I’ve always had a problem getting the cooking grate clean until yesterday. We were out walking the RV park yesterday morning and stopped to talk to a fellow whose grill was smoking away. I asked him what was for breakfast, he replied that he was cleaning his grill.
Here is his secret is: he fires up his grill, turns it on high, puts two layers of aluminum foil on the cooking grate, closes the lid and lets it roar for about 30 minutes.

When I got home I tried his method. It works great. Just follow that up with a bit of easy scraping, brush off the cooking grate and it’s job done.
Now I just need to come up with an easy way of cleaning the inside of the lid. How do you clean yours?
While we are talking Weber; I get the distinct impression that the regulators on the Weber 100 series is their weak point. In my owners manual Weber suggests that you use the small 1 pound bottles as the source of liquid propane. I know of probably 6 people who’s regulators have failed after they have been using the big road tank on their motor home as their fuel source. In all cases Weber has told them not to use the big tank, that it voids their warranty. In most, but not all of the cases that I am aware of, Weber has then replaced the regulator under warranty anyway.
What’s been your experience? What’s your favorite grill?

OK, maybe they’re not that healthy after all but they sure are good. I mean delicious good. Thanks Sweetie.

Two days ago we re-planted our almost ten-year old cacti in a new pot and added a couple of new cacti in the new pot to boot. If anyone knows why these cacti for any reason shall not be wed……. It was quite a ceremony!
Look at the new flowers they sprouted overnight. Now we know two things about our new cacti. Number one, they love it here, up on the dash of our coach, looking down the highway, and number two they must be girl cacti. I don’t think boy cacti would flower like that. Unless cactus are more like birds (where the men are the colorful ones) then people. I was watching some peacocks yesterday and boy were they ever pretty (as opposed to peahens. They’re pretty blah actually).
Does anybody have any idea how we got from high color to high bird fashion in just one little blog? Me neither. Who writes this crap? And why? Speaking of crap, that reminds me. Every week or ten days I dump our black water tank and today, before we head off to Phoenix, is the day.
I think that’s enough BS for one day, don’t you?
Except to say, if you want your amazingvanstones delivered to your computer everyday we publish just like Marilyn, Tracy, Linda and George and a whole bunch of other people who appreciate great literature, just gaze over to your right and carefully place your email address there where it says Free, free, free delivery. Just a couple more clicks and tomorrow you too will be on my daily route.

Looks like I am returning to my youth; I used to have a paper route. And when I got home from delivering my papers my Mom gave me a matrimonial square. But that’s another story.

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Date farm

Way back, when the earth was green and I was just a little gaffer (yes, I was once) my mother used to bake. And one of her favorite deserts to bake and hence one of my favorite desserts to eat was matrimonial cake. Over the years I seem to have forgotten how good I thought those squares really were but since we have been in the American south west dates and I  have re-connected with dates. My first reunion with that delicious fruit was at the Farmers Market in Temecula back in December. They were almost as good as my first kiss ( Not my very first kiss. I mean my first kiss from Marilyn). Since then, while out shopping for “Two Buck Chuck” we picked some up at a Trader Joes but on Sunday while out for a drive(you could say Marilyn and I were out on a date), we stopped at a Date farm near Bard California. We stopped for a date shake gut before we left we bought some more dates the fruit kind. They too are delicious. Now when you open our fridge it  appears we are starting a  date collection, so much so that Marilyn’s comment yesterday was that we should bake something to use a few up. This ties in with me thinking that I should get back to doing some cooking again. I really did used to enjoy it. So I googled “date squares” and up came Matrimonial cake. I passed on that because we didn’t have the oatmeal and looked like a lot of work, so I  moved on to date muffins, those ingredients we have and it really looks easier.

Date Palms plantation

Instead of doing either we went with Sonny and Linda for an afternoon drive  in the country.This morning I’m thinking; how boring are date muffins going to be?

So that’s it; I’m taking a stand out here in the sand. Nothing will stop me from my goal. Come hell or high water, I will bake that Matrimonial cake and I will do it well. That’s the least I can do. You gotta know  Mom would have done it for me.

