February 16, 2009 at 4:39 pm
· Filed under Racing

Most of the F1 teams have now launched their new cars to meet the revised aerodynamic regulations and restrictions for the 2009 season, and they can only be described politely as “not pretty.” F1 Fanatic has a good post comparing the different designs as they now stand (warning: not for the squeamish). It’s difficult to pick which car looks the least unappealing–they can hardly be called attractive–although to my eyes Renault is clearly the winner of the ugliest dog contest. If I absolutely had to choose, I would say the new McLaren looks the best developed. My preseason prediction is they will be the class of the field at the first race in Australia next month.
The on-track action this year is going to have to be sensational to outweigh these new rolling obscenities. It’s an old sentiment among F1 designers that a fast-looking car is also fast in reality. Not sure how that maxim will carry over to these bricks, but I suppose someone will have to win the races.
More ugly from testing last week in Spain
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February 10, 2009 at 6:42 pm
· Filed under General

For Christmas this past year my parents gave me a Weber Smokey Mountain cooker, the recently updated 18.5″ inch model with lid thermometer, larger water pan, and heat shield. I also have a Weber gas Genesis Silver A which gets used year round, and I’ve been looking forward to experimenting with a low and slow BBQ-style charcoal cooker. The Virtual Weber Bullet website is a great resource for WSM owners, providing tips and recipes tailored to the cooker’s performance. My first test of the WSM was on January 31st which was actually a nice day with temps above freezing. I tried the basic BBQ chicken, which only took a little more than an hour to cook. To be honest it wasn’t the greatest and I got a little carried away “crisping” the skin. Plus picking the meat off a chicken is a real pain in the butt.
So last Saturday I tried the basic baby back ribs, which were quite good and not such a hassle. I especially liked the honey BBQ sauce, although the rub was too spicy for Sara. Prep work in the kitchen was a little tedious trimming the ribs but the actual cooking was easy with two full racks being finished after about five hours of smoking. For the smoke wood I used chunks of plum which my grandparents conveniently had available from a tree cut down last year. It’s a common theme that whenever you use the WSM it produces a pretty large quantity of smoked meat, especially for two people. For instance it can smoke two whole turkeys at once, or four pork butts.
Next for the WSM will be refining my ribs using meat from different suppliers and adjusting the rub/sauce recipe. I would also like to try to recreate the Rendezvous dry ribs we had in Memphis. After that I want to try pulled pork and beef brisket.
As a side note, I transferred hosting plans in January and had to reinstall the gallery, which is why it looks the way it does now. Hopefully I’ll get around to changing the format to something more pleasing to look at soon.
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