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

Whether you grill, smoke or do mostly oven roasted goodness, your cutting board always has some form of delectable juices laying about in the trough around the edges. This is where you’ll find lovers of the medium dredging their kill through for extra flavors and textures. It’s prized highly and never lasts long.
Well, at a local gathering on Saturday this nectar of the gods went faster than normal. You see, Cameron of Married … with Dinner was in attendance. I’d never met the guy, or his wife Anita. They’re the kind of people that within about one half of a conversation you realize they’re no slouches in whatever they do. These people know tons of junk and are keen as a razor’s edge. But why was Cameron pouring the meat juices in to a small drinking class, actually 2 glasses?
He disappeared, 1 in each hand. When he returned, a shot of vodka had been added to the slurry. And by slurry I mean, pork, beef, lamb, bacon, goat and andouille. Cameron handed one to me and drank his down. A sip first, then mine followed. Man, it was surely a good meaty, then spiky booze hit, then fatty meat, then booze. It was crazy, it was like gravy, but a booze drink. I dearly loved both the flavors and mixtures and how it finished.
Thank you Cameron, thank you very much.
xo, Biggles

Note: The following may contain adult content and/or adult language, be advised. Be very advised.

To whom it may concern,
I’ve grown up with your family of products and remember the thrill as far back as about 1971. Since my bedroom was somewhat below ground, moisture and mold were always a problem. Not with your aerosol fueled disinfectant, it was all good in a matter of seconds.
As I aged, it helped to calm the smoky goodness of the reefer. But that was short lived, just made me hungry and paranoid. I’ve got enough of both, naturally. I spent time talking to and learning from other people who enjoyed the cleaners. It wasn’t long before I had a good supply of the best my local grocery could offer, I had it all.

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Cheers !!!
This is far more evil that it was meant to be. But so be it, kinda nice actually. Not sure how the fish feel about it …

Hey Biggles. Where you at son? poke poke
Hey Biggles, you dere? Whut? Hey dumbass, you do remember you have a food related web site you’re responsible for, don’t you? Where? Keeripes man, Meathenge. Oh yeah. I was wondering why it went quiet a few weeks ago. The amount of time I have available to do such things comes to about 30 minutes from time to time. I use this smidge for watching such mind numbing movies as McBain. It’s a Vietnam War era movie wherein Christopher Walken plays Chuck Norris. No really. And I should have used the word rotting for numbing.
Even through my total lack of time for to make Meathenge shine, we’ve come to our 4th birthday here! That’s right, it’s been a tad over 4 years since Meathenge hit the streets. Pretty darned cool, huh? That’s 28 in Blog Years.
I’ve made friends I can easily say will be around for a lifetime. Got some photographs published along with some recipes and even mentions in newspapers from afar. Meathenge has top rankings in google for quite a few topics, such as our beloved Andreas Viestad. Adjusting old gas ranges has turned in to a weekly discussion and the topic was posted about 2 years ago! That Caja China roasting box post I did was one of the first on the net. The only site that was of any help was Babalu. Today? It’s everywhere, even the food network. Great fun!
Without your cheers with hardly any jeers I’ve had a great time and hope to continue on in to the glistenny future. Summer is coming am looking forward to a little more time for recipes, pictures & fun. Hang tight, we’re not going away. No how, no way.
xo, Rev. Biggles
ps – That’s right, I can now bless your meat.

It says there, “The World’s First! Appetite Control Toothpaste.
What the hell ?!?! My first thought was, “Do we really need this?” And then, I figured, “Of course we do, look! It’s right there!” And yet it’s already on the clearance isle. Har har har.
I’ve been here at the keyboard over the last few minutes. Wrote down a few paragraphs, then erased paragraphs. This is so pathetic ol’ Biggles is rant free. All I can figure is that someone was looking out for the tweakers. Now speed freaks can have good teeth too. Cause you know that’s the only idiot that’d consider it. So, the next time you see some unbathed, shaky, wild eyed creature with a toothbrush in their hip pocket, check their smile. You’ll have the 411 and you saw it first at Meathenge.
xo, Biggles

“Just Heat ‘Em and Eat ‘Em”
Oh it hurts, I don’t like it. My stomach is hurting and it’s only been a minute. Like a chicken nugget with cayenne, bad cayenne. Bad nugget. Oh, I don’t like this.
Meathead brought this package of love from the local drug store for to have lunch with. He shared a piece with me. Such a pal, eh? There was another delicious delight, but I let him have his food in peace.

For 1 dollar you get 2.95 ounces of ‘bites” in the shape of a boot. There’s 5 pieces in there at a calorie count of 230. 22% of my daily fat and 31% of the sodium intake.
Meathead says, “Oh that was awful.” And I agree, that wasn’t very good and I don’t like it.
Biggles

We planted a lemon tree about 7 years ago. Did all the mulchin’ and not as much fertilizing as we should have. Even though. Once you see the lemon growing, it takes about 2 years for it to start turning yellow. Then, I leave it for another 3 years until it “looks” mature.
At that point, the pith is inches thick and the ‘meat’ ain’t right.
Anyone got ideas as to making it right? Or is 3,4 to 5 years correct for a ripening lemon?

Here’s the tree, taken in February.
Biggles

Fatted Calf pork chop on cast iron griddle.

