A Dad In The Burbs - Stacey Robinsmith dot com

Firing up the Ugly Drum Smoker

Post author By stacey
Post date November 26, 2019

This weekend, for the first time since the summer just gone, I fired up the beast – my Ugly Drum Smoker. And it was ultra-cool feeling to make some barbecue!

The usual routine to light it, wad up a couple sheets of newspaper, cram them into the base of the barbecue lighting chimney, place 10-12 pieces of hardwood charcoal in the top compartment, and then light the paper on fire.

Within five or ten minutes (time becomes irrelevant when barbecuing) the paper is burned up and the charcoal is beginning to turn white from the heat. I waited until about half the charcoal pieces were ignited and then dumped the chimney of charcoal into the basket of charcoal in the base of the drum.

Then I let that start to heat up the drum. I’m a man of science, seeing as I don’t yet have a feel for the way the UDS works so I lower a thermometer probe into the centre of the drum.

I want the interior of the drum to be about 200°. ?

Once the drum has reached temperature, I placed the six chicken thighs on the grill/rack. I put a thermometer probe into one of the pieces of chicken and then closed the lid and let the barbecue start smoking and cooking.

There’s a saying in the barbecue world, “If you’re looking, you’re not cooking.” So I leave the drum closed and let the smoke and heat do it’s magic.

Oddly enough, I really don’t know how long I left the thighs on the grill. It was about 45 minutes …. here I am saying I’m a man of science and yet I didn’t record the time in and out. Weak.

The first batch that I did, yep, I did two batches, turned out perfectly cooked. I pulled them off when the internal temperature of the meat was 180°. ?I had used my homemade rub/coating and the kids found it too spicy (it does have a powerful bite to it!).

Once the first batch of thighs was done and I had tasted them, I realized that it was ridiculous to fire up the UDS just to do six thighs. So I grabbed another six from the fridge, tossed them in a bag with sone store-bought Shake N Bake mix, and them put them on the grill.

The second batch turned out just as beautifully. And not nearly as spicy so the kids both had a taste. Not a big taste – they’re both not big on eating meat right now.

Bottom line, the chicken thighs were awesome. But next time I light up the grill I will be sure to have more meat ready to go on the smoker. Probably a big old pork loin that I can barbecue and then slice up for lunches during the following week.

I’ll be sure to share pics of my next Ugly Drum Smoker experience.

Tags barbecue, UDS

Durable Goods

Fade Friday Day #72

Post author By stacey
Post date November 23, 2019

It has been quite a few days/weeks since I posted a Fade Friday update. So here it is – a day late from Friday.

The fade lines are really starting to develop character especially around my A Simple Leather Belt Co wallet. A couple of years ago I switched from carrying my wallet in my back pocket to the front left pocket. It is MUCH more comfortable – and the fade lines look gorgeous as well.

There were two days since my last Fade Friday update that I did not wear my Brave Star 21.5 ounce Cone Mills denim dungarees. One day I was working at the cabin and chose to wear my Carhartt bib overalls. The other day I didn’t wear the Brave Star’s was when I was at a more formal event and I was wearing a suit.

Durable Goods On the Road

Flashback to Our End of the Summer Camping Trip

Post author By stacey
Post date November 21, 2019

Disclosure: the #5DadsGoWild camping trip was made possible through the generous support of a number of businesses – some I mention in the following blog post, including Ford Canada, the Bluemoose Cafe, House of Knives, Farm Town Meats, Stanley and their amazing thermos French Press, and others. However, editorial control as always, is mine.

Ahh … summer 2019. Such a great summer capped off with a weekend with my dad buds in the Lone Duck group campsite in the amazing Manning Park.

Once again we had awesome sponsors for our trip. We had all the bacon and meat we needed – and extra to take home compliments of Josh at Farm Town Meats in Burnaby – my go-to for all things meat.

The team at House of Knives supplied us with survival gear and sharp and shiny knives for everyday carry – who doesn’t need a knife in their pocket? Super handy for opening packages (and candy wrappers). Which does beg the question, why are candy wrappers so difficult to open?

