Pepper isn't the best part of baseball

Last week I came across a simple recipe which sounded like a can't miss.

Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Jalapenos

1. Stuff Jalapenos w/ Sour Cream

2. Wrap in Bacon

3. Grill

Wow! Simple and bacon wrapped! This was going to be awesome.

Misfortune #1: Half way through cutting the jalapenos I scratched my eye.

Not a good idea.

Misfortune #2: Somehow this recipe wasn’t as amazing as it sounds.

The jalapenos lost a lot of their flavor during grilling, I didn’t really make the bacon crisp enough, and the sour cream kind of over powered the other flavors. Next time I will use some good thick bacon, let it cook a little longer, and replace the Sour Cream with some kind of cheese instead. (My friend EB was over for this cookout, he has already tried a variation, was nice enough to share with me, and it was much much better. Think he used blue cheese.)

Overall cookout was still a success. Made some awesome chicken drumsticks using a little recipe I’ve concocted over the years. Simply marinate chicken in soy sauce, any kind of mustard (I usually go with Dijon), a bit of honey, some red pepper or spicy chicken seasoning, let sit in fridge for 15 to 30 minutes, and slowly grill at a low temp until done. Easy and always fantastic.

The beer for the day was a home brew we made and named Clara's Slobber. Not our best, not our worst. Like it, don't love it. Clara's Slobber's Official Score: 8.2.

Not to miss baseball in this post:

Over the weekend, Mr. TK came to town to catch a Sox game with me. While we have caught some fantastic games together before (Game 1 of 2005 World Series for example), this was not one of them.

Misfortune #3: In the month of July the White Sox went 12 - 1 at home. They saved that one loss for the day we went.

This wasn't just a loss, this was an ass kicking right from the start. The Sox got down by 4 in the second and never even pretended to mount a comeback. Dallas Braden came off the DL and threw all 9 innings giving up 2 runs, scattering 8 hits, and striking out 5. Danks had a rare bad day, going 6.2 and giving up 5. Did we have fun anyways? You bet, along with several beers, we had several of these:

Every year like clock work, the calendar strikes January and I start dreaming about Polish Sausage. (Yes, I'm aware that sentence is going to blow up the comment section.) One of my very favorite thing on this planet is after fighting the long Chitown winter, spring arrives, the weather is still cold, but I get to walk into Comiskey and smell grilled onions. At this very moment, I know it was all worth it. A polish with extra grilled onions is waiting for me, I will drizzle some mustard over it and soon be enjoying my heaven.

After Dark B, B, & B

So, thanks to a White Sox west coast trip, we got a chance to do some late night Beer, BBQ, and Baseball. The Sox are playing in Oakland and a 9pm start means I am grilling in the dark on a beautiful Friday night.

Beer: went with a variety pack I picked up in StL last weekend from a brewpub named Schlafly’s. The pack included their Pale Ale, their APA, and their Kӧlsch. I had tried some of the beer a couple of weekends before and fell in love with their Oatmeal Stout, so I thought I should try some others.

The Pale Ale: I’m not a big Pale Ale guy, but this wasn’t all that bad. The lady loves it, so I think I’ll let her drink the rest of it. Official Score: 7.3 out of 10.
The APA: My first question, what on earth is an APA? Turns out it stands for American Pale Ale. Oh, so like an IPA (India Pale Ale)? Yes. Actually, from what I can tell, it is the exact same as an IPA. In short, it’s just a hoppy Pale Ale. Do people in StL now have some kind of complex about mixing their beer with foreign countries? Either way, didn’t like this one so much. Official Score: 6.5 out of 10.
The Kӧlsch: This beer was fantastic. I wasn’t exactly sure what makes a beer a “Kӧlsch” so I looked it up. According to Wikipedia, it just means it’s a beer brewed in Cologne, Germany. Kind of like champagne is just a sparkling wine from a specific place. I’m starting to think the people at Schlafly are just naming beers whatever da f they want. Regardless, this is a good beer. Official Score: 8.7 out of 10.

BBQ: We went simple for our late start. Got two small steaks, two pre-prepared kabobs (beef, green pepper, red pepper, and onion), and a large onion. We cut up the onion, drizzled it in olive oil and covered it with salt, rosemary, thyme, and butter. We wrapped it in foil and threw it on the grill to cook for about an hour. You can and should cook it for longer, but an hour gets it done. We took the steaks and covered this with some of Weber’s Chicago Steak Seasoning. If you don’t own this seasoning, run out and get some. Right now! I love this stuff. It can make the cheapest steak taste fantastic. I even put in my eggs in the morning. That’s how good this stuff is. Everything turned out wonderful. Grilling in the dark was a success.

Baseball: On the one year anniversary of his perfect game, Mark Buehrle came out and threw a gem. Beuhrle went all 9, gave up only 4 hits, and allowed only 1 run. The Sox put up 5 for him and this game was O’va. In true Buehrle fashion this game only took 2 hours and 14 minutes. The man is a stud.

The Blog

Welcome Friends! I have started this blog for no important reason. As a matter of fact, this entire blog is going to be about nothing particularly important. If the url hasn’t already given it away, Bradford’s Bastard Blog is going to be about Beer, BBQ, and Baseball. Why Beer, BBQ, and Baseball? Well, these happen to be some of my favorite things to drink, do, and watch. Why start a blog about them? Recently the love of my life, let’s call her “She”, started a blog to help her reconnect with things she feels passionate about, things she has lost touch with, things that she enjoys. While by no means are Beer, BBQ, and Baseball important, I do enjoy them, and I do at times lose touch with them. Life is full of important things; jobs, bills, ect. By all means, it’s important to pay attention to these things. However, I also think we sometimes need to take time and make sure to give ourselves the things we enjoy. This is something that “She” has helped me understand. Often times I find myself getting too caught up in things like work. I forget to stop and enjoy life. This blog, in a way, is to help me stop getting so caught up and help me get back to enjoying. Someday I’ll look back on my life and I’m not going to remember most of these”important” thing. I hope to look back and remember these things I enjoy; I hope to have lots of them to remember.

I should note that I recently had the fortune to combine something very important to me, friends and family, with these exact things I’m blogging about…beer, bbq, and baseball. I thank everyone who came up. I’m glad we could all enjoy these things together. It was a memory I will always take pleasure in and a memory I hope to repeat many times.

Now, to what Bradford’s Bastard Blog is about:

While I wrote this blog, I enjoyed some awesome beer, bbq, and baseball.

Beer: A beer I found at Whole Foods called Maredsous. It’s a Belgium Triple (one of my favorite types of beer as you will probably discover as this blog develops). I have to say I recommend it. It’s a strong, sweat beer (like all Triples), but not overpowering in its sweetness. The 10% alc/vol is something to probably be aware of. Don’t pound these things. Slowly enjoy them for their flavor.

BBQ: A 1.25lb porterhouse with a hickory flavored dry-rub. It cost $25 from Whole Foods (damn I love their meat, damn I hate their prices). I overcooked it just a bit (damn you new distraction of a blog) but still left it closer to rare than medium, so it was still fantastic.

Baseball: Watching the Blue Jays play in Detroit. Rooting for the Blue Jay since the Tigers are only 2.5 back of the Sox. The Tiger’s schedule the next few weeks is pretty difficult. I’m hoping the White Sox can get a significant lead before they hit September and have their own difficult schedule. As I’m posting this, the game is tied 2-2 in the top of the 8th. Go Blue Jays!