Hippy Burpday

Hippy Burpday Walker! Many happy returns of the day from good 'ole Blighty

thanks, BB! I usually take the day off work on my birthday, but I'm a little too busy to do that right now, so here I am in front of the computer.

But... I am cracking into a 1L bottle of my stout as soon as I get home today, and I'm looking forward to the special mystery dinner my wife is preparing. I wasn't allowed to get anything out of the fridge last night because it would have spoiled my surprise, so I got to tell my wife to fetch me things all evening. That's like TWO special days in a row!

-walker

Walker said:

...I wasn't allowed to get anything out of the fridge last night because it would have spoiled my surprise, so I got to tell my wife to fetch me things all evening. That's like TWO special days in a row!-walker

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I hope it wasn't roadkill! Happy B'day!

maybe I'll grab a burger on the way home just in case.

Happy B'day, man! As long as the dinner isn't a mystery after it's served, it's all good

happy birthday walker! did you take the day off??

i normally do, but can't this year due to some hefty deadlines on monday.

this is the first time I've gone to work on my birthday... ever. I even used to skip all my classes in college on this day, so this is kind of the first time I've done anything on Dec 1st other than be a lazy, smoking, drinking, bum.

That's not a good/healthy lifestyle, but one day out of the year it's nice.

-walker

I know how you feel Walker. My first job gave us our bdays off as a benefit and ever since then I have refused to work on my bday. It's my one gift to myself. Of course I also like it because my bday is in June

I usually go to work just to pinch a free lunch off of my colleagues.

my work actually caters in lunch every Thursday, so I got my free lunch that way.

-walker

There's no such thing as a free lunch

Have a good one. I'll crack one of the ciders that you helped me name in your honor tonight.

BlightyBrewer said:

There's no such thing as a free lunch

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This is true. Do you know that you are supposed to claim the value of any food provided by your employer as additional income, which the feds will then tax you on?

At our headquarters in CA, each employee is given a $5 credit EVERY day for lunch and another $5 credit EVERY day for dinner (if you work past 7pm) to be used in the on-site cafeteria.

Let's see... that's $10/day, 5 days/week, 52 weeks/year.... I would have needed to claim an additional $2,600 in taxable income!

Yeah, right! How many people actually do THAT?


-walker

Walker said:

At our headquarters in CA, each employee is given a $5 credit EVERY day for lunch and another $5 credit EVERY day for dinner (if you work past 7pm) to be used in the on-site cafeteria.

Let's see... that's $10/day, 5 days/week, 52 weeks/year.... I would have needed to claim an additional $2,600 in taxable income!

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They didn't include it on your W-2? My company does for certain freebies, such as concert tickets distributed to the employees at large. The occasional sporting event tickets that filter down don't seem to show up anywhere.

BeeGee said:

They didn't include it on your W-2?

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Nope, because we are not REQUIRED to eat there, and they don't have anything set up to track who does and does not use the credits. They just make sure you have an employee badge when you go past the cashier, and then they ring you up - taking $5 off the total. (I usually got about $4 worth of food and would jokingly ask for my change... they didn't think it was that funny.)

It's all based on the honor system. Nothing prevents you from going through the cafeteria twice and getting a $5 credit each time (unless you go to the same cashier and they remember that you already went through the line.)

-walker

Here's what I was sucking down last night in celebration of become 30-something (as opposed just being 30). pic is a little fuzzy, but...



It washed down my mystery meal pretty good:

BBQ Brisket (homemade BBQ sauce with smoked hamhocks for flavor and 'secret' spice rub for the meat, slow cooked from 10am to 6pm)
twice baked potatoes (with cheddar cheese and bacon)
green beans fried in bacon fat (horrible for the heart, but heaven to the mouth)

and for desert: homemade pecan, caramel, chocolate cheesecake

I felt like I weighed 200 lbs after I ate. Oh, wait... I *do* weight 200 lbs.

-walker

Sounds good, and no visible flaws in the stout! 11 months and 29 days to prepare for the next b-day.

belated happy b-day walker! glad to hear it went well.