And Ford Canada… they loaned us the mighty Ford Expedition which I had the pleasure of driving for the week leading up to our camping trip.

Honestly, it was awesome to drive such a big vehicle. The sight lines from the driver’s seat are awesome. Sitting up high makes it so easy to see all around the vehicle. Loved it.

Truly an exceptional truck for a large family or moving your dad blogger team around the southern interior of B.C. Ultra-Comfortable and powerful.

Of course Wes and his team at the Blue Moose Cafe in Hope BC fueled our dad bods with coffee for four of us – funny thing, James, the Englishman in our group drinks coffee and Dale is the tea drinker in our group. All good fuel for dads.

However, even though we had survival gear from House of Knives, endless bacon, trail mix fromMcSweeney’s with beef and pork jerky – it really does “work” – and a comfy ride from Ford, what we didn’t have is warm weather!

It snowed! Snow on our “end of the summer”camping trip! Even so, the snow made for incredible images. Even if I was concerned that I may never walk again after waking up, nearly frozen to the ground!

Seeing as we have already reserved the Lone Duck campsite at Manning Park for the same end of September weekend in 2020, I’m now planning what gear to bring for the coming year.

Yes, I’ve got a good sleeping bag, but having the tent collapse on me under the snow load, plus sleeping on the cold ground because my air mattress deflated faster than the Toronto Maple Leafs hopes of winning a Stanley Cup…I’m carefully planning next years sleeping arrangement. Maybe I’ll bring a camp cot.

However, in spite of the cold and the snow, we had an incredible weekend of conversations.

Hanging out alongside – or actually in – Lightning Lake, hiking through the trails of Strawberry Flats, sitting around the campfire and talking without having any kids saying “I’m bored” was such a welcome break from everything.

And add in the fact that we discovered that there is a pub in the lower level of the Manning Park Resort, well guaranteed, we will be back for the third annual #5DadsGoWild camping trip to Manning Park.

Here’s to being even better prepared next year!

What do you use to keep warm and comfortable? Other than a motor home! Sleeping cot? Mattress? What gear do you recommend for me for next years #5dadsgowild trip?

Tags camping #5dadsgowild

In the Kitchen

Baking Bread Over A Fire

Post author By stacey
Post date November 17, 2019

I recently bought a new cast iron Dutch Oven. It was on sale on Amazon for $35 (nope, I’m not sponsored by Amazon nor am I an Amazon affiliate) but I couldn’t resist buying it.

While I was at the cabin, I figured it was a good opportunity to use the Dutch oven in an outdoor fire pit.

So, weekend at cabin, new Dutch oven, fire pit, my love for baking bread…perfect combination. Right?

I mixed together my usual bread recipe:

3 cups of flour
1 1/2 teaspoons of salt
1/2 teaspoon of yeast
1 1/2 cups of water

Mix the ingredients, let it stand for a few hours (typically over night) and then bake it at? 450° for a half hour.

Instead of baking it in the oven – onto a piece of parchment paper and into the cast iron Dutch oven and into the fire! How exciting!

I pulled the white hot coals around the Dutch oven, put the lid on, put a couple hot coals on top of the lid, and left it for half an hour.

After the half hour was up, removed the coals from the lid and opened it to.

Yeah… that may have been too hot!! And too long.

Although the bread didn’t work out – it was burned to completely black, I’ll be honest, I am looking forward to getting back to the cabin and trying again!

Tags baking, bread, cabin cooking

News Items

Don Cherry Gets Fired

Post author By stacey
Post date November 14, 2019

If someone opens a conversation with a statement that sounds anything like, “I don’t want to sound like a racist, but you know Don Cherry kind of…”

I typically cut them off as quickly as I can and say, “If you don’t want to sound like a racist, you really should stop talking at this point.”

Foodie News

Big Red’s Poutine Food Truck

Post author By stacey
Post date November 7, 2019

I’ve been following the Instagram feed from the food truck called Big Red’s Poutine on social media for months now.

So you can imagine how delighted I was when I saw the Big Red’s Poutine food truck at the Port Moody Farmers Market last weekend!

