All Around Pizza!

If you are ever in Virginia Beach, Virginia please stop in and spend some money on some good pizza!

All Around Pizza is a big Second Amendment supporter!

"Since the coupon launched last Friday (it’s available on the pizza shop’s web site), Laze says 80 percent of his customers have brought guns into the pizza shop. One customer even came in with an AK-47.

“It’s been awesome,” he told The Virginian Pilot, noting the widespread support the discount has spawned."

 --Now I am Hungry! For tasty tasty Freedom!

The New Smoker

My favorite gift this season is an electric smoker!

My favorite effort so far was the venison tenderloin.

I brined the venison in apple cider and soaked the apple wood chips in cider as well.

I rubbed the tenderloins with seasoned sea salt, pepper and minced roasted garlic.

After placing the tenderloins in the smoker, I placed a pound of fatty bacon on the upper deck in the smoker so it would drip directly onto meats.

Oh. My. God...

--The whole family, including my daughter, said, "Best. Venison. Ever..."

The Kid Shoot

That's Kids Shooting, not shooting kids.

Nancy over at Excel at Nothing hosted a kid focus shooting event this weekend.

Her arcane powers were in full effect by creating the best weather for a cookout I have ever seen in my whole long life.

There were ten kids and ten adults. The kids were very well behaved. (and none were mine!)

The food was awesome. I am still full at this writing. The big winners, that will be made at the The Millers real soon, were the Seven Layer Jello, Bacon Wrapped Onions and the Pumpkin Crunch. I am so full!


We had some great BB and Pellet guns for the kids. Lots of very safe One-on-One instruction for the very well behaved kids.

My wife really enjoyed the clay pidgin targets too!

Nancy has a great yard with a swing set. Nice social time in the shade while the kids ate hot dogs and cup cakes. Andy even brought a moon bounce! The whole thing make me want to get a classic Red Rider for myself!

--And nobody got an eye shot out!

Bacon Marmalade

It’s meaty/tangy/sweet/spicy fantastically delicious.

Hat tip to Chef J. Looney! It’s meaty/tangy/sweet/spicy fantastically delicious, and here’s how I am gonna make it: 

Bacon Marmalade

7 lbs thick-cut bacon
2 cups red onion, diced
5 large cloves of garlic, minced
2 cups dark brown sugar, packed
2 cups raw apple cider vinegar
4 shots espresso
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

"Cut the bacon into small pieces. You’ll need a really big skillet to do this in one batch, or you can use two large skillets side by side. However you do it, 7 pounds is a lot of bacon, and you want to cook it evenly, so dumping it all into a huge roaster or saucepan just won’t do the trick.

Cook the bacon over medium-high heat until it’s good and crispy. Drain the grease off and put the bacon aside for a few minutes. Reduce the heat to medium. Add the onion and garlic to the pan and cook just until it’s clear, add the vinegar to deglaze the pan, using a wooden spoon to scrape all the meaty brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Add the brown sugar, cayenne and espresso, and simmer for 2-3 minutes until everything has incorporated. Add the bacon, and simmer over medium heat until thick and syrupy. Don’t cook it too long or you’ll end up with a dry, crusty hard-candy mess. You want it kind of soupy and loose at this point, especially if you’re not going to eat it all right away (and no matter how much you love bacon, you’re not going to eat it all right away – it’s 7 pounds of bacon).

Put the whole mixture into a food processor and pulse gently 3-4 times until it starts to come together, then turn it on and let it blend until it’s the consistency you like. Less time = chunkier marmalade, more time = smoother marmalade. I like mine somewhere in the middle.

There you have it, bacon marmalade. This recipe makes about 2 quarts. It’ll keep in the fridge for 2-3 weeks. I usually heat mine up before eating, but it’s perfectly good right out of the fridge as well."

--That's right: 7 pounds of bacon AND 4 shots of espresso! I am so doing this! For my next trip to the range!

Two Great Things That Go Great Together

So I am in the process of getting fit. It will make my shooting better. It will increase my odds at surviving The Killer Robot Uprising or Pending Zombie Apocalypse.  So far I am down about 50 pounds and feeling good. Another 50 pounds to go or so.

Anyway, portion control is the biggest part of my efforts. If my portions are smaller they will damn well be better be damn tasty!

I just had the best omelet ever!

The key was the Yancy's Fancy smoked horseradish & bacon infused cheese!

--I'll be in my bunk...

