Well, after a brief hiatus, I'm back to blogging. Between my partying schedule and my business travels I have been away from the computer for a bit. Over the weekend I had a little get together. I'll post more about that party in the next coming days but here are a few shots of my
homemade pastrami that I whipped up to feed everyone. As you may recall, I'd been marinading this 5 pound brisket in my fridge for the previous ten days.
To prepare the meat on the day of cooking, I poured off the marinade and washed the rest of it off in the sink. Next, I dried the meat and then coated it with a generous amount of cumin powder and ground pepper. Dont add any more salt at this point because the marinade should have taken care of that for you.
To be sure that the meat would be done before my guests arrived I tossed it on the grill 4 hours before the party. As usual, I placed an entire sleeve of coals on the opposite side of the meat and cooked it over the indirect heat for about 4 hours. It was just finishing off as the first guests arrived. To serve the pastrami, I bought a bunch of hamburger rolls and let my friends make there own pastrami sandwiches. It was a big hit. Definitely worth the effort!
Happy Halloween! One of the really nice things about where I live is that on Halloween my neighbors and I usually hang out together in front of our houses as we give out tons of candy. I thought the kids would never stop this year. 
One thing I like to do every year is save the pumpkin seeds from the pumpkin I carve and toast 'em up into a little spicy snack.
The first thing you need to do wash off the seeds and try to get rid of as much of the orange yuck as possible. Next toast them up in your toaster oven until the seeds are a little crispy. To then season them, spray them with one of those cooking sprays to make them sticky. I then add plenty of salt and chili powder. I only eat this snack once a year but I love it. I can't until next Halloween.
Below is a lineup of Norwegian beers that I blew through on my last trip to Oslo. Frankly, I find it terribly fun to walk into a foreign grocery store and randomly pick native beers.
Like I said, I wont attempt to try to critique all of these beers. They all tasted fairly good to me and to be honest after a while they all tasted like chicken anyways. 
From what I remeber, these were all basically pilsners. What a day!
I have to admit, we grilled these steaks perfectly. The key is to get the grill as hot as you can. Get it so hot that if you put your hand a few inches above the grill, you can't hold it there for more than a second or two. Six or seven minutes a side and you have medium rare. Pay attention to the fire flare ups and either spray a little water to keep it down or possibly close the top to reduce the amount of oxygen. A little fire is ok, just use your best judgement. To accompany these artery cloggers we sliced a big steak tomoato and slopped on some mashed potatoes. Those fancy steakhouses got nothin' on these boys.
To cook the salmon I highly suggest a grill basket. Don't buy one of those baskets that either in the shape of a fish or a hot dog. Your fish will never be that shape and who the heck eats that many hotdogs that they need a dog basket?
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