West Texas Mama

Recently, we welcomed a new member to the family - a nice, shiny, bouncing baby Tahoe.  The ol'Trailblazer had seen it's best days pass it by and she was ready for the pasture.  Little did I know that the new vehicle would be the source of so much contention and argument amongst our little family. The Tahoe is a big, beautiful, black vehicle, and I was thoroughly convinced she needed a name that fully represented her.  (She is most definitely a female.)  I considered the name "Sophia" after the character portrayed by Oprah Winfrey in The Color Purple.  But, then I thought about Octavia Spencer's character in "The Help":  Minny Jackson.  Minny was quite the character, and I knew immediately that my lovely Tahoe would be "Minny" from then on. Then I picked up my offspring.  Jake immediately, and very vocally, made it known that he did not like the name Minny.  He wanted to call her "Striker".  Why "Striker", I asked?  ...

Each year, El Hubbo plans and labors over The Great Brisket Smoke.  Originally, this involved a few briskets, some foil, basic spices (garlic, salt, pepper), an electric knife, some mesquite, and freezer bags.  It has evolved to now include 10 briskets, foil, foil pans, aluminum pans bought from a bakery going out of business, a full-size electric meat slicer (yes, like those you see at the meat/cheese counter in the grocery store), an almost industrial size vacuum sealer, some mesquite, a super-secret multi-spice recipe, and a full-twenty-four-hour smoke-out. Here is El Hubbo starting the fire and getting ready at 5:00 p.m. He was wondering what his crazy wife was doing with the camera.  This is him putting the briskets on the fire: The look of a man still fresh, still energetic, still convinced he can pull an all-nighter with no negative effects: I soon lost interest in taking pictures of El Hubbo as the aroma of smoking, sizzling meat started to overco...