I have to admit, eating the poutine from Big Red’s food truck was even better than looking at pictures of their poutine. Duhuh!!

The piping hot, rich and creamy beef gravy melted the cheese curds just enough to make them ooey-gooey good. Oh yeah, that is all on top of the hand cut French fries! For $8 – this is a bargain.

I’ll be watching for Big Red’s Poutine at all the winter farmers markets this year. Delicious.

Tags french fries, poutine

In the Kitchen

Cheese Filled Zucchini Blossoms on the Grill

Post author By stacey
Post date November 5, 2019

Funny that on the last week of the Coquitlam Farmer’s Market I rediscovered the delicacy of cheese stuffed zucchini blossoms.

I say that I “rediscovered” zucchini blossoms because once I tasted these tender morsels, I was transported back to my childhood when we often ate stuffed zucchini blossoms.

I was inspired to try preparing zucchini blossoms because of a series of photos I saw on Instagram. Each week during zucchini blossom season the @WineBarbarian.ca (Bill Tieleman) goes to the Vancouver Farmer’s Market and gets blossoms from Forstbauer Organic Farms. Each week Tieleman does wildly creative things with the blossoms.

My favourite from this year was when Cinders the Dragon ate up some other beast leaving behind rib bones and zucchini blossom…. well never mind.

A couple of weeks ago I was at the Coquitlam Farmer’s Market when I saw a basket of the blossoms so I got a bag full and took them home to try my hand at cooking these tender little morsels. And, well actually, dealing with the zucchini blossoms was more work – delicate work – than I had anticipated!

We started out grating parmesan cheese and some two year old double smoked cheddar. And then realized that grated cheese was probably not the best for working with zucchini blossoms – we couldn’t figure out how to get the grated cheese into the blossoms!

So we switched to thin sliver-like slices of the parmesan and cheddar cheeses and slid them inside the blossoms.

Once we had the cheese inside the blossoms we dipped and rolled them in a whipped up egg mixture.

From the egg mixture into a bowl of flour to be rolled over until sure they had a thin coat all the way around. Onto a plate and ready to go the grill.

Even if it is cold and dark outside (so it is really difficult to take quality pics), I still prefer using the gas grill on the back porch rather than the electric stove inside.

I got about 1/2″ of oil in my Field Company cast iron pan good and hot before carefully setting each cheese filled blossom into the pan.

A few minutes in the hot oil and then I turned them over to let the flip side get crispy.

I still had a pile of grated parmesan so I sprinkled a little on each of the blossoms as I took them out of the pan. The leftover heat from the grill helped the cheese melt into the blossoms for a little extra cheesy-goodness.

To be honest – these were delicious! Tiny, tender morsels of flavour bombs. For a first attempt, I impressed myself.

And the best part of all of this? Both of the kids loved them and asked for more! Unfortunately, that was the final batch of zucchini blossoms for this year as the weather turned cooler. Oh well, like the Toronto Maple Leafs say, “There’s always next year.”

Tags grilling, zucchini blossoms

On the Road Vehicles

5 Dads Go Wild; Ford Expedition

Post author By stacey
Post date November 3, 2019

It has now been more than a month since I took part in the annual 5 Dads Go Wild camping trip. And this year, like last year, Ford Canada provided us with a couple of trucks to get us all safely up to – and back from – Manning Park.

Disclosure – the Ford Expedition we test drove was provided for us for the week leading up to and for the weekend of our camping trip free of charge by Ford Canada.

To start out, I have to admit that the Ford Expedition is an incredible vehicle. When driving it, you sit up high and the sight lines from the drivers seat are exceptional. Well, other than the blind spot over the left shoulder if you’re trying to shoulder check before doing a lane change.

But the Expedition has large mirrors with warning lights in m them to let you know if there is another car beside you before you change lanes.

I was surprised at how quickly adapted to driving the Expedition.

It has a spacious interior and yet it still feels nimble on the road. When I first got into the Expedition, after driving my comparatively tiny Echo, the SUV felt massive. But even within a few minutes I felt comfortable driving it around the city in rush hour traffic.

