Fireworks Rub Recipe

This spiciness and heat of this rub makes it a good seasoning for almost anything.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup chill powder
• 1/4 cup ground cumin
• 1/4 cup ground coriander
• 2 tablespoons firmly packed light or dark brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons red pepper flakes (4 tablespoons if you like it hotter)
• 2 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon coarse kosher salt

Directions

1. Combine all the ingredients in a large glass jar with a tight fitting lid.  Secure the lid and shake the blend.  This run will keep in the cupboard for several months.

Barbecue Quesadillas Recipe

Ingredients

You can turn down the heat by substituting mild or medium salsa, or by omitting the jalapeño pepper.

• 4 large flour tortillas
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 cup hot salsa
• 4 green onions minced
• 1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and minced
• 2 cups monterey jack cheese, grated

Directions

1. Preheat barbecue on LOW. Combine salsa, onions and jalapeño pepper in a small bowl. Lightly brush one side of each flour tortilla with olive oil. (This will be the outside of the quesadilla.) Spread two of the tortillas with the salsa mixture, then sprinkle with grated cheese. Cover with remaining tortillas.
2. Place the quesadillas directly on the cooking grids, and grill about 3 minutes per side, checking the bottom frequently.
3. Transfer to a wooden cutting board and let sit for 1 minute before slicing with a sharp knife or pizza wheel.

Here is another version.

Ingredients

• 1 red bell pepper, roasted
• 1 jalapeño chile pepper, diced
• 1 mango, peeled and chopped
• 2 tbsp cilantro, chopped
• 1 lime
• 8 small flour tortillas
• 1/2 lb brie cheese, chilled and sliced
• freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tbsp olive oil

Directions

1. Preheat barbecue on HIGH. To roast the red pepper, place it directly on the barbecue and grill, turning occasionally, until the outside is completely charred. Remove from heat and let rest until cool enough to handle. Peel off the charred skin, remove seeds, and chop.
2. Combine in a medium sized bowl the prepared red and jalapeño peppers, mango, cilantro, and the juice of the lime.
3. Lay the tortillas on a counter. On half of each tortilla, lay a few slices of the brie cheese. Drain the mango mixture in a sieve to remove excess moisture and prevent the tortillas from getting soggy. Spoon some of the mango mixture on top of the cheese, and fold over the other half of the tortilla. Repeat with the remaining tortillas.
4. Preheat the barbecue (if necessary) and reduce heat to LOW. Brush the tortillas with olive oil to prevent sticking and to give a nice crispiness. Grill 1-2 minutes per side until golden, and until the cheese has just melted. Remove from grill to a cutting board, and slice into wedges.

The Gorch Fock II

The Gorch Fock is a tall ship of the German Navy (Deutsche Marine). She is the second ship of that name and a sister ship of the Gorch Fock built in 1933. Both ships are named in honour of the German writer Johann Kinau who wrote under the pseudonym "Gorch Fock" and died in the battle of Jutland/Skagerrak in 1916. The modern-day Gorch Fock was built in 1958 and has since then undertaken 146 cruises (as of October 2006), including one tour around the world in 1988. She is sometimes referred to (unofficially) as the Gorch Fock II to distinguish her from her older sister ship.

Germany lost all of its school ships as war reparations after World War II to the Allies, so the (West) German Bundesmarine decided in 1957 to have a new training vessel built following the plans for the original Gorch Fock of 1933 which by that time was owned by the Soviets, and renamed to Tovarishch. The new ship was a modernized repeat of the Albert Leo Schlageter, a slightly modified sister ship of the previous Gorch Fock.

The 1933 Gorch Fock had already been designed to be a very safe ship: she had a righting moment large enough to bring her back into the upright position even when heeling over to nearly 90°. Nevertheless some last-minute changes to the design were made in response to the Pamir disaster in 1957, especially concerning the strength of the body and the bulkheads as well as the lifesaving equipment, including the lifeboats.

The new ship was built by Blohm & Voss in Hamburg, launched on 23 August 1958, and commissioned on 17 December of that year. Her home port is Kiel. The Gorch Fock is a three-masted barque with a steel hull 81.2 m (266 ft) long (without the bowsprit) and 12 m (40 ft) wide. She has a draught of some 5.2 m (17 ft) and a displacement at full load of 1760 tons. Originally, she carried 1952 m² of canvas sails; later, she received slightly larger sails made of synthetic materials. The tops of her fore and main masts can be lowered so that she can navigate the Kiel Canal, otherwise she would be too tall for some of the bridges spanning the canal.

Over the years, various modernizations have been applied to the ship. She was fitted with air conditioning, the asbestos used originally was removed and replaced by less dangerous materials in 1991, and in that year she also received a new auxiliary engine, a six cylinder diesel engine producing 1,220 kW (1660 hp), giving the ship a top speed of 13.7 knots under power. The interior has also been modified multiple times; technological advances made it possible to reduce the size of the galley and enlarge the crew quarters.

Our painted bedroom

The essence of cooking with charcoal

Airbag captures the essense of charcoal in a fine post.

Charcoal grilling requires a lot of fuel, a few matches, and if you're safety conscious, some type of anti-fire technology like a water hose (you get a 1-up if it's actually hooked-up to the spigot). It's imperative for you to know that the purpose of charcoal in this process is to serve as a soaking agent for fuel. Other agents can, or may, include stacks of dry wood and old warehouses down by the docks.

Like a good steak, charcoal has to be seared to produce the best taste (this helps to contain the gassy-fuel fumes inside the brick, I think) and that can only be done by soaking the bricks in lighter fluid.

This is done by simply by pouring an entire can, sometimes two, all over the bricks — think Splash Dance. If fuel begins to drip out of the bottom of the grill it's time to make fire with said matchstick. Don't worry about the left over fuel because you can later squirt it into the fire producing these magnificent Sammy-Hagar-Cabo-Wabo-style fire plumes.

Repeat this step as necessary and remember, if at first you torch the bricks into instant ash don't fret. Like the classic bag of hot dog buns to package hot dogs ratio there are always more bricks in a bag of charcoal than you can safely fit into a grill. It's like a two-fer in every bag. That said, after years of using a gas grill I don't think I'd go back to charcoal

In closing my lawyer has advised me to add that engaging in this ritual should be done at safe distance from children, pets, your abode, and Jehovah's Witness.