Grilling

This one will be short and sweet... or should I say, grilled. If it's one thing I love about summer, it's grilling food. Any kind of meat is good... steaks, chicken, pork chops, ribs, the list goes on. Even some vegetables.



Just look at that, you can almost smell it now. This was just one part of our menu today, but I thought it turned out really well. For the chicken, I used a recipe that I saw in the Chattanooga Times-Free Press. It goes something like this:

Apple-Smoked Chicken Thighs

2 cups apple juice

2 tablespoons turbinado sugar

4 large bone-in chicken thighs or thigh/leg combination), rinsed and patted dry

1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

1 cup wood chips, soaked in apple juice and drained

For apple spray: Put juice and sugar in stainless-steel saucepan over medium heat, and simmer until sugar is dissolved. Cool to room temperature and pour into a plastic spray bottle.

Sprinkle the chicken with pepper and salt; set aside while you prepare the grill. When coals are ready, spread them evenly across half the grill; scatter wood chips over hot coals. Place chicken over indirect-heat side of grill (not directly over coals) and spray with apple juice. When smoke starts to rise, close the lid. Place a candy thermometer in the grill vent. Smoke chicken at 225 F to 250 F for 1 hour, spraying chicken every 20 minutes. After 1 hour, spray chicken again, then transfer to direct heat over hot coals for 2 minutes, turning as necessary, or until the skin has crisped all over.

For the record, I substituted chicken breasts for thighs, since... what can I say?... I'm a breast man. But seriously, these turned out to be very tasty. Juicy, with a definite apple flavor. I recommend giving it a shot sometime.

Hate to run, but I think I'm up for a second helping now...

Crazy Dreams

I can dream almost any time I fall asleep. If I hit "snooze" on the alarm in the morning, and drift back to sleep in that nine minute period, I can usually have another dream. I've been told that this means I am not getting a very restful sleep, though I seem to be doing okay. Nevertheless, my mind usually tells some interesting stories during the night. I just thought I would share some of last night's.

It starts with my parents and I riding around Chattanooga (if you are in Nooga or familiar with the area, we were apparently on Amnicola Hwy). Somehow I take a wrong turn before I get to Dupont Pkwy, and end up in an area near the river that I had never even been to. This area had all sorts of shopping establishments and restaurants, including a mall that I didn't even know existed.

So, we go in this mall and start looking around. Before we know it I look at my watch and notice it's almost 2:00 in the morning. This security guard comes up to us about this time and tells us the mall is about to close (I wonder exactly what kind of shops were in this mall to be closing at 2?). When we step outside, the sun is up and it's bright as day outside. Naturally, I'm freaking out. We start driving down the road, just wondering what the heck is going on. Suddenly the "sun" starts moving across the sky. We realize that this is not our sun, but actually a comet. A few moments later, it apparently explodes somewhere in the earth's atmosphere. We heard the explosion, but apparently it didn't do any damage around us. Still, scary stuff.

Apparently I woke up after the comet explosion, but went back to sleep. That is when the second dream took place. In this dream I was being released from jail (!) and the year seems to be 2012. Strangely, I get out wearing a dress shirt and slacks, and I am desperately searching for a necktie. I find myself in an old, rundown factory where I must have had some items stored while I was incarcerated. Unfortunately my items are not there. Of all people, Larry the frickin' Cable Guy (I'm not a big fan) was there to tell me that while I was locked up, the country had completely fallen apart (I could make a political rant here, but I'll spare you all). Cities had been burned and communism had apparently taken over. At this point, I don't know what to do.

I somehow find a phone, and now call my parents for help. My mom answers and I tell her that I have been released from jail, and want to come home. She is hesitant, though. Apparently I was locked up for "supposedly" killing somebody (!), though I know that I was innocent. My own mother isn't sure though. She doesn't know if she wants me to come home. However, in the next instant I am back in Florence at my parents' house. My brother begins to tell me what all has changed in the three years I was in prison. For some reason, instead of telling me how the country became full-on communist, he is more concerned with updating me on TV storylines. I was happy to learn that my current favorite show, Two and a Half Men, is still on the air in 2012.

So there you have it. I believe there were a few other parts of my dream world last night - I recall being in the backyard of my childhood home, looking over the fence at a pool party happening next door. But this "story" is very hazy. Unfortunately I tend to forget my dreams almost as soon as I wake up, unless I write them down. Hopefully you have enjoyed the parts I did remember.