Smoked

I hosted a BBQ for the family last week. I was inspired by all the BBQ University shows that aired on PBS and I overdid it (a little). Everything was amazing!

Here's the menu:

• Maple Smoked Turkey Breast - juicy and delicious
• Shrimp Boil - this was the family's favorite. I added smoked Brats to the party. It was amazing!
• Smoked Top Round - I prepared this the same as before. It was still good.
  
• BBQ Portobello mushrooms - I've made these a number of times and are always a big hit
• Grilled Tuna Steaks - this was my personal favorite. I served these on tortillas. While the salsa in the recipe was good, I preferred a pineapple/jalapeno salsa as the topping.
  

The leftovers made a great lunch the next day.

I just got Steven Raichlen's BBQ USA book. I'm really enjoying learning the history of BBQ in America. I highly recommend this...

Lost Podcast - 8/2

Last Friday I finally discovered the latest Lost podcast sitting in my iTunes folder. It must've been there for a few weeks. It was like finding $20 in my pocket!

I really enjoyed getting back into Lost and thinking about it again. There were some great questions and discussions. The big news was that Michael will be back, and Richard Alpert won't be (at least not full time).

At the end of the panel a new Dharma video was released. It started with Doctor Edgar Halowax (previously known as both Marvin Candle and Mark Wickmund) . In the video he introduces the Orchid station and a white rabbit painted 15. Without giving too much away, something goes horribly wrong. It was great!

****

I still believe in my Lost - Dark Tower connection. In short, it goes like this. In the Dark Tower, Roland and his mates live in a world with numerous doors (or hatches) to other worlds. Some of these worlds are very similar to ours and others are a lot different. The similar ones can be looked at as alternate realities.

It's my theory that the Lost Island is a similar place, where Dharma (and the Others) have learned to control this power and enter other realities at will. It's, for example, how Ben was able to give Juliet a glimpse of her sister and niece. The look "via satellite" was actually "via a portal". Maybe it couldn't last too long because a version of Juliet also exists in that world.

This theory is kind of out there, but it's the one I'm going with.

Of course it has some holes like...

• Why did the Others take the Losties kids?? Couldn't they just use a portal and get kids that way? Why do they need the kids anyway?
• What was the "real" purpose of the Swan (and the numbers)?

Like I said before the real fun of Lost is coming up with these crackpot theories and ideas - then being shown how foolish they are.

Campfire Lost Theories

I was camping this weekend with some friends and we started discussing some Lost theories. I thought I'd post some of them...

• My wife's cousin offered that the "smoke monster" was also the horse Kate saw, Jack's Dad, and possibly Hugo's imaginary friend Dave. After seeing the monster take the form of Eko's brother, this theory makes some sense. I hadn't thought of this before, and it blew my mind. It doesn't make any sense though that Locke's father was the smoke monster... so there's still some questions.
  
• My buddy thinks that other Losties will be able to glimpse the future (like Desmond did) and decide to stay on the island after "seeing" what the future holds. Jack's flash forward was the first of these insights. I don't know about this... I still like my Lost -> Dark Tower theory more. BTW, what will Desmond "see" now that Charlie is gone?
• There was a lot of talk about Jacob, Ben, and Locke. Could Ben ever hear Jacob? If not, how did he convince the Others he could? Can he still hear him? If not, what did he do to lose that ability? Did he hear what Jacob said to Locke? If not, why not? Crazy.
• Was there an orientation video in either the station Locke blew up (Flame) or the underwater station (Looking Glass)? I'd like to see those.
• At the end of the Season 2 finale we saw all the notebooks (presumably from the underground station) piled up. What was the purpose of that? Was it some sort of Dharma experiment on their own people.
• How has Richard Alpert not aged, but Ben has? Is Richard a smoke monster, a clone, was he part of some anti aging experiment (not likely since he wasn't Dharma - or was he former Dharma), or granted a "wish" from Jacob?
  

Anyway, we all agree that it stinks there won't be any answers to these questions until February.

