Northern Arizona BBQ Festival 2013

Another great weekend in Williams at the Northern Arizona BBQ Festival is in the books.  The weather was a real treat with highs in the mid 80's and lows near 50 at night, especially after the extreme heat we cooked in the weekend before at home in Vegas. 

We got there early on Friday morning and set up while it was still cool...even at that, Cassy still seeks out shade. 

Sin City Smokers came back again this year. 

VooDoo ZomBQue came back to compete again this year as well.  We enjoyed having them as our neighbors again this year.  (Love the new wrap on their trailer)

Little Miss BBQ herself, Vivian is now 14 months old.  Bekke and Scott are proud parents...as they should be. 

Timm working on ribs.

Crystal working on chicken. 

P.S.  We love our trailer. It's works really well for us. 

Prepping box for pork turn-in.

Cherry cheese cake dessert turn-in.

Waiting for awards...why can't they start on time. 

Our first time to win a 1st place...in any category.  We received it in dessert...woohoo...cherry cheese cake. To make it even better...it received a perfect score of 180....and paid $600. 

We finished in the 11th spot, tying with 10th on total score...however, the first tie breaker (brisket) had our score just a bit lower, bringing us to 11th overall. 

Other placements we received...

chicken, 11th

ribs, 7th

pork, 18

brisket, 16

Congrats to Little Miss BBQ for their repeat performance of Grand Champion and Rhythm'nQue for Reserve Grand Champion.    

We had the pleasure of meeting several great people including some guys from Great Britain.  They were interested in the smoker and how it works, they came back on Saturday for samples and were super excited to taste the food.  We were talking with another gal we gave samples to about Operation BBQ Relief...she and her husband lost their home in Joplin MO and actually received meals from OBR.  What a small world it really is.  We sent a box of meat home for her hubby, we received a really nice and sincere email from them. We gave the rest of our prepared meats to folks from Camp Civitan.  They operate a special needs camp in the area and were super excited to receive the donation.  They assured us the campers were going to be very happy to enjoy great bbq.  It's a blessing to be able to share with such wonderful people. 

We stuck around a few extra days to enjoy the area.  It's a great place to explore.  We didn't go into Grand Canyon NP...my knees just weren't up to a whole lot of walking.  But we did drive through Oak Creek Canyon, Sedona, and took Cassy swimming in Dogtown Lake and White Horse Lake.  We also visited Bearizona.  You can see photos from those adventures at our other blog, Trailhound Adventures.

Harvest Thyme BBQ

After many requests, we decided to have another BBQ here at the house.  Come on by Saturday, Nov. 13 @ 2pm for a lip smacking meal full of BBQ goodness. 
Putting such a feast is no small effort...or cost so once again, we are accepting donations to help cover expenses.  We'd love for you to come by, even if you can't donate.  Just let us know your'e coming so we know how many to prepare for. 
Last time folks ate like there's no tomorrow and we are expecting the same...so come hungry. 
Click on the flyer for all the info. 

Cedar Cook-Off Update

WooHoo!!!  I'm going to Cedar for the BBQ competition.  I'm so excited.  I backed out of the scheduled show and booked into another one instead. 

Scott is also cooking on his own this time around.  Diesel Smoke BBQ will be premiering at this event.  We'll all be there together but he's submitting his own entry. 

Timm is picking up his new pit there...and cooking on it as well.  It's a big day all around for everyone!

Firehouse Comp Cancelled

Yup, your read it right, Firehouse has been cancelled.  :(  So bummed about it.  Some of the sponsorship and details fell apart at the last minute.  It will be back next year...bigger and better. 

It's HOT!

Summer has officially arrived in Las Vegas.  On Saturday, Timm cooked up 100 pounds of beef and pork for a co-worker's daughter's graduation party.  Our atomic clock read 113 in the shade at one point...I hope it wasn't entirely accurate...it didn't feel quite that hot.  It's not really made for the outdoors so I hope it was just having a fit. 

Anyway, the meat turned out great.  Co-worker sent the Grandpas over to help pull it and take it home...big help.  We showered and cleaned up and went to enjoy the party.  There were lots of compliments on the meat, even from folks we didin't know. The grad thanked us several times. 

Hey, I just thought about it...this is our first catering job!  lol

New Adventure, New Blog...

What have we been up to lately...besides yard work? Building a BBQ pit, well my hubby and youngest son have been building one. It's awesome! Timm came up with the idea and Chris did the welding on the project. We've tried it once, but we are having a big BBQ with our families to really test it this weekend.


Timm want to compete in BBQ competitions. Looks like we may be out to our first one in a month or so. I've got jitters but he doesn't. I'm thinking it will be fun, hard work, and costly...but isn't anything that's worth a hoot. I'm thinkin' we can cook a lot of pig on this monster of BBQ pit (Timm is 6'3") and make some money at some events too.

So anyway, you can check it all out and follow us at our new blog http://trailhoundsmokersbbq.blogspot.com/. You can also follow us on Facebook. Please become a fan of Trailhound Smokers BBQ.