Oh man, not sure why the HELL I would even remotely show you my refrigerator. Sam over at Becks & Posh showed me hers. If you show me yours, I’ll show you mine. Isn’t that how it all starts? I can only dream.
Check out the upper right with the Fritos Bean Dip along with the Welch’s Grape Jelly, cool eh? Then to the left we have Sunnyside 2% milk along with some nondescript apple juice. Behind that is some “marmelade” that hasn’t been touched in years. Below that we find the “cheese” drawer. This is more of an experimentation drawer than anything else. I have Canadian bacon in there from 2005.
As we bounce down there seems to be some dozen eggs of an ilk that I bought last week. Or was it the week before? Some yolks don’t spread too badly. At the bottom there’s the pile of Tamales that show up at my door every two weeks (breakfast). In the foil is the beef roast I did last night.

It wasn’t very good. The spice and cook action was there, but the meat was dead and non-deliverable. Below all that is the vegetable drawer. I don’t know what’s in there, probably bagged lettuce, spinach and carrots I meant to juice.
Just like Sam’s, only different.
xo, Biggles
——————————
Snap to the next morning and did this before 9am. And guess what? I set things up so nothing needs to go back on top of the fridge! I’ll have to do a collage er somethin’.

Me, again

Dang, was on the freeway heading out at 10:30 Sunday morning. A trip that usually takes me 15 minutes to get to and through, was about 45 minutes. Turns out some gasoline rig turned over, spilled its guts and caught on fire. It melted the steel and the road collapsed. Luckily nobody lost thems lives.
A hard right would have taken us to San Francisco. Light left and we’re heading East.
It totally sucked to be in that crap, my clutch leg is still sore. But check out the photograph I got on the fly !!!
I rule.
Biggles
ps – The only photoshop I did was to use the channel mixer and check the monochrome box. Then? A tiny bit of sharpening, only because I was doing 30, one handed, watching traffic and not getting in another collision.

Last few weeks been painfully busy taking care of 2 boys that were/are sick. Now my throat is scratchy and starting to feel wierd. Taking tons of vits and liquids, we’ll see how that goes. I’m sure I’ll be fine, what could possibly go wrong?
On a lighter side. Many of you have known for quite some time Meathenge’s comment system hasn’t quite been up to snuff. In fact, it basically junked good comments and I never knew you stopped by. This was especially obvious to Shuna and Kevin. In any case, sister is working on it this very moment. We’re getting there, eh.

Except for Tea’s visit on Sunday for Meathenge’s first Grilling Class, here’s how much I’ve been cooking. See? That’s the last onion I bought. Yes, I will be posting about The Visit, you bet.
xo

It wasn’t too many years ago when I met Amelia Ray. She was introduced to me through a mutual friend, as it turned out a fan of Meathenge already. Such a small world we live in, eh? She was, and still is, an accomplished musician (she has paying gigs, hoser). Check out her bio and site, she’s got talent (the good kind) oozing our her ear holes.
Now we turn to page 2 and she’s put up a food blog. And cause she’s got creativity, she came up with a pretty fricken unique idea. She interviews people via telephone from her home in Spain and has them do a recipe and cook a dish this way. You can see where this is going, huh?
Page 3 is where we find our plucky hero with a silly headset on using Skype to braise a pork roast in milk. I’d never used Skype before, Mama set it up for me. It uses a broadband connection to connect you to anyone around the world so you can talk for free. It’s a lot like using a 1940’s radio and transmitter. Or like I remember telephoning my grandparents in Kansas. You had to wait a moment for your voice to reach them or you’ll talk over them and get all screwed up. Alright, so anyway it was my turn on Food Operator.
Please be kind, this was my nearly my first time using Skype and I was as nervous as hell. I accidentally talked over Amelia at every turn and only had minimal prep. It’s how I am with studying. I have to say though, she knows what she’s doing and after listening to the production and editing, I am impressed. Thank you Amelia and surely F.O. will be nothing but fun and high adventure.
Go now: Dr. Biggles’ Arrosto Di Maiale Al Latte
Biggles

Well, here’s my second draft. The first draft was a pretty well crafted rant about Chowhound. But I think it’s all been said before and recently by Sam and Fatemeh and a few others here in the SF Bay Area.
Suffice it to say, “Good bye Chowhound. It was fun for a while, but your lack of thoughtfulness to your posters has caused me to remove you from my bookmarks. And the grief you’ve caused to chefs and restaurant owners is unforgivable.”
Biggles
ps – It’s easy to criticize and I thought maybe I should offer up a suggestion or two. If an entry needs to be removed or edited, the poster should receive and email letting them know what’s going on and why it should be removed or edited. Offer some support, some ideas, assist your posters in becoming better at what they do. There needs to be some way the restaurant owners, cooks and chefs and/or staff can have a venue too. Why does there have to be such a gap between us and them? It doesn’t seem right. There needs to be an open communication so service and food can improve. Instead, it’s a bitter chew for the owner who can’t stand up for their establishment. Why is this important? Diners can be nitwits too and expect too much or have the concept completely wrong.
There, that sets it right for me.

A few years ago I spent maybe 4 months researching a smoker. If I was going to spend my hard earned scrilla I wanted to make sure I got a decent pit. During my travels around the nation (via my office chair & a computer) I ran across some neat information. Here’s something I kept hid away and ran into it recently. It’s the story of how Kingsford Charcoal Briquets came into being, and a few added comments from Kit Anderson, Top Pitmaster …

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