Transformer BBQ

The blog will be back May 1st.  Sorry for the delays… ***

I want to put these out there… just so they are down on paper…

The kid who was missing on the mountain at Sugarloaf for two days… there is more to this story…something doesn’t fit.

The Following:  Bacon or Joe Carroll’s wife is a member of the cult… the connection to Poe’s beating heart is too great.

…In the early days of World War III, guerrillas – mostly children – placed the names of their lost upon this rock. They fought here alone and gave up their lives, so that this nation shall not perish from the earth.

I have decided to change the website… meaning invest $20 in changing it…. sorry for the delays… but in the next few days there should be a big switch for everyone.  I will catch up with posts on the following:

Star Chefs International!!!!!

BBQ Wings

Cookers?

Maybe a guest post… although I have no idea if that will work… (yep… teasing a post!!)

St. Patrick Day in Southie…It was great right up until the T station was closed and we had to walk back to South Station.  Not a huge distance, but not something I felt I really wanted to do after an afternoon of tasty food and tasty beer.

It looks like I am one step closer to nailing down the gear for this season.  After moving away from the big trailer we have had for so many years it looks like I am going to have a much smaller version to move and store my gear this year.   Details still to be worked out, but looks like the operation will be lean and fast.  It also means there will be a change in cookers this year.   The Jambo i have been cooking on for the past 4 seasons has a stack that is too high to roll into the small trailer.

Anyway… that’s a project for the next few weeks… just in time to get in a practice cook and ready for Lexington.

Today… it happened.   well… started to happen.   The Transformer BBQ trailer was emptied… it won’t be as tough as next weeks’ drop off… but with every bin that was removed, every tent, table and tong… there was a memory.   It got a little dusty a few times… all that is left is to mop, and remove the decals…

The last thing to come out of the trailer was the first ever Transformer BBQ sign of any kind… it’s time to move on… slowly, confidently… time to move on.

There has been a lot of turn over in New England this year for contests already…and the season hasn’t begun.  The Snowshoe has now shown up on the side of milk cartons and is officially missing.  Two of the three Maine contests have washed out to sea… (one of which I had been to and really liked).

This week we saw the latest casualty.  Grilling on the Bay has officially been cancelled.   It seemed that this was a shock to the organizer from the post I saw online… and I am sure this was a decision that he regretted having to make.  I know there are a lot of well intention people who have been connected to this contest over the years.  But I will give you an outsiders look at things…

This contests has been around for a long time… I have competed twice; including being Grand Champion in our last showing there.  The first time we competed I think there were 6 teams… the second time 20… this contest could have survived.   It is located just outside NYC at a small school and could be a popular event.

This contest uses odd unique rules… it can be annoying.   Yes, the organizer has the right to do whatever he wants.  But don’t be shocked when this is a turn off to teams that use the same rules all year long.

#1 issue… the prize money at this contest sucks.  I don’t mean to be a jerk… but when you squeeze the teams so hard on this and return such a small amount of the entry fees as prize money… do the math.   If I can’t pay for my ingredients by winning a category… then what is the point.   I can find other ways to ensure I waist money.  I don’t want to hear that the event is for a charity… the public and advertisers should be where this comes from.  The teams are on your side… they aren’t there to pay for your cause no matter what it is.  Squeezing the teams… leads to less teams… leads to zero $ for your charity.

I saw someone on facebook throw out “Why aren’t teams coming… New england teams always complain there aren’t contests”   — this actually isn’t true.   We complain about some of the bad contests that are out there.  We have started to get a solid base of great contests in the area… so we can now be picky.  We’d love more contests… but the bar has been raised.

New England is officially looking for a March/ April contest for 2014… time for something to step up and fill this gap.