BBQ & Beer

5 AM Sunday morning I woke up all excited to take pictures.  I had done an early AM trip a few times in the past and they had resulted in some of my best shots.  Not necessarily because of the early morning "golden hour" light, but because I was completely focused on photography.  I got into "the zone" and found my photos much more creative than usual.

  Pleasing result of an early morning photo walk

I often try to tap into my artistic side, but usually am not pleased with the results.  Today was going to be different.  I had charged everything the night before so I was ready.  I woke up without an alarm, which is usually only reserved for days I'm playing golf.  Golf is another of my passions, and I get very excited since I play so little these days.  Got dressed opened the door and it was POURING.  Checking the weather the night before was something I always did when playing golf.  Hell, I checked it on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday if I had a tee time on Saturday.  Never thought to do it for photography.  I got in the car, sat for a few minutes and went back inside to bed feeling uninspired.

We were having friends over for dinner and I was making pulled pork.  Its takes 6 hours to smoke and cook on the grill low and slow.  It's probably the best thing I cook.  I only make it once or twice a summer because even though the payoff is great, being chained to a grill for 6 hours is not really my idea of fun.  My goal was to take photos of the entire grilling process, but the rain put out my fire yet again. Took a few from inside the house looking out.  Blah...

Rainy Day BBQ

Dinner was great!  We had the smoked North Carolina style pulled pork, apple vinegar cole slaw, red bliss potato salad, grilled in the husk corn on the cob, and a refreshing lemon/dill/toasted pine nut salad.  Kevin also brought over Newcastle Summer Ale and it was perfect with the pulled pork.  I had been meaning to try it, but always thought about it too late.  The summer ale lived up to the hype.  It'll be in the brown bag the next time I hit the liquor store, unless they have Sam Adams Octoberfest on the shelves already.  The BBQ tasted much better than it looked, so no pictures. However, the beer was quite photogenic.
 

Thirsty?

Enza, my wife, made her world famous magic bars for dessert to top off a pretty damn delicious meal and a good day regardless of the weather.  The kids had chicken nuggets, if they only knew what they missed.  More for us.