It's finally here. The Thrilla on the Grilla in Castle Pines.

This is it. This Saturday we will crown the best wings around. The Thrilla on the Grilla is finally becoming a reality. This has been a dream of mine for a long time and without the help of Erin and kirk Seabold and Drew Schneider I would never have been able to even dream of pulling something like this off. We have some great teams and vendors. I would like to thank Grand Lake Brewery for their sponsorship and for making some of the best beer in the country plus being some of the nicest people I have ever come in contact with. I would also like to thank my wife Darcy for being so awesome. Thank you to the teams who are coming out to compete. I feel very lucky to have met each one of you and look forward to having Grand Lake beer with you all. So let's have some fun and good sportsmanship.

Thank you all,
Shannon

Breakfast

My wife has been on a huevo rancheros kick since she had it at The Fat Cat Cafe in Grand Lake. By the way, The Fat Cat is the only place we go for breakfast in Grand Lake. Every dish is consistently good and the atmosphere is warm and inviting. And if you're nice to Sally (who is wonderful) she might share some of her traditional homemade English scones with you. You'll be lucky if she does!

Anyway, it inspired me to make my own version with whatever leftovers I had. This version has 2 corn tortillas filled with refried beans, cheese, taco-seasoned ground beef, topped with a 3 egg omelette, more cheese and enchilada sauce. Yum! -- Drew

Ming Tsai

I've always been interested in cooking more Asian style cuisine, so I thought of Ming Tsai's East Meets West and got the cookbook. I've cooked a few things out of it so far and here are 2 lessons learned so far...1. Just about anything you try of Ming's will be good and 2. If it's a "spicy" dish, cut the heat AT LEAST in half. I've cut it in half and it's still on fire. I can't imagine cooking his spicy dishes at full force. I think my head would explode! Here is my latest from his book. -- Drew

5 Herb Vinaigarette

Fried Goat Cheese Salad (with the vinaigarette above)

Spicy Mango Salsa

Seared  Cod with Mango Salsa

(pan wasn't hot enough for the fish...rookie error!!)

Crave Real Food in Castle Rock

Nutty Professor

peanut butter (yes, peanut butter), bacon, jalapenos and onion

 

Velvet Elvis

Peanut Butter, Bananas, and Bacon! Just the way the King would have ordered it.

Crave Real Food in Castle Rock is the real deal. Without question one of the most memorable meals I have ever had. It’s close to the theater so I would imagine a lot of folks are planning to go here, then a movie. That may sound like a great idea but you will have to cancel the movie and head straight for confession. This place is naughty good. I’m talkin’ complete and utter indulgence. Jeff the Chef/Owner is like a Mad Scientist behind the counter. This guy is AWESOME!! He definitely grabbed the “Abbey Normal” brain in the jar for this one. As you can see from the pictures above things got out of hand. When I coined the phrase “Grub Chub” this is what I was referring to. Thank god the teacher didn’t ask me to get up and work out a problem on the chalkboard during this noshfest, because I was sportin’ a pretty serious Food Woody. I almost hesitate to let you all know how good this place is because I always want to be able to get a table but when something is this good, I gotta share. They give you a card that is a check list of all their burgers, great idea but I’m going to have a hard time ordering anything other than The Nutty Prof. We were there last Friday evening during the heaviest rain storm I have ever seen. It was like Armageddon outside and I had no idea that while I was making sweet nasty love to this burger my backyard was filling with water and about to flood our beautifully finished basement. As I was down on my knees trying to reconnect the sump pump in 3 feet of water two feet from an electrical outlet I’m thinking “Damn that was a good burger and shake” Seriously GO GET YA SUM - Shannon

You got some skillz on the grillz?!

...Then come down to Castle Pines on September 25th and compete against the best grillers on the Front Range.

Backyard grillers and restaurant teams are will do battle in the 1st Annual Thrilla on the Grilla Backyard BBQ Bash.

A portion of the proceeds will benefit the Semper Fi Fund.

Limited space! Go to http://www.thrillaonthegrilla.com/ NOW to reserve your spot!

It's Beautiful Man - "Siggy-soggy...Siggy-soggy...Oi...Oi...Oi!"

