JAWS; Ode to Spring

As I sit here in my office on a Saturday wishing I was on the river, I think back to warmer times and remember this fish.  I was on the sticks when this guy came to net, so I can't take credit for catching him, but I was fortunate to have charged batteries and a chance just to see it.  26 inches on the tape, which is about the width of the smiles RKJ and I had. I can't wait until Spring.

That's it, I'm outta here.  I'm going home to tie some big, articulated uglies and ship my 8 wt. off for repair.

Easy and Cheap Pulled Pork Perfection.

This is the easiest recipe I have every followed since learning how to pour a bowl of frosted flakes.

Step One:  Slice a yellow onion and lay it on the bottom of your crock pot.  If you don't own a crock pot, go buy one, you'll never regret it.  Cover the onion with BBQ sauce/hot sauce/sriracha.  I like my pulled pork with a little kick so I went heavy on the sauce.

Step Two:  You can use either a pork loin or a boston butt (I prefer the boston), around three pounds.  I picked this one up at Heebs for around six bucks.  Coat in salt and pepper and any other seasonings you prefer.  I simply used McCormicks Montreal Steak Seasoning...  Go guy some of this stuff too.  Good grief it's good.

 Step Three:  Place the pork in the crock pot with the fatty side up.  This Boston Butt had a big slab of fat on the side, so I trimmed it off and placed it on top.

Step Four:  Pour in some chicken broth around the edges until it fills the crock pot almost halfway up the sides of the meat.  Then coat the top in BBQ Sauce/Hot sauce, cover, and cook on low for 8 hours.  I have found that the internal temperature gets to about 180-190 degrees by that time, which I think is perfect.  I once left it in for 10 hours and it was just as good.  

Step Five:  After it cooks, take the pork out and pull it apart with two forks.  It should completely fall apart and you're going to have a hard time not eating the whole things while pulling it.  Once you've got it shredded and separated out most of the large pieces of fat, put the whole mess back into the crock pot with the "sauce" and turn the pot down to warm.  Serve on a white dinner roll, Hawaiian bun, or the like with cole slaw and a little extra BBQ sauce.  So easy, so good.  

I've also found that towards the end of eating this you have a lot of the juices left and not much pork.  Cook up some rice, make a rue out of celery, green peppers, carrots, etc. and add to the crock pot.  The leftover pulled pork makes a great pulled pork stew!

A Little Art Project

As I was browsing through the isles of Michael's craft store a while back (don't make fun) I came across a "snow globe kit".  I instantly thought of a terrarium of sorts for a couple of my terrestrial flies.  So, with the use of some foam and superglue, this emerged.  Viola!