One thing my kids and I quite liked about the Ford was all the tiny, and yet quite bright interior “convenience” lights.

I liked them because they allowed the kids to do their kid stuff like reading books while I was driving without having an overhead dome light on that distracted (blinded me) me while I was driving. Something that seems minor but it really does make the driving experience that little bit more “convenient” for passengers and the driver.

While I was driving the Ford Expedition around town my average fuel consumption was 15 litres per 100 kilometre – according to the reading on the large and well laid out screen on the dash.

The fact that the V6 engine in the Expedition generates almost 400 horsepower can be tempting to “test” out. Perhaps the fuel consumption would improve even more once I got the lead out of my foot! But driving a vehicle with almost 400 horsepower is pretty exhilarating! The acceleration really is wild.

Once we headed out of town and got out on the highway the fuel consumption of the Ford really did improve.

Driving at a pretty steady freeway speed reduced the fuel consumption to just over 11 litres per 100 kilometre. Considering that the Expedition can seat seven, and tow pretty much anything you want – like a boat or a travel trailer – that’s pretty respectable mileage.

We had all five of us dads plus a ton of camping gear with us in the truck and it was very comfortable.

So the bottom line – the Expedition is an impressive and very well appointed vehicle. Everything in the vehicle is well thought out. Sure it is a big vehicle. But if you’ve got a big family or a crew you are traveling with, this is a vehicle that will do the job.

Now my next question is, which Ford vehicle should I test drive next?

Tags 5 Dads Go Wild, Ford, Ford Expedition

Durable Goods

Fade Friday Day #42

Post author By stacey
Post date October 25, 2019

I missed last week’s fade Friday photo so this week we are on day 42.

The Brave Star 21.5 ounce jeans just keep on keeping on! Cool thing, two students stopped me on campus and asked if I was wearing Brave Star jeans. They had their own Brave Stars on as well!

In the Kitchen

The EASIEST No Knead Bread. Ever.

Post author By stacey
Post date October 21, 2019

You may have noticed that I haven’t posted much on here over the last two weeks. The truth is I’ve been battling some significant personal issues during that time.

Too many sleepless nights. However, this too shall pass and I (we) will be okay.

But let’s talk about something that makes me smile – making and baking bread.

I have discovered the easiest, simplest way to make a perfect loaf of bread. Yes. That easy.

In a mixing bowl add 3 cups of unbleached white flour, a half teaspoon of yeast, and a teaspoon and a half of salt. I currently have a big (Costco size) bottle of Himalayan pink salt available so I use that.

The ingredients:

3 cups of flour
1 1/2 teaspoons of salt
1/2 teaspoon of yeast
1 1/2 cups of water

Use a fork to stir the ingredients around a bit. If you have seeds – pumpkin, sunflower, or sesame seeds, add about a quarter cup of whatever you want. Or don’t.

Then stir in a cup and a half of water.

I then use a rubber scraper (I call it a rubber spatula) to mix the water and flour mixture. I just roll the ball of dough over and few times until the water and the flour are all mixed together – no clumps of flour in the bottom of the bowl.

The mixing should only take a few turns – maybe 30 seconds, a minute of stirring.

That’s it for the “work”.

Then I leave the ball of dough in the bowl over night.

In the morning I get up, place my cast iron Dutch oven in the oven, set the temp to 450 degrees, and let the oven pre-heat.

Then I prep the dough.

I rip off a piece of parchment paper about 30 cm long, sprinkle maybe a tablespoon of flour on it, then roll the dough out onto the parchment paper.

All I do is roll the ball of dough around on the paper so that the outside of the dough has a light coating of flour and is no longer sticky to the touch – no kneading. No hassle.

I put a slash in the top of the ball of dough and then carefully lower it into the pre-heated Dutch oven, put the lid back on and put it in the oven for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes I remove the lid and let the bread keep cooking for another 15 minutes at 450 degrees.

Out of the oven, onto the cooling rack to let it cool off for a couple of hours – if you can wait!

That is it. No kneading. No mess. No fuss. Just a perfect loaf of bread each time.

Tags bread