sighting of Ted
Who the hell is Ted? And what the heck are you talking about Biggles? Whoa there Tex, hang on. Ted is Highland Hills Farm and rancher extraordinaire. To say he’s a local character to our farmer’s markets here would be a small understatement. I remember working the Fatted Calf one fine morning and overheared Ted telling a customer in a certain tone after said customer asked for directions for cooking, “I’m a rancher, not a chef!” And that, pretty much handled that.
Being who I am, have always been impressed with his “ranchin’ truck”. A Ford 3/4 ton rig with dents, dings, mud, dirt, dust, scratches and now a missing tailgate. That and a permanent collection of random hay pieces that fly out the back at any given moment. Well, I’m not quite sure why or how the planets align with him, but for me and a few others, he’s spotted more about town than anyone we know.
The picture above was taken way back on September 1st at about 9:45 am, west bound on I-80.
I saw his truck again this last Monday at 11:22am, parked on Dwight Way heading east near San Pablo avenue. Quite a few bales of hay, a gaggle of humongous coolers (full of meat no doubt) and a piece of twine holding this all in the bed (no tailgate, remember?).
Here is Jlee’s report:
A couple of weeks ago, driving west on I80 around El Cerrito, there was a sudden “hay storm”. Enough hay blowing around to actually have to close my window. I’m thinkin maybe a horse trailer up ahead, some guy going to the race track. I get over to the next lane, speed up to pass it to avoid the chaff. Then just coming up to Albany, I see the offender. A turquoise pickup, beat-to-shit, spewing hay. And then I know. Oh right. It’s Ted. Of course.
So, as you can clearly see, Where’s Ted is going to be very exciting. Please stay tuned for the next, Sighting of Ted!
Biggles
Meathenge Garage – Yer blinker is out, ya doof.
Here we find Biggles’ 1964 Dodge D100 pickup circa 1995. To his right is Lisa’s ’70 D100, Creepy E’s ’63 Valiant Wagon and last but not least, Bones! Our company truck at the time, a 1961 Dodge D100.
On to the automotive lesson. Ya know how when you turn on your blinker to turn? Left or right, it’s the same bink, bink, bink, bink, bink, bink. Okay, so years down the road, your blinker now goes, binkbinkbinkbinkbinkbinkbink (much faster, eh). This is telling you that you have a light bulb in one of those sockets that has blown. Stop at a safe location and run your blinkers to see what bulb is out. Then? Replace all your bulbs. Because if one is old and blown, the others will follow. And brother, or sister, it’s easier to do it now rather than later. And by later I mean after the nice police person has hauled you in for a dui because your blinker was out.
xo, Biggles
Chile Verde – slow simmering fun with food
I found the pitchers!
This isn’t necessarily an exact recipe, this time. This batch was something I did on the spur of the moment, not sure what happened really. I was doing my weekly shopping (fer kid’s lunches and junk) and walked passsed the chile peppers and thought to myself, CHILE VERDE. It was just like that too, chile verde. If you’d like a more exacting recipe, try my Pork Chili recipe. In any case, come along for some stewing fun, eh?
Frypan Fine Art
You, “Hey slackass! Where’s the chile verde post?”
Me, “Um, I can’t find the pitchers.”
You, “Whaddya mean you can’t find the pictures, moron.”
Me, “I uh, well, like I checked boffe computers and they ain’t there.”
You, “Find them asshole.”
I’ll keep looking, I’ll bet they’re here someplace. I think my computer is too big, too many pockets.
I snapped this shot last night while laying down some corn oil for to sear some pork steak action. The colors on the little screen on the camera were even bright and happy. The only photoshopping I did was jack the contrast a bit. Pretty cool, eh?
Biggles
NagelHenge – a portrait of the biggles
Muh friend Bart Nagel took this shot with a real polaroid 680 SE. Thank you Cookiecrumb & the most awesome Cranky for hosting the party in which this was made possible. I’m pretty fricken proud and yet most happy of the outcome of this photograph and plan to use it for anything I can.
Not only do I rule, but am one handsome Guy.
xo, Biggles
Blacken those chile peppers Biggles!