This is my home brew straight from the keg. It turned out really frickin' tasty. I could totally get into this brewing thing. It was a lot of fun and very educational for me. Drew dicribed it as a hoppy brown ale which is exactly what I like in a beer. Thank you to the boys at Beer at Home - Shannon

This is the food I love

Jerk Red Snapper grilled on a banana leaf

Tilapia Ceviche W/Mescal

Cactus Pear Margarita

This is the food I love to eat and this is the food I love to make. Not one of these dishes came from a recipe. This is what happens when I spend an hour or so walking through an Asian market. I had never even tasted a Cactus Pear before in my life so I had to buy a couple. The color was amazing so I thought it would look really cool in a drink. It tasted really good too. I just added some Agave Nectar and some lime juice and came up with a pretty damn good drink. The Snapper frickin' rocked if I do say so myself. Those who know me know I rarely love my own cooking but this was a home run of a dish. Easy as hell too. The banana leaf was just to keep it from sticking but it did look cool. One of my little touches I like to add to my Ceviche is Mescal, just a very small dash adds a slight smokiness. Orange juice adds a nice sweetness as well. I'm hoping that scientist will announce that the Cactus pear is a miracle fruit and it gives men staying power as well as antioxidants that will cure cancer and male pattern baldness but if not it still tastes good. I was feeling rather ambitious on this day so I also made a Hibiscus Margarita too. Hibiscus makes for a killer marg. It's super easy. I just boiled the Hibiscus in simple syrup and strained it . Then add some lime juice and Tequilla. My favorite mixing tequila is Cazadores Blanco and my favorite sipping tequila is Chamucos (Spanish for Boogie Man) See when I get talking about tequila you can't stop me, I love the stuff. Next time you feel like grilling some fish don't be afraid to do a whole fish. The snapper is perfect for this but make sure you cut off that "FU#*)N'" Dorsal fin (that's the big one that runs down the back bone of the fish) I can't even begin to count how many times I've been stuck by those things and they hurt like a MO' FO' FO' SHO'. Man I love summer! Thanks for reading - remember to "flip it, slap it, and rub it down" then grill it - Shannon

Dinner at Ann and Joey's and a dream fulfilled

Our good friends, Ann and Joey, made a fabulous beer-themed dinner for us last weekend. Thanks to Deb for helping with the menu and prep. Every single course was delicious. Great job guys!

Although the dinner and company were great as usual, Bob made this an evening I'll never forget. He recently bought a gorgeous 1999 Porsche 911 Carrera (ok, so gorgeous Porsche is redundant, so sue me). This has been my dream car since I learned what a car was and until last weekend, I had never even sat in one before. .......Sorry, had to catch my breath. I'm smiling as I'm writing this........He took me for a short ride and then I got up the courage to ask him if I could drive it. He pulled over on the way back to Ann's house and probably thought I would just go the few blocks and we'd be done. SORRY BOB! I didn't even think of that. I turned around, got acquainted with the clutch and took off. Oooooooooooooooooooooohhh, man. What a rush! My whole body was shaking and tingling. To be in such a work of art and to feel the power at your disposable was unforgettable. We didn't even get it going that fast, but what we did do was so awesome. Thank you Bob. You were my first. I'll never forget it. -- Drew

Back to the dinner. Here are the pics, but unfortunately I forgot to get pictures of the Grilled Corn and Tomato Salad and the Chedder, Sour Cream Potato Gratin. Both were Grubulicious! Thanks again!

Grilled Camembert with Belgian Lambic Peach Cherry Chutney

- I wasn't sure how I'd like the chutney, but it was

great with the soft cheese and baguette.

Broth for the Mussels

- I asked if I could just take this home with me. They

said no. Hey, doesn't hurt to ask!

Smoked Mussels in Wheat Beer

- Even the couple people that didn't like mussels

ate two servings. The broth as great with the bread.

Bread with garlic compound butter

- Oooooooh, the bread. I wish I had some right now.

That butter was devilishly good. I made some roasted

garlic butter the next night and put it in my hamburger. Yum!

Root Beer BBQ Chicken

- This was perfect. You could taste all the major

players in the sauce and the chicken was crisp

and juicy, just like it should be!

Crustaceans on the Big Green Egg

Zero Carbs!! - Shannon

Home Brew - take one

  The very helpful and friendly team at Beer at Home on Broadway in Englewood Colorado are helping me with my first attempt at home brewing. We are going for a Pale Ale. This is something I am totally out of my element with. These guys make it sound pretty easy so keep your fingers crossed. My good buddy Kelly O'Conner will also be helping me with this undertaking. My wife is to be thanked in advance because I have a funny feeling their is going to be a pretty serious mess involved at some point as well as some filth mouth ringing from the kitchen if everything isn't just perfect. Thanks "Hun"

  Tomorrow I will be picking up the concoction that Steve and Ben dream up. I'm totally placing the recipe part of this in their hands. These guys seem to really know their stuff. If it taste like crap it will be my fault for sure. If you ever get a chance you have got to stop by and talk to these guys. I love the fact that they have such a passion for this stuff. Everyone I have met there is the type of person you could rap with for hours about beer. I have that kind of passion for cooking and making people laugh so this beer thing is the perfect tie-in. I can totally see myself really getting into home brewing. - Shannon - Grubs and Suds