Smokin' Father's Day

I enjoyed my Father's Day by smoking and grilling for the family. Here's how the day went:

• 8 AM - Woke up to my daughter singing "Ba Ba Black Sheep" and "Twinkle Twinkle". .. nice way to wake up.
• 8:30 AM - Ham and eggs expertly prepared by my wife and daughter. (No extra charge for the bits of shells that make their way in when a 2-year-old cracks eggs)
• 9:30 AM - Gifts.... new grilling tools and a coloring book.
• 9:33 AM - Coloring
• 11:30 AM - Start the smoker.
• 2 PM My parents come over. Here's how that went....
• Mojitos
• Grilled lobster tails served with pasta mixed with zucchini and carrots and a garlic butter sauce. Chardonnay.
  
• Smoked Top Round with grilled veggies and chilled fruit. Zinfandel.
  
• The roast I had had a thin layer of fat on one side. I cut slits in the roast and filled the slits with garlic as well as fresh rosemary and thyme. I seasoned the roast with some Montreal steak seasoning and let it marinate over night in some red wine (Zinfandel). I had the smoker at 250 and placed the roast on fat side up. I added some soaked cherry chunks every one in a while (about 45 minutes). It was done after about 3 hours. The roast was very tender, juicy, and full of flavor. I'm looking forward to doing this again. The wine was obviously a great match to drink with this.
• 4 PM - Catch some of the US Open
• 5:30 PM - Over to the in-laws:
• More Mojitos
• Grilled Mojito Chicken (from Dinosaur Bar-B-Que: An American Roadhouse) cooked with apple wood
  
• Apple Maple Pork Loin (also from Dinosaur Bar-B-Que: An American Roadhouse). I modified the recipe a little and wrapped the loin in bacon. Also cooked with apple wood. The sauce that goes with this is awesome!
• Beer
• 7 PM - Caught the end of the open. Went home and read some bedtime stories.

We had lots of laughs and all the food was incredible! The perfect day...

Lost Tower?

The more I replay Jack's "flash forward" in my head, the more I think that some elements of this sequence are too similar to the plot of the The Dark Tower to be coincidence. There were a lot of clues dropped in the "flash" to make me believe that the premise behind the two stories is the same.

That's OK, because both stories are so entertaining and engrossing. But like I said yesterday, if the endings are similar there will probably be a lot of angry people.

You know what, I love talking and theorizing about this show but part of me always hopes that my theories are wrong (and so far I have not been disappointed). One of the things I like best about this show is that it keeps me guessing (and thinking). Not enough of what's on TV does that.

Lost Finale

I really enjoyed the Lost finale last night. Looking back, seeing the preview for this episode did not give too much away. I really thought Ben would stop them from reaching the radio tower.

This is what I think I think:

1. I think that Naomi really is working for an organization hired by Penny Widmore... why else would she have a picture of Desmond? Is Naomi really dead? Interesting that Locke had no reservations killing her after he had such a hard time (not) killing his father - who he hated.
   
2. Jack is messed up. How he ever became the leader is beyond me. Ben made a good point when he asked Jack what he was so eager to get back to at home? If this (Jack's flash forward) is where the show will eventually end (and the rest of the series tells the story of getting to this point), it is pretty dark. Not at all the happy ending most shows strive for. I'm OK with that.
   
3. Way to go Hurley! When that van came through the Jungle - that was the highlight for me. Cool.
   
4. Sawyer is becoming dangerous. It was too easy for him to kill Tom... and he showed no remorse this time.
5. For a long time, I thought Rousseau was working with Ben and the Others. Part of me still feels that way. Didn't it seem a little too easy for her to first change the message, and then to simply shut it off?
6. I know the creators are Stephen King fans. I've read The Dark Tower series and while I enjoyed it for the most part, I felt the ending was a HUGE disappointment and a cop out. I hope that this series doesn't end the same way, with the same premise.
   

This is what I want to know:

1. Did Charlie really have to die? Couldn't he have swam through the porthole? What if he allowed the station to flood? Couldn't he and Desmond swim back through the moon pool opening? At least we're spared from future episodes where Desmond has to save Charlie's life.
   More questions about the events surrounding Charlie's death:
• Did Captain Eyepatch die when the grenade went off? I hope not. I want to see more about him - and what happened to his eye.
  