Just as an aside, while preparing to post this story I googled “dates”. Guess what came up first? Would you believe “E Harmony’, the dating service. Obviously when I discovered dating as in girls I too forgot all about dates as in the fruit of the Phoenix dactylifera. Another perfect example of man’s age old conflict between the big and small brains.

A couple of days ago I told you about the dogs wanting a car ride. All they wanted was a car ride. Yesteday, same deal, but they wanted to go for ice cream. I swear, when we think they’re sound asleep on our bed, really, they are whispering, planning, scheming.
Anyway, we’ve had a busy day, long walks, a swim , a hot tub, Marilyn worked on her latest painting, I did some maintenance on the coach and it’s about three oclock. Then they start. Honest to God, they are chanting “Ice Cream, Ice Cream”. At first I think it’s better than barking but then they get Marilyn going, so now there’s three of them “Ice Cream, Ice Cream, Ice Cream”.
So, off we go heading to a Dairy Queen. Not the closest Dairy Queen, oh no, because for the dogs it’s all about the ride. Not for Marilyn though, she really does want ice cream. There is no question; we’re not just going some where. We are going for ice cream.

While Marilyn is enjoying her Chocolate Pecan mini Blizzard, I’m loving my Cookie Dough small Blizzard, the dogs are figuring out how long a ride home they get. Everybody’s happy.

Sweet Money Saving Tip

Join the Blizzard Fan Club and get a coupon for Six 2-for-1 Blizzard Coupons.

 Now that is one sweet deal!

Look at me: Gourmet dining critic and Consumer advocate all in one day.

Now the dogs are talking about finding a ghost town called Sage.

Read this title to the beat of the TV show “Wheel  of  Fortune”. That’s appropriate because we invested a fortune, probably close to the cost of a week’s RV parks ( we try to find the cheap ones). It’s a good deal though, as you can see my  wall   of   wine  is taller than our house……well, it looks taller.

It really is the equivalent of 24 bottles and I should tell you that our cashier had to call her surpervisor to approve the  transaction because we had saved over $50, ( $57 to be exact on our $109.62 purchase including the beer (( we got a deal on it too)) you see below).

Good wine for just a little more than $4 a bottle and diesel fuel for our house for just a little less. I love it

If you read this blog even only on rare occasions, chances are you have read the words “Black Box” once or twice. There’s no question, we like heir wine. A comparable wine in Canada  would sell for at least $15 per bottle. Usually Walmart has it for $21.97 for the 3 liter bag, and that works out to about $5.50 per bottle.

Yes, you are reading the sale sign properly. This is at Safeway, a major Western Grocery store chain in both the US and Canada. At 17.99 this is the best price we have ever seen but just to the right they tell us that if you buy 6 boxes it’s yours for $16.20 each. That works out to $4.05 per 750 ml bottle.

How do you say WOW with a mouth full of good red wine?

Speaking of mouthfuls, Mar & I went out to an Oregon Coast institution,  Mo’s Chowder for lunch today and I settled on the Chowder in the sourdough bowl. Yes, it was delicious and yes, my mouth was full, for quite a while

Suprise! We’ve done more than look at booze and food since we got here and heres the proof;

Remember me telling you about the Bottle Brew beer that I purchased in Altona? So, in our motorhome basement, while travelling across Canada I brewed my first ever 2 liter bottle of beer. Now there are certain problems with trying something new, especially when what you are hoping to produce is a 2 liter bottle of beer. They say 2 liters is the equivalent of a six pack, but with a six pack you don’t have to drink them all in one sitting. Think about it, really, what do you do with a two litre bottle of beer. That’s a lot of beer to consume before it goes flat.

Last night the stars aligned. We are in Kamloops, BC, visiting my sister Leila and her hubby Bob. Marilyn prepared a fine meal and we had them over for dinner. Now if I was to pick anyone I know who I could count on to help me consume that much brew in one sitting, Bob would be my very first choice.

