Feliz Cumpleanos!!!

Happy Birthday to our turd schnauzer Baxter! 

Three years old today. Hard to believe we've almost had him 3 years.

Red Hot Chili Peppers

J and I went to go see the Red Hot Chili Peppers at the Toyota Center on Saturday. We still love us some 90's rock. These guys put on one awesome show. They played a lot of the classics as well as some new stuff. Flea and Anthony both still bring so much energy to the stage. I'll post the set list from our show. I think the highlight of the show for me was their cover of Stevie Wonder's "Higher Ground". I also found a video of their FULL SET from their show at the Bonnaroo Music Festival that I'll post below as well. Their show from Austin City Limits is also on YouTube. It's amazing how many concerts are on there.

Monarchy of Roses

Around the World

Snow ((Hey Oh))

Can't Stop

Scar Tissue

Look Around

Hard to Concentrate

The Adventures of Rain Dance Maggie

I Like Dirt

Universally Speaking

Under the Bridge

Factory of Faith

Higher Ground (Stevie Wonder cover)

Californication

By the Way

Encore:

Chad & Mauro Jam

Tell Me Baby

I Could Have Lied

Give It Away

Chew First?

Couple of weeks ago we went to a dog birthday party at a dog park. There was birthday cake and everything. Was fun for all the dogs to get out. I took this video of Abby eating her cake. Don't blink or you might miss it.

Sunday Funday

The trout and shrimp diablo

Couple stories and things to share from the past week that I'm just going to throw into one blog.

Sunday we got up and made pancakes from a Kerbey Lane mix. First time in a long time that we had done pancakes at home. It was a gingerbread mix. Not to shabby. After church we did Sunday lunch with Kate, Coy and Beth at Texadelphia to eat queso and watch football. The great thing about Sunday's at Texadelphia is, it can be nice and relaxing, have some queso, ice tea, a cheese steak, and call it an afternoon. Or, as it did this past Sunday, the pitchers of beer start coming and it becomes Sunday Funday.  We sat and watched all the noon NFL games and had a great time. After the games were over, it was decided that we move the party back to our house to keep the party going. We watched the afternoon games and of course the Texans game that night. Coy bought some shrimp so we made some shrimp diablo on the smoker. I have a long way to go before I can compete with Dad's, but they were pretty tasty. Also smoked some trout. Even though the Texans and Cowboys lost that day, it was good times. Had been a long time since we had a Sunday like that.

Monday I get an email from Luton, with a picture attached to it, of a selection of beers at his local HEB. The beer in particular that he was wanting me to notice was a Dominican beer called Presidente. Presidente was the beer I drank all throughout our honeymoon in Anguilla. Loved the stuff. Its a nice light lager. And when we got back, I couldn't find it anywhere and as it turned out it, the beer was not distributed in the US. Matt and Itala even bought me a Presidente shirt when they vacationed down in the Dominican earlier this year. So much to my surprise when I see this picture Matt sent me, with Presidente being at HEB. I of course asked him if he bought me some but for some crazy reason he didn't. I ended up finding some at a Specs in town and bought a case of it. So excited and it tastes just like I remembered it. Brings back some great memories from our week in Anguilla.

This week I was in Omaha, NE for work. Cool town. Home of the NCAA College World Series. I had been there a couple of times before. While I was there, I got a text from Janelle that her cousin Natalie, had asked us to be Godparents for her newborn son Noah! We are so honored and blessed to be asked and can't wait to meet the little guy. This will be my first Godchild and I must say I'm very excited about it. Yes, you can call me The Godfather from now on.

In similar news, I was asked last week by my cousin Katy to be her confirmation sponsor. One, I can't believe she's getting so old and already going through the confirmation process. Two, I was honored she thought of me to ask and told her of course I would be her sponsor. It's crazy that I was asked to be her sponsor and to be a godparent in the same week. I'm honored and blessed to be asked to be a part these special occasions and represent both Katy and Noah in their lives in the Catholic church.

I'll end this post with another smoking picture/story. Did steaks tonight that we had in the freezer. Cooked a top sirloin for J, and my personal favorite, the bone-in ribeye for myself. They both came out fantastic. When we bought the smoker, I never thought I would do steaks and burgers on them, but now I can't imagine doing them any way else. The best part about using the smoker is the steaks always come out perfectly cooked and cooked even through the whole steak. After seasoning the steaks (I'm currently using steak seasoning from Perry's meat market), I seer them in a cast iron skillet, about a minute each side. I put a little oil in the skillet and get it good and hot. The majority of reading I've done on cooking steaks involves obtaining a good seer on the steak in order to trap the juices inside. I only do about a minute a side in order to keep from actually cooking the steak. I'll adjust the time depending on if its a thinner, or thicker steak (ex. filet). I then place the steaks on the traeger, which I have set and pre-heated to 300 degrees. From there I just leave them on until they hit the desired internal temperature (135-140 for medium rare). Usually takes about 20-25 minutes on the smoker, and I'll flip the steak once halfway through. So delicious.

Ok thats enough from me tonight. Vaya con dios.

Johnny Football Ribs

The Traeger Grill

Hi. My name is Thomas. And I'm addicted to smoking.

Earlier this year, due to inspiration from the Reinecke clan, we purchased a Traeger Grill. It's the next best thing to sliced bread. It's basically an electrical smoker that burns natural wood pellets and self regulates itself to keep the grill at a set temperature. I borrowed Mark Reinecke's smoker to smoke our turkeys at Christmas, and was hooked. 

So as time goes on, I will be posting on my smoking endeavors here as well. I've always enjoyed grilling but this grill/smoker has taken my enjoyment to a whole new level. Every time Janelle and I walk into HEB, I walk through the meat market and think about what I can smoke next. We've done brisket, pork shoulder, pork tenderloin, beef tenderloin, beer can chicken, chicken wings, burgers, steaks, ect. 

Salud!

Saturday, I tried ribs for the first time. I smoked a slab of baby backs, and a slab of spare ribs. Both came out great. We kept the baby back dry ("memphis style"), and sauced the spare ribs. Definitely have room for improvement but they were edible!

On a side note, the Aggie's pulled out an amazing 4th quarter comeback Saturday night. Ever since Coach Sumlin was hired, it felt like this team was going to be different, and after the 2nd half collapse against Florida, it looked like this team were going to be the same ole Aggies. But after last nights comeback, you can tell this team is different and Coach Sumlin has them heading in the right direction. I saw this video from the post game in the locker room and had to share. Give me some pads, I'm ready to play.

Finished product
Spare Ribs (Left), Baby Backs (Right)

You can tell we were concerned
about the Ag's 6 turnovers

Proper Debate Preperation

If only Obama or Romney had Stephen Colbert to prep them for the debates.....

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
The Rumble in the Air-Conditioned Auditorium Debate Prep
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog The Daily Show on Facebook

                       


                       

FYI

Just in case you were wondering, there are only 22 (Baxter), 28 (Janelle), 29 (Thomas), and 51 (Abby), shopping days till our birthdays. Don't say I didn't warn you.

Baxter says a 6 pack of Tecate will suffice