This post isn't about food, but I couldn't hold it any longer. It's just too wonderful to hold back, am gushing.

Tomorrow I will be attending a best friend's birthday party for his little girl, she's just turned 1. I have 2 boys, 9 & 14, so I've been through the routine. But what do I get a 1 year old for her first birthday !?! I was thinking a box with crinkly paper.

After many thoughts I figured a gun was the best gift of all. I headed off to my local sporting goods store for such an item. What did I find? A Daisy Red Ryder BB rifle gun!

Easy enough, but what they had blew me away. They had a PINK BB GUN !!!!

That's right, they had a pink bb gun rifle. A bb gun for girls! It was an easy sell.

xo, Biggles

Yup, it was this good. Surprised the hell out of me too, am very impressed. I'd planned on smoking the fish the next day, this would put the marination at 24 hours. I wasn't able to pull it together due to pouring rain and very chilly temperatures. So, the fish and pork loin roast sat another 24 hours before I could get to it.

Thursday after work the first thing I did was start a fire, I needed every minute to get this rolling so I could get to sleep at a decent hour.

The second thing I did was to pull the 2 meats out of the fridge to warm up a bit. After oven roasting the first fish batch, I found the Soy Vey Very Teriyaki marinade to be a bit on the strong side, figured after 2 days sitting in the juice, it'd be pretty much ruined. The pork loin that Chilebrown of Mad Meat Genius gifted me would be perfect. What I thought I'd do was to wash the marinade off the meats, pat dry.

Got the smoker's temp stable, the meat was at room temp. Just for good measure grabbed a handful of Bledsoe's bacon to install above the fish and pork, baste!

I used hickory chips for smoke action, it's what I had on hand. I used Broad Leaf Maple charcoal for heat, it's all I had left.

Looking pretty good, eh? Wanna see the bacon?

Oh boy! The bacon came off first, the boys and I made that go away. Soon the fish was flaky, juicy, perfect. The pork loin came out later, pulled it at 138 degrees internal temperature and let it rest. While it was absolutely stellar, even better the next day, I have to say the fish was the one to eat Thursday night.

Agreed?

The shot I took of the pork roast wasn't usable, so decided to leave it out this time. Don't worry, there will be more in the future. In any case, you can clearly see the inner meat of the fish was white, the marinade didn't penetrate that far. And since I washed off any bits & juice, the smoke took very well. Tender, juicy fish with flavor of teriyaki, then a warm smoke to finish dialed in this meal precisely. I shared a little of it and was given 3 thumbs up. I can close my eyes, lick my lips and still enjoy this meal.

xo, Biggles