Listening to the afternoon session of General Conference, I found myself wondering if anyone used the word “supernal” other than General Conference speakers.
Much to my surprise, yes. Though I notice that both General Conference and Feminist Mormon Housewives show up in the top 10 listings. ..bruce..
[UPDATED 04/05/08 - 1455 MDT] Ooooooookay, it looks as though this approach to one of our BBQs isn’t quite a popular as our regular approach. 
We had maybe 8 adults (including 3 missionaries) and 3 kids for the morning session. Several families showed up during the lunch break — we probably had 30 people here at the high point — and now we’re back down to 7 adults (plus me) and 3 or 4 kids for the afternoon session. Of course, this means I now have more food than I know what to do with, even though I only cooked up half of the hamburger and the hot dogs. Heck, I have three briskets that I haven’t even carved up yet (and most of the first two left as well). I definitely overshot. Sigh.
[UPDATED 04/05/08 - 0802 MDT] As my sweet wife Sandra is fond of telling me, the advantage of cleaning (and setting) up everything before you go to bed is that it’s all still cleaned (and set) up when you wake up in the morning. Woot! The coals in the smoker that I carefully banked last night were still hot, so it only took me a few minutes to get the firebox going. The three turkey breasts and the leg of lamb are all now being bathed in pecan smoke and actually cooking as well. The drinks (which I’ve divided into “Diet Soda/Water” and “The Good Stuff” in two different containers) are now all on ice, though they got pre-chilled last night with the overnight temperatures dropping into the 30s.
I have time to drive to the store for more ice before anyone shows up.
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Well, all is readiness, I think. All five briskets (total pre-cooked weight: 35 lbs) have been smoked and are now in the oven for another 18 hours of cooking. I plan to get up at 6 am, rebuild the fire in the smoker, and smoke 3 bone-in turkey breasts and a leg of lamb (all of which have been marinading since yesterday). I called our next-door neighbors (Omar & Rose Rabat) and invited them to come over either Saturday or Sunday.
I have all the hamburger and hot dog buns purchased, though two of our MinPins — Wingnut (Winni) and Moonbat (Marti) — got hold of one pack of hot dog buns, ripped the package off, and dragged the buns into their ‘fort’ — the space under our bed — where they took quite a few bites out of the buns themselves. I discovered this when I called the dogs (we have four) to dinner, and Winnie and Marti just weren’t interested in their food. I also have all the ground beef, hot dogs, sausages, and portobello mushrooms purchased, as well as the chicken breasts (cut in half and marinating). Those will all get grilled between sessions tomorrow.
I got the satellite box and projector set up downstairs, then cannibalized one of my PCs to get a subwoofer and a pair of speakers for the audio; it works great. Moved furniture downstairs and set up folding chairs (we have about 20 folding chairs because Sandra is the ward music/choir director, and we hold choir practice at our house). Dragged chairs and counter stools around on the main floor as well.
Printed up 8″x5″ cards labeling bathrooms and nursing rooms and taped them to the appropriate doors. Typed up a half-sheet flyer for those attending (so I don’t have to keep explaining the same things over and over as people arrive) and put them — along with blank name tags — by the front door.
Moved all of the bottle water and diet soda out onto the deck, as well as half of the non-diet soda, so the night air can start the chilling process.
Cleaned the house so it’s spic and span.1
I guess that’s it. “To bed, to bed! Said Sleepyhead…” (one of our kids favorite bedtime rhymes). [Scroll back up and click on the "Night Theme" button at the top of the right sidebar to get the proper effect.] ..bruce..
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1 I added this in case my wife — who’s out of town — happens to get ‘net connection and read this post.
[Futher updates moved to the next post]
UPDATE (04/04/08; 1602 MDT): Three briskets down, two to go. I smoked the first three for about seven hours, wrapped them in foil, and put them in the oven; the other two just went into the smoker. The weather is gorgeous — sunny, mostly clear, and a bit cool. It’s supposed to be that way for the next few days, which will be just about perfect. I’m going to run out to buy some more soda — I’ve got a lot already, but then again, we’re going to have people here all day for two days.
UPDATE (04/04/08; 0910 MDT): The Conference cooking has commenced. I went out at about 7:30 am this morning, took the cover off of the smoker, dragged it into position on the deck, and started the coals a-burnin’. I’ve been marinating five (5) briskets — about 7 lbs each — since Wednesday, and I now have three of them in the smoker (all that I can fit). I will smoke them for several hours, then (as per this post) take them out, double-wrap them in heavy foil, and stick them in the oven at 180 deg F until tomorrow. In the meantime, I’ll stick the other two in the smoker and, once they’re smoked, I’ll do the same for them (but probably won’t serve them until Sunday).
I also have three bone-in turkey breasts marinating, as well as one leg of lamb. I’ll get up early tomorrow morning to start smoking them, with the goal of having them done around noon tomorrow. I’ve also got a number of boneless, skinless chicken breasts (cut in half lengthwise) marinating in Smoked Chipotle Tabasco Sauce; I’ll grill those tomorrow during lunch, along with hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken sausages, and portobello mushrooms.
Sure hope we have a large turnout, because we’ll have a ton of food. On the other hand, the last few times we’ve done this, we’ve had 70+ people show up. Should be fun. Now I’ve got to go hook up the video projector downstairs….
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Men like to barbecue. Men will cook if danger is involved.– Rita Rudner
I periodically do what my good friend Bruce Henderson refers to as VLSBs: Very Large Scale Barbecues. My wife and I started this tradition while living in Washington DC and have continued it here in Colorado. Here’s a photoblogging record of one from a few years ago. We typically get turnouts of 50-80 people at these events, and we eat food like this (note that these photos are from two years ago; see the link in the previous sentence):
Well, I’m doing one this weekend in connection with General Conference, and y’all are invited. I will probably smoke 30 lbs of beef brisket, as well as 2-3 turkey breasts, and at least one leg of lamb, as well as grilling several dozen hamburgers and hotdogs. And we’ll provide lots and lots of bottled soda:
We run this as a pot-luck, so feel free to bring appetizers, side dishes, salads, or desserts.
We’ll have Conference on both in the living room (large screen TV) and down in the rec room (projector against one wall). Kids are welcome (Sandra has a permanent play area set up for our grandkids in one corner of the downstairs area). The schedule is pretty much GC schedule (9:30 am to 4:30 pm, both Saturday and Sunday); you can come for just one session, for all sessions, or even just for the break between sessions (12:00 noon to 2:00 pm each day).
Anyway, we’re at 9805 E Tom Tom Drive, Parker, Colorado — about 25 miles SSW of downtown Denver. Phone is 303.840.1511. Really ambitious (or crazy) Bloggernacklites from nearby states (Kansas, Wyoming, Utah, etc.) are also invited. ..bruce..