Northcoast Blogshoot II

Last year I was fortunate enough to attend the Northcoast Blogshoot I event. It was a massive amount of shooting fun but the best part was all the new friends I got to meet. Back by popular demand.

This year it looks like it will be a two day shoot and camping space is available! Let Breda know if you plan on attending. 

--Next stop Willoughby...

The Happiest Place on Earth

Dual M2s on a PT Boat

I am at a Conference in Orlando this week.

For the first time in 10 years my wonderful wife agreed to come along and enjoy a mini vacation while I had the room already.

We came down a day early and went to Disney World. On Saturday we went to the Magic Kingdom and on Sunday we went to Hollywood Studios.

The last time I was here was about 10 years ago. It was in the middle of the Clinton AWB and it was creepy how completely guns had been removed from Disney World. None in the exhibits, shows, rides, anywhere.

Guns are back.

There are toy guns in all the gift shops. Every other kid has a Jack Sparrow Pirate Flintlock gun in his belt or a Star Wars Blaster. The action shows are filled with shooting bad guys, shooting from speeding cars, the jungle guide is once again shooting the killer crocs and threatening to feed the children to them. Airplane strafe and heros open up with Dual M2's!

Well Shot Volunteer

It was however kinda hard to look close and realize that real Ma Deuce's had been converted to prop guns.

Indiana Jones even gets to shoot the sword guy again in cold blood.

The woman in the red on the left was a volunteer from the audiance and they pretended to shoot her like 15 times as she acted a dramatic death! It was so fun.

--The winds have changed. Full speed ahead!

Chicken Fried Bacon

One day they will try and ban this taste delight. That is when the real trouble will start!

--Glory.

Speaking of Camping

Some of the best times of my life have happened around a campfire,

Speaking of camping, yesterdays post made me remember a gun/camping related story.

Back when I was single I would go camping often when the weather was good. Well, when the weather was bad too, actually.

I had a deal with a friends parents who had a cabin in the mountains. They would let me camp there when ever I wanted if I would do maintenance and mow the grass when I went. They had a cinder block cabin that was never really finished. It didn't have electricity but it had a fireplace and a flush toilet. I never slept in the cabin unless the weather was really bad because there were sooo many mice in residence I could not sleep because of their all night parties.

It also had a 24x24 foot deck. I loved it. I put my 10x10 dome tent up on it. High, dry, no mice and as long as it wasn't torrential rain it was great. It was in the middle of 60 acres, next to the National forest. The nearest neighbor was about a mile away. Great hunting and shooting spots everywhere.

Anyway, I was camping there one weekend with some buddies. Some of the maintenance we were doing involved spray paint. We always did the work first thing on Friday right after arriving and then relaxed. Usually only an hour or two of work. Then it was time for the steaks, Spam, beers, camp fires, cigars, lies and relaxation.

Saturday was usually an all day shoot. Pistols, rifles, and shotguns. Thousands of rounds. Mostly .22LR were sent down range. We used paper targets, cans, jugs of water, pumpkins, cinder blocks, clay pidgins and even spent shotgun shells and 9mm brass as targets.

Sundays were big bacon and eggs breakfasts followed by packing up. On this specific "pack up" my brother was policing up trash and he picked up a spent spray paint can we had used for the Fridays maintenance that had, to our amazement, escaped destruction.

With barely a thought, he looked at me, raised an eyebrow, and said, "bet you can't hit this in one shot with the Mossberg from the hip." I was ready to try in 5 seconds. Little did I know at the time, that a spay can that was out of propellant didn't mean all the paint was gone...

He tossed the can, my aim was true.

The can turned into a cloud of silver paint that slowly drifted back toward us as we ran. My truck, however, was unable to flee...

--My Mossberg 500 still has a little silver paint on the pistol grip. Makes me smile every time I see it.

Guns and Bacon

I don't know why Bacon goes so well with shooting. It's probably because Bacon goes well with everything.

If you like your Bug Out Bag to be properly provisioned, you need to get some Tactical Bacon!

Make some room next to your extra ammo, in that backpack, for a can of smokey goodness.

It even has a shelf life of 10 years!!

--It's worth $15 a can!

Steaks

I have the day off for MLK. My wife has to work.

Being left alone all day with the kitchen is usually trouble. Especially when I just finished watching Emeril on TV. Tonight there will be grilled steaks marinated in minced garlic.

--MMMMmmmmm...