• Charlie had a surprisingly good connection with Penny. Good thing she happened to be near her video phone and she knew how to call this underwater Dharma station.
  
• How'd Charlie figure out which numbers would produce the right notes.
2. Who are the Others? What are they doing there? What was their purpose before Dharma? How'd the Others take over the rest of the Dharma stations? Also how'd they figure out which stations to take over? For instance, they apparently took over the Looking Glass and the Flame (the communication station Locke blew up), but didn't take over the Swan (where the numbers were entered) .
3. When did the Other's become such bad shots? Remember when they took the shot that clipped Sawyer's ear? Since then, they haven't shot anything.
   
4. If there were only 2 anomalies, how'd Penny Widmore track down the island so quickly? Is she affiliated with Dharma? Is that how she knew the frequency to reach the Looking glass?
5. How come the island didn't heal Boone?

I really what to learn more about Dharma and the rest of the Others back story. I want to see more about the connections (if there are any) between Sun's and Penny's familiy (I think this came out in the ARG last summer).

I also wish there was another ARG this summer. It stinks that we need to wait until February for some of these answers.

Lost Preview

I'm a HUGE Lost fan but I usually try to avoid the previews about the next episode.

Last night however, I was still thinking about how the episode ended when the preview came on. I mean, based on how the show has gone, you can almost anticipate some of the stuff that will happen next, so the preview revelations were not a total shocker.
Sidebar: Ben cutting the Losties off on the way to the radio tower is what I'm talking about. This is so similar to what happened in the last 2 finales that it's almost silly. First finale, the Others attack the raft and kidnap Walt. Last year, Michael's group is captured on the way to what was supposed to be the OtherCamp.

Anyway, even though I can sort of guess what's going to happen, I don't really want to know. It's sort of like getting the best Birthday present and being totally surprised vs getting the same present but knowing that it's coming. You're just as happy with the gift, but there's a little extra "something" when you didn't know for sure. Do you know what I mean?

The producers and TV people do a great job keeping us guessing and I shouldn't second guess them. For instance, earlier this year the preview made Sun look like an "Other", she really isn't... that was cool. Even so, I'd rather go in fresh.

*****

The Sabres looked better yesterday. I'm not going to get me hopes up for the Cup until there's a Game 7 though. They've dug themselves a really big hole. Given that Game 7 will be on the same night as the Lost finale, I won't expect to move from the couch that night.

bye King of Queens

For me, the final mini season of the "King of Queens" was a huge disappointment. It was not nearly as funny as previous episodes. Why do sitcoms feel they need a big send off to wrap up the story? Attempting to add drama to this series made these final episodes dark and sad. They left a sour taste in my mouth.

Note to sitcom writers: just let these shows end the way they came in... funny. There is no need for drama and a big wrap up. Keep it light.

I'll miss this show. Good thing it reruns a minimum of 3 times daily.

*****

Do the Sabres miss McKee, Dumont, and Greer in these playoffs or what? It's a very different playoffs without these key players from last year's team.

Random Thoughts from the Weekend

It doesn't look like the Sabres want it as badly enough. Last year I remember the team blocking shots, big hits, and going all out every minute. I don't see the same determination in this year's team. They are not as willing to sell out. I really hope they turn it around, but I'm not holding my breath.

*****

Last night I found myself watching the finale of Survivor. I don't watch regularly, but I always seem to catch the last episode. I never ceases to amaze me how petty the jury members are. There are always a handful of jurors who aggressively ask "Why didn't you tell me you were voting me off? You stink! You lied to me!". Haven't they watched before? This happens every season and seems like a necessary step winners take to stay off the jury. Grow up, you got beat, deal with it!

*****

I felt horrible for Nick O'Hern on the 17th of the TPC. You couldn't win the tourney on this hole. It's one of the toughest in golf. Get par and hope for a miracle on 18 (Lefty did almost put it in the water). To quote Terrell Owens agent, "there are about 740,000 reasons not to shoot for the pin on 17."