Nothing happened, and that's a pretty good thing

Back to work after a long weekend. It was tough to get into the swing.

Thursday I took a vacation day to go to the dentist to have work started on a crown. As previously posted, the last time I took a day off to go to the dentist I spent 4 days in the burn unit and missed 3 weeks of work. That didn't happen this time. The only issue I had is the way they numb your mouth to do the work. Whatever they inject into the nerve keeps my face numb for close to 7 hours.

It rained the rest of the day, and I didn't do anything. Sat in my chair and dozed on and off. I need days like that once in a while.

Friday we loaded up the van and drove to D and M's cottage. It's only about 40 miles so we were able to get there shortly after noon. We unloaded and the kids were in the water almost immediately. The adults just hung out, had a couple of beers, and cooked on an old Weber kettle. Dinner was good, the company even better. We all sat around the campfire while the kids "cooked" marshmallows.

Now this is a difficult thing for me to witness.

When I was 8 my family took the entire summer off and we drove to Alaska. Yes, drove. We traveled in a 1968 Ford Econoline van that had been specially modified by my dad. We stayed in campgrounds the entire way up, and roasted marshmallows every night. (Mind you if 'smores' had been invented then, we didn't know it and we ate just the marsmallows.) My dad showed us how to do it without igniting the delicate white puffs, and by the end of the trip we were turning out perfect, gooey, golden brown marshmallows every time, and our personal marshmallow sticks were revered and pampered.

My kids don't seem to be concerned with producing good eats.

I think they are fire bugs.

You know, pyromaniacs.

If they had archery equipment they would shoot flaming-marshmallow-tipped-arrows at each other. Or us.

Friday night brought severe thunderstorms to the area. No wind really, but a lot of rain and a lot of lightning.

And with lightning comes thunder. There was a massive BOOM so close to the cottage that it woke me up. That never happens. The kids were all outside in a pop up camper, and never even stirred.

Saturday we were up early to prep a brisket to throw on one of the WSMs. I used my pork butt rub on it instead of my brisket rub as I had a huge batch left over. It was OK, but not nearly as good as my brisket rub. The biggest issue is the pork rub produces a great bark, which I like on butts, but made it hard to slice a brisket. Everyone who ate it said it was excellent, but I knew better. I didn't get a chance to rest it and it was dry.

Prior to the brisket being done D and I did a test cook of an idea we had for competition chicken. We were thrilled with the results, but we can do better and will find time in the next couple of weeks to test a couple more things.

When all of the cooking was done we had a feast of brisket slices, burnt ends, smoked chicken thighs, pinto beans, potatoes, and fresh green beans. It was truly a great meal.

I think the company (which included D's mom and dad, co-owners of the cottage and really lovely people) covered a multitude of errors in my cooking.

The leftover burnt ends and potatoes were converted to hash on Sunday served with fried eggs and toast. Waste not, want not. Right?

After a stop at Culver's we were home before 2:00pm Sunday.

A truly wonderful weekend.