REAL BBQ!

Not grilling today. Barbecuing! Smoking if you will. Julie got up at 5am to start coals for me. I got up 45 minutes later and put a brisket on. Seasoned and rubbed it last night. Should be good stuff! I don't know how long it will take but I assume we'll be eating sometime between 3 and 6.

We also have some babybacks to go on later as well.

Need to whip up a good BBQ sauce and we're gonna have a great day!

OMG! My Eyes!

So I looked in the mirror today. I paid special attention to my eyes. Wanted to see the dark spots under my eyes and see if they're better or worse. They're better today than they've been all week. That's a good thing. But they have a LOT more wrinkles. I couldn't believe what I was looking at. I didn't look like that a month ago.

So AT&T has finished running fiber to my neighborhood. I need to meet da man at my house today to dump the DSL and get on their UVerse fiber network. 10Mbps! w00t! Well, for 30 days anyway, then I get cut back to a 6Mbps connection. But still, that rox. And now that it's on fiber, only one way to go from there!

I'll be playing Kanadian Golf tomorrow. My father-in-law and our golf buddy will be playinig regular golf. I'll be sharing a kart with the Kanadian, so we'll be playinig Kanadian golf. Kanadians don't use drivers, they use 5-woods. But for whatever reason they outdrive everyone else. Kanadians also say things like, "Fuck Golf" at random times. And they don't know how to putt. Must be all the hockey.

Tomorrow night: BBQ + booze - negativity = fun.

OBTW.. Has anyone heard from Ba? The greatest Kenyan to ever grace the face of the planet?

Julie + Chicken + Grill == RAWX!

Really. Her chicken rox. And I mean real chicken. Not boneless, skinless shizznit. I mean legs, thighs, etc.

I don't really know what else to say. I'm still in heaven from last night's meal.

Bite my ass.

Andy's Birthday / Cancer Sux Party

Ok so 2 long posts in one day. I was going to put this on the "news reel" post (see below) but felt it worthy of its own announcement.

Friends, family, and cancer haters,
Andy's birthday is 8/6. The following Saturday just happens to be 8/9. This just happens to be the day he was diagnosed, one year ago.

So.. Saturday, 8/9 will be Andy's birthday party and Andy's "Cancer Sux" party!

We would like to request that only family bring gifts for the little guy. We are expecting an unusually large number of people in and out that day and if everyone brought a gift we would be loaded with more than we can handle. Seriously, if you're not family don't bring a gift. Maybe donate a few bucks to one of our favorite cancer charities instead? You know the ones we love.

So of course it's Andy's birthday party but also with the "Cancer Sux" theme. Everyone has been touched by cancer one way or another. This is not only a celebration of Andy's full recovery but also just a chance to give a nod, so to speak, to our friends, loved ones, or even ourselves who have had a battle with cancer.

Bring any beer, soda, ice, etc. We will be providing food.

The party will be held at Andy's house.

Please RSVP no later than 7/31. If you're reading this then you have a way of contacting us to RSVP and for directions / address.

Please forward this on to your usual list of people. Maybe I already invited some of them, maybe not.

The Kelley News Reel (Andy Update!)

I've either been too sick or too busy to make any significant posts lately, so here goes.

First Andy. We went to the hospital yesterday to meet the surgeon. Seems like a nice guy. He has no problems getting the boy's port out. He was more concerned about the hernia that started it all. Left alone this type of hernia could potentially cause bowel blockage and ultimately... well.. we don't need any more problems.

So they did an ultrasound on Andy who was extremely well-behaved during the procedure. No meds necessary to get him to sit still even!

Once the surgeon looks at the ultrasound he'll decide if Andy still needs to have the hernia fixed. Either way we'll get his surgery scheduled soon.

At the hospital people kept stopping us in the hall to say hello to the little boy in the car who's no longer in the car. A couple of people recognized him from the billboard.

We went to the 4th floor. They were really excited to see him and how healthy he is. One thing I noticed in our stay there was that they always like to see their recovered kids. The fruits of their labor really.

In other news Joey's home! He had a great time. My dad claims they went sightseeing. Joey said they got lost and drove all over Kansas City. All a matter of perspective.

It's looking like shank or be shanked for Joe. Public school for kindergarten and probably first grade. I'm thinking by the time we have 2 in school and 1 at the babysitter we should be able to afford private school.

Joey lost another tooth! It happened while boxing with my brother. Ha!

Emma. What can I say? She's our Em! It still amazes me how fast she is picking up on things just from doing whatever Joey does. She sure looks up to her big bubba.

On the Kandian front, Greg's wife caught him in bed with a man.

On the radom neuron side of things, I do not exceed the speed limit on the highway. If I'm driving across state and the speed limit is 65, I go 65. Not sure why. I just do. Actually yes, I know why. With every action I take on the road, I ask myself, "Can I afford a ticket?" If the answer is no, I don't do it.

Julie's grilling kick continues. Every time I turn around the BBQ pit is fired up. I'm definitely not complaining!

Let's see.. Sports. Why can't the NL win? Why? Why? For the love of hell, guys! Win a damn game! Screw the yankees! Screw the sox!

Economy! Gas prices should be either at their highest point of the year or almost there. Assuming no hurricanes, war, or other uncontrollable significant factors.

Nuke Kanada!

What a Nice Weekend!

Friday, as I recall, we did a whole lot of nothing.

Saturday I bbq'd (technically I grilled) my world famous hamburgers. I made a BBQ sauce at around 11:00am and let it boil down for about 3 or 4 hours. Did my burgers, threw them on the grill. I took the spices from my sauce that didn't get mixed in and coated a few strips of bacon with them. The bacon, too, went on the grill. Top it off with some grilled-on cheddar and some grilled vandalia onions and we had one helluva meal! P&B came over and helped us enjoy the Q.