He was hardly out of their car when he asked me about my bottle brew beer experiment. Perfect I thought,. I have an enthusiastic assistant.

He liked it. I liked it. The only down side I can see is that Bob got a bit of sludge with the last glassful out of that big bottle

It’s been almost two weeks since we arrived in Edmonton and it’s been a completely great time! Yes, we had a service for Marilyn’s Mom in there as well, but we’ve had lots of time to connect with old friends and see a little more of the city then we have in the past few years.

We wrapped it up in grand style with our Festivus Western Edition on Saturday night and guess, oh come on, take a wild guess; Guess what Mike and Tracy got me for a gift?
I understand your confusion, I  was completely baffled myself. How could anybody know that I like tasting new and different beers?

Anyway, all confusion aside, we really had a great evening, and even added another panel (chosen by Cam & Abby) to our soon to be famous Festivus table cloth that we now move back and forth between Festivus East and West.

Sunday morning, after a sinfully good breakfast but before we said our goodbyes, we did a walk with them through a local park.

We need to figure out how we can spend a little more time with them all.

Anyway, thanks guys we had a blast!

As you read this, we are probably on our way west on the Yellowhead Highway, looking forward to, before this day is over, being back in the Rocky Mountains, on our way through them to Kamloops.

I gotta say that this is an amazing lifestyle we have chosen for ourselves

This is now our third new barbeque in the past 4 or 5 years. Hopefully it’s our last for a while.

First of all, when we got back into RVing we bought one called a Hummer. Just like the truck with the same name our hummer was  In Your Face Big. Big enough to prepare dinner for the whole RV park. When our son & daughter-in law, Jason and Elizabeth moved into a house with a yard we cleaned up our Hummer and regifted.

Next we bought one called a “Little Guy”. The first time I used it I cut my finger, the second time, the lid fell off. It blew out every time it was breezy and it never really got hot. In fact when we hosted our barbeque night for the folks at Tres Amigos last winter in Mazatlan, the cooks had three barbeques set up to handle the job and they used our “Little Guy” as a warming oven for the burgers cooked on the other two.

Now girls, you already know men often are very sensitive when it comes to matters of size. Well, our feelings are exactly the same when some one calls our barbeque a “warming oven.”

So this spring our daughter Pam and her soon-to-be husband James have moved into an apartment with a patio and now they need a barbeque. Once again we will regift

By far the most popular barbeque in the RV parks is a Weber. Every one I’ve talked to is very happy with their Weber and love the way they cook. I’ve never talked to anyone who wasn’t happy with their Weber Q.

Last night I brought our new Weber home and we set it up. Later we barbequed burgers. There is no question that it is well constructed and I was really impressed with the great job it did on the food, but what I’m really dazzeled with is that these guys really thought ahead when they built these things. See the big tables on either side? It doesn’t matter whether you are right handed or left handed, there’s a spot for your beer. Hell, if you wanted to you could even use one of the tables for food.

So why am I saying Happy Mother’s Day Mar? Because never again will she have to listen to me bitch about our X&D D?XN barbeque. Now I ask you: What better gift to give your gal?

Not only did we all attend Beer School yesterday at our local Pacifico Brewery, we all received a diploma because we had done so well. Our Instructor was so impressed with our interest in all things Pacifico  and our knowledge of beer in general, she invited us into a special room, high above the city, reserved only for special honored guests. Once there we even had a beer or two. I wasn’t keeping track but I think some of the best students even had three.

What did we learn at school you ask? It takes 22 days to complete the process from water, corn, barely and hops to Pacifico beer. Happily though we don’t have to wait 22 days for our next beer because they start the process every day (good thinking).

You can buy Pacifico  in 4 different bottle sizes, from the Quarteritito, the Media ( the standard 355 ml), the Ballena (whale, 950 ml), the new Big Whale (1.2 litres).  Beer should be cooled to -4 degrees Celcius before serving. I think she said they produce 167,000 24 bottle cases a day out of the brewery here in Mazatlan so we shouldn’t have to worry about running out any time soon.

Cheers! Or as they say in Mexico;Salud!