Not a bad weekend in NH

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Huge is the theme of the day

I thought the airplane was big , the airport in St Paul/Minneapolis is stoooopid big ! After landing I had to walk 2 football fields ride a train for 3 stops on to 3 moving sidewalks one of which was broken and then finally at least one more football field length walk to the last gate in the A terminal. I need a nap !
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Jumbo Jet

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All aboard

I just boarded my flight to KC MO. This is the biggest plane I've been on in a long time. This thing is huge ! I guess its a 757.
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Headed to Raytown MO in the morning.

I'm headed to Raytown Missouri to compete in the Raytown State BBQ championship. This will be my first time competing on my own in the midwest where I don't have the pressure of competing in a Major competition like the Royal or GAB. That's not to say the competition will be any easier but I'm sure it will be a different experience. The Royal and GAB are invitational contests that have people from all over the country competing. In Raytown I'll probably be the only strange face in the neighborhood. It should be a little more laid back and I'm really looking forward to it.

Pictures from The Art of BBQ Mays Landing NJ

SMB placed 1st in Chicken, 6th in Ribs, 6th in Pork, 4th in Brisket and ended up 3rd overall. Pretty good results for our first time competing together. Congratulations to Lo N Slo bbq for Grand and 3 Eyz BBQ for Reserve Grand.

Hopefully these two guys came in DAL because the guy with the sour look on his face was a complete asshole.

Danville-GAB-Etc...

Our results in Danville were not all we hoped they would be. We ended up 15th overall and only got one call for 4th place pork. I would like to thank Bill McMann the contest organizer for making it possible for us to compete. We used Bills personal FEC100 and he arranged to get us the rest of the equimpment we needed. It rained, it was muddy and our site was far away from the teams we normally socialize with. We still had a good time and I'm sure someday we will do it again. Congrats to my good friend Tuffy Stone on his Grand Championship and the Dizzy Pig Team on their RGC.


The week following Danville I competed in the Great American Barbecue contest in Bonner Springs Kansas. I cooked on borrowed equipment and relied on my friends from The Slabs to help me through the weekend. Thank you Steph, Kyle, Val, Brent, Jerry and Pam for all the help. I could not have done it without you. Thank you Rod Gray and Todd Johns for lending me the bbq pits to cook on. Thank you Andy for getting the Pit to me. The judges at the GAB hated all my food with one exception, Pork which took 1st place.


The next contest I'm doing I'll be competing with some of the young talent in the New England area. I'm really looking forward to cooking with these guys and trading stories (and stealing secrets...shhhhh) it should be fun.

Time to do some traveling.

The weekend of May 15th I'll be flying in with Richard Westhaver AKA Dirty Dick to compete in Danville Virginia under the team name Dirty Smoke. This will be the second time Dick and I have competed together, last year we went to Chesapeake VA and got a first place call in Ribs, a 7th place call in Brisket and ended up 11th overall. Not too bad on borrowed equipment but we hope to do better this time around.

The organizer of the event was kind enough to gather up all the necessary equipment and meat for us to be able to compete. It's always a challenge cooking on borrowed equipment and you never know what your going to forget to bring with you, last year Dick forgot the chicken rub. I don't think Dick wants to forget anything this year because he keeps sending me lists and asking me to add to them. Hey Dick don't forget the Vodka !

Wish us Luck !

Salisbury Maryland Pork in the Park

I'm going to keep this post short. The weather was perfect, the company was great, and we did very well. There were two highlights to the awesome weekend. The first was a catered breakfast given to me as a birthday present by my girlfriend Steph and of course the second was hearing my team name called for Grand Champion and going up to accept the trophy with my parents.

Breakfast is being served.

Grand Champion Trophy