BeeGee said:

Sounds good, and no visible flaws in the stout!

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yeah, but the glass is a little greasy from the Brisket juice on my fingers.

-walker

hey walker, tell SWMBO that my b-day is the 13th, and i'll take a mystery meal like that. and a stout too, please!

Walker said:

yeah, but the glass is a little greasy from the Brisket juice on my fingers.

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That's not a flaw per se, although pulled pork shoulder (the real bbq) grease would eliminate all doubt.

and I forgot to mention that the stout is (quote) "A little too heavy" for SWMBO, so my plan worked! I get this whole batch for myself! (SWMBO and her sister killed my IPA and brown ale, easily consuming 2 each for every 1 that I got... 20% for me... 1 gallon.)

-walker

funny. i was thinking why is a carolina's gal making bbq brisket! that's a Texas thang. but, i normaly do pulled pork w/a boston butt and vingegar mop/sauce. love it on a bun w/ slaw......damn!

DeRoux's Broux said:

funny. i was thinking why is a carolina's gal making bbq brisket! that's a Texas thang. but, i normaly do pulled pork w/a boston butt and vingegar mop/sauce. love it on a bun w/ slaw......damn!

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My estimation of your character just keeps going up!

hehehehehe...thanks! i've been going pulled pork for several years, and everybody just giggles like girls when i say "i'm smokin' some ass!". something about that spicey smoked pork w/ that kick ass vinegar sauce. and of course a nice homebrew to wash it down.....

DeRoux's Broux said:

funny. i was thinking why is a carolina's gal making bbq brisket! that's a Texas thang.

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Depsite the fact that I am originally from OH, and have spent the last 8 years in CA and NC.... I have a texan/south-western tounge, and she cooked what she knew I'd like.

-walker

I actually lived in Dallas for two years fresh out of college and ate at the bbq joints in what could be best measured as tonnage. It's been too long to remember the names, but there were two or three joints around the office that had multiple locations (at least in DFW) that we hit pretty frequently. I really came to appreciate a properly prepared brisket, and the smoked turkey was good, too.

But around here bbq is a noun, not a verb, and it only means one thing...pig! Smoke some up and hit it with a good vinegar based hot sauce and I'm in heaven. Guess it depends on what you grow up on.

I get a big kick out of participating in 'bbq wars' (especially with Texans), but at the end of the day I love all of it! TX/NC bbq's are the finest examples of the art in my book.

BeeGee said:

But around here bbq is a noun, not a verb, and it only means one thing...pig! Smoke some up and hit it with a good vinegar based hot sauce and I'm in heaven. Guess it depends on what you grow up on.

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I never had it growing up, but I can't get enough of it now...do you make you own vinegar sauce?

I think we need to have a homebrewtalk.com butt cookoff...what do you think DeRoux?

El Pistolero said:

I never had it growing up, but I can't get enough of it now...do you make you own vinegar sauce?

I think we need to have a homebrewtalk.com butt cookoff...what do you think DeRoux?

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When my Dad I cook a pig (we built a cooker years and years ago) I make my own sauce. The ingredients are imminently fudgeable depending on your tastes, but basically
1g cider vinegar
1/2c salt
2-3 good spoonfulls of red pepper flakes
2-3 good spoonfulls of red pepper flakes ground up
2c or so of brown sugar
Hot sauce to taste (a few spoons usually)

I like to mix it up 2-3 days before ingestion.

A cookoff sounds good...I volunteer to judge!

Edit...looking at it, I think I used more red pepper flakes, but after a couple of days you'll know if it's how you like it.

That's pretty much like mine...except I don't make it by the gallon. Of course I haven't had the pleasure of cooking a whole hog yet either.

It's pretty easy to use a whole gallon just cooking the hog. After we flip him skin side down we stab him good and douse him periodicially.

I've never had the pleasure of just cooking a butt But I did pick up some apple and cherry chips the other day, so I'll be smoking something! Actually was leaning towards a turkey to try your hash recipe, but maybe a butt would work...