And The Winner Is...

Pingle's from Shawano!  They were the most "homemade" looking and they looked Slim-Jim-ish before cooking, they were the smokiest (a little dry & coarse for my taste) and garnered three of the six votes.  Salmon's from Luxemburg, WI got two votes (one of them mine; these were the ones I brought to the table and they're still my faves after all the tasting) and Olsen's Piggly Wiggly from just up Hwy. 41 in Howard (too fatty for me) got one vote. Both Durwood and DS made baked beans; Durwood's were traditional barbecued beans with a lot of ham cooked overnight in the crockpot and DS's were white beans made with beer (of course), so there was an impromptu bean tasting too.  No winner was chosen in that competition (if it really was one, both were good).  We stuck a large sheet of graph paper to the patio door and listed the wienies, how they were ID'd (DIL1 notched them--brilliant), and people's choices.  As you see in the photo, we divied them up, followed the plating diagram DIL1 made (it's good to have a professional chef at these things), and we set about tasting.  Durwood made catsup, DS made mustard, DIL1 made bread & butter pickles with red pepper flakes, and I made red cabbage coleslaw with fennel bulb and a sweet mustard vinegar dressing.  No one went hungry and few buns or flatbread wraps were eaten.  I made a snack cake for dessert, something light and not too sweet, that was just right for such a casual meal.  There was cheese & crackers and ricotta & pesto or pepper jelly on baguette toasts for appetizers.  It was good.  JZ suggested that we have a Brat-off! next year and everyone agreed.  We had fun, at least, I did and I'm the only one who really matters. (ooh, snark so early on a Monday)  Today's Photo a Day theme is "3 things" so I snapped a photo of JZ, DS & DIL1 with their pre-wienie beers.  Three people I love, three beers, three smiling faces--see?  THREE!

September 24--Julien Vallou de Villenueve, Female Nude, Reclining, with Arm Raised.  The smell hit them before they got halfway down the hill.  The sickly sweet, putrid smell was worse than skunk and they knew it came from the body.  Neither of them had seen a naked lady up close and they couldn't take their eyes off her.  Jacob sat down so fast that Ray thought something was wrong.  "What's the matter, Jacob?" Ray said.  Jacob's voice sounded far away.  "It's... it's Ms. Pierce."  All the boys and most of the girls were in love with the pretty and energetic young teacher.  "We need to call the cops."  But neither of them could move, they just sat and stared at their favorite teacher's ruined corpse.

Well.  That's disgusting.  Sorry.  Enjoy your Monday, if you can.
--Barbara Sue