I absolutely adore fussing with a large pot of something stewy. I don’t cook this way using a recipe, more along the lines of ratios. Ya know? Such as, if you have 3 pounds of pork shoulder, then you use about half that in tomatillos. And how many green chile peppers do you use? A lot, about *this* much I’d say.
All ready for a chile verde post? Me too, but maybe tomorrow. Ha ha. Nope, today I just stopped by because I had great fun in blackening the chile peppers. I made this pot of green love last night, after work, after picking up the kids from school. I was a little impatient and didn’t feel like roasting the peppers one at a time. See, usually I just toss the suckers on a burner, jack the heat and use my giant tweezers to rotate the little guys. “What to do, what to do?”
Tinker and Tanker knew what to do! They grabbed the fire ring from the wok, tossed on a heavy gauge cooling/baking rack and made a little grill! It was awesome and the picture is pretty too. Ah, the simple things in life make the propeller on my straw hat whirl. And um, if you’ve been doing this for years, don’t point & laugh too hard, eh?
xo, Biggles
poor little sleepy meathenge
Man, even I’m getting tired of looking at that stoopid mater. I wanted to stop by this gorgeous Sunday morning and say hi to everyone. I’ve been more than bucktoothed evil busy and ain’t got time for much fun stuff. Two of which are cooking and posting on Meathenge. Everyone is doing fine and am getting ready to head out for some food shopping. I’ve got this hankerin’ for chile verde in my blood today, not sure how that will go. I may end up having a cool refreshing beverage and watching some foozball. I don’t consider myself a sports fan, I have no idea who the players are or what teams are which. But I do know I like to drink cold beers and watch them play. To me, it just seems like the right thing to do on a cloudy Sunday afternoon.
Take care and hope to see you all very soon!
xo, Biggles
Change, as much as you hate it, is coming.
it ain’t spring, gone
garden brown, no meat here
bright red love stay, juicy sweet
Biggles
Meathenge California Style, “A Bowl of Red”
Recipes for chili are about as numerous as cold remedies, tales of woe & mac vs. pc arguments. No matter which list of ingredients, no matter how long you simmer it, you’re doing it wrong. So, I say, sit down and contemplate why you enjoy chili and base your recipe against that. And this is how I came up with Meathenge’s California Style, “A Bowl of Red”.
Sunset over Meathenge
summer is over
must get over it meat boy
pretty little loves are drooping
-Biggles
Chili Cook-Off & Car Show – Rodeo California
Hey listen up you lunkheads. Not only do you get a chance for a Chili Cook-Off, but you get to watch my good friend and yours, Chilebrown, compete! He’s entered and got his team nearly put together. And unlike local BBQ competitions, you’ll be able to sample the goods. Cool, eh?
Saturday, September 15th from 10am to 4pm come have a visit. If you’re wondering how you’ll find ol’ CB, here you go.
You can’t miss’im. See you there!
Chili Cook-Off & Car Show
Lefty Gomez Field
Saturday, September 15th 2007
10am to 4pm
UPDATE: Team Chilebrown WON !!!
Please click through for stuff.
Sunrise over Meathenge
dreams of late, big meat
grand canyon looks like cookin’ hole
sunrise over meathenge
Happy Labor Day !!!
Says here today is considered a day of rest, don’t have to ask me twice. And since I’ll be resting, won’t have the time to be roastin’ up Rocket J. this afternoon.
Oh beautiful squirrel,
Your meat, my grill. We are one.
Tomorrow, I must eat you.
Biggles
Lemon Chicken (Ivory Coast Recipe) – An Amelia Ray Production
Meathenge is honored to have the very famous musician, artist & all around fun person, Amelia Ray step in for a little recipe action today. I haven’t seen her in quite a while, but it looks as though she’s doing just fine. And I have to say this recipe is pretty fricken cool. Just when you thought you’d had chicken every possible way, something like this rolls along. Let’s sit back and see what’s she’s gots.
Lemon Chicken (Ivory Coast Recipe)
Someone left an entire chicken in my freezer a couple of weeks ago. I don’t have an oven, so I searched around for a recipe for cooking a chicken in a pot on the stove. I found a dusty old Italian recipe book, and there, to my delight, was a lovely recipe for lemon chicken!