Of course the buns were grilled too. I brushed on some melted butter w/ garlic to add to the effect. :)

Today (Sunday) we went to the in-laws. I went with my father-in-law a few days ago to help him pick out a computer. Helped him get setup today. I bought some 410 shells on the way out because Joey wanted to shoot and a 410 is a good place to start. I fired off one shot to show Joey what the recoil would look like. After that loud noise he decided no way.

But no big deal. Because we took his Little Tykes Hummer H2 out there with us this time. He had a blast riding it all over that big yard.

Of course it was capped off with some BBQ chicken. :)

Happy Birthday Poopy! (Happy New Year Too!)

My baby sister turns 17 today. Everyone say it with me. 1, 2, 3... Happy Birthday Poopy!

Also on the Kelley calendar this is a new year. Memorial day marks the beginning of the new year in the Kelley house. Yeah I know I'm weird. But it's my favorite weekend of the year and the world seems changed after Memorial day. It's a new beginning. Let's hope this is better than last year. And the year before.

I did a brisket (sp?) yesterday. It smoked for about 8 hours. It was awesome. I took the spices that I used in my rub and made it the spices for my BBQ sauce. It was really one of my better BBQ's. I'm quite proud of the results. Julie's family was over for the BBQ. They all enjoyed it. There's obviously no brisket left. :)

Kanadians love enemas.

Nice Weekend

I had a great birthday weekend (kinda)! Let's recap:

Friday - Emma woke me up at 6:00am as usual. But it's ok, I'm off work! No biggie. Wait for Joey & Andy to wake up, take them to my mom's. We hung out there for a bit. By the time I came home, Julie left work early to hang out with me on my birthday. We went out to eat at PF Chang's. After Chang's we hung out a bit. We wound up at Schlafley Bottleworks.

We had a couple drinks there, got a growler, then went to the Central West End with her sister & brother-in-law. The idea was we were going to dinner at Bar Louie. Absolutely no-frickin-where to park and it was cold as hell. After a bit of driving around I got frustrated so we came back to the house, I ate leftover pizza, then we went to a local place for a bit.

We were both asleep by 9pm.

Saturday - No hangover! I was hoping to have a hangover the day after the 10th anniversary of my 20th birthday. But I didn't. It turns out you need to drink to have one. Go figure.

So anyway we picked up Andy and took him to a photo shoot at the hospital. He is to be one of the kids featured on billboards, posters, etc. Good pics of him in the little car that he became synonomous with during his stays at the hospital.

That bothered me a bit. See, the last few days something has been bothering me in regards to Andy. I dunno. But that car. It sent chills down my spine. I think it's too soon, too fresh, too raw, to be exposed to that car.

Ok, put that behind us, ignore the coldass weather, and play with my new birthday present. Namely, my new grill! So I put on my leather coat and my hat to protect my ears from the 20-degrees-below-normal April chill. I went outside and I grilled. And it was good.

We had a fun Saturday with quite a few guests. A great time was had by all! I ate so much food that I simply couldn't handle it anymore. I was literally in pain.

And I think there was something in those brownies from Dweeze!

Sunday - We've pretty much hung out all day. The kids were generally well-behaved.

Emma put a piece of candy in her nose. Deep up there. We couldn't get it out. We were in the truck getting ready to go to the ER when she finally sneezed it out.

Just another day in paradise.

Oh, BTW, why the "Kinda"? Like I said, I'm still reeling a bit from what we went through with Andy. Some days are better than others. Friday & Saturday were bad days for those thoughts. And yes I know what you're thinking. I'll be calling my doctor this week.

By the way, many folks have asked about Greg. Here is some video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBGIQ7ZuuiU

First "BBQ" of the Season

So the first "BBQ" of the season is now under our belts. I put "BBQ" in quotes because in St. Louis, we refer to grilling as BBQ. In fact, St. Louis-style BBQ is actually grilled not barbecued at all.

No pork steaks. We had brats and salciccias. Instead of coming from Schnucks, though, they came from a local German meat market. They were awesome.

I took some Maull's and added some Budweiser and a buttload of garlic. Let it simmer a bit. It was a great complement.

Of course you'll recall some inconsiderate kid decided to melt plastic all over my grill at Andy's first birthday, so we're using a loaner grill for the time being.

It was good. I did BBQ, Julie did her famous potato salad and other indoor goodies. I threw back a few and wound up with a buzz. The weather was great. The kids played outside.

It felt good being a normal dad again.

Now a word on Saint Louis-style BBQ. Also known as South City BBQ.

It starts with the meat selection. The meat notoriously comes from either Schnucks or another local meat market including but not limited to Soulard Farmer's Market. The St. Louis staple is a pork steak. For those of you not from the area, a pork steak is simply a pork butt sliced into steaks.

Along with pork steaks, we usually do brats, salciccas, or another type of sausage. Burgers, too, are commonplace as is chicken.

The next step is to fire up the grill. Notice I said grill not smoker. St. Louis style "BBQ" means grilling in a Weber.

Once a good fire is going, throw it on! Burgers and chicken. go over the direct heat. Sausages and pork steaks go farther away from the fire.

Turn often!

If a fire flares up, throw a bit of beer on it.

Once the meat is almost done, grab your Maull's BBQ sauce and slop it on. If some of the sauce chars, that's fine. Personally I don't like burned sauce so I keep a very close eye on it and only let it go for a couple of minutes. Just long enough to make the sauce pretty much stick to the meat.

When it comes off the grill, it's moved to a dish that is full of Maull's. Drown that meat! Let it stand 5 - 10 minutes before eating.

Finish watching the Cardinals game, have one more beer, then make the kids clean up the mess.

That's St. Louis-style BBQ.