Not so good for Dan, but great for our readers.

Follow this link to John Daly BBQ. Sale lasts until Wednesday, 6-17-09, 2 p.m. Central Daylight time.

With much fanfare, our products are now available via the web through JohnDalyBBQ.com. You can now have shipped to your doorstep:

• Our famous 3 down Memphis style John Daly BBQ ribs
• hickory kissed hand pulled pork
• rich and tangy Memphis style BBQ sauce
• family secret BBQ dry rub
• and our “don’t you have a bigger bowl?” John Daly Salsa.

The Daly Cheese Ball

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
3 ounces cream cheese
4 0z John Daly Pulled Pork or 4 0z John Daly Smoked Chicken (chopped into small pieces)
½ Tsp John Daly Dry Rub
2 teaspoons chopped green onions
3 tablespoons chopped green chilies
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (or pecans)
crackers for serving

Mix well, shape into a ball, should be much bigger than a golf ball, and roll in nuts. Chill and serve.

Is this day in honor of underwater boats or a deli sandwich? Beats me.

Maybe, we should celebrate THE SUBMARINE, a mythical Great White Shark which lives in False Bay, Cape Town, South Africa.  So large it shows up on sonar, the Submarine is reputed to have swallowed entire boat motors. I guess if the boaters had fed Mr. Submarine two or three slabs of John Daly ribs, he  wouldn’t have eaten the motor. Aren’t you glad this shark doesn’t cruise the Gulf of Mexico?

Now, that I’ve had my fun writing through Guinness goggles…the SUBMARINE is a hoax, an urban legend of mythic proportions. Okay, now we can return to St. Patrick’s Day and Submarine Day festivities.

With National Pig Day falling on a Sunday (March 1) this year, we’re forced to celebrate the entire weekend; a pig Mardi Gras of sorts. There’ll be plenty of beer, beads, ribs, and more beer. Maybe, next year we should consider a parade.

With that in mind, here are words of wisdom from the great Will Rogers: “You should never try and teach a pig to read for two reasons.  First, it’s impossible; and secondly, it annoys the hell out of the pig!” 

Ingredients:

2 cans pitted tart cherries
1 teaspoon cherry brandy (optional)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 teaspoon Amaretto
1 cup pure cane sugar
6 tablespoons all purpose flour (or 3 tbsp of corn starch)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon softened butter
1 teaspoon Ceylon cinnamon
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 double-crust 9-inch pie pastry

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Drain cherries set aside 1/2 cup cherry juice. Add cherry brandy (optional).

3. Combine sugar, flour and salt.

4. Combine cherry juice, Amaretto, and lemon juice. Add to dry ingredients; mix throughly.

5. Add cherries. Mix.

6. Add butter. Set aside for 15 minutes.

7. Pour mixture into pie crust. Cover with second crust. Make two narrow slits in top crust.

8. Put pie on cookie sheet to catch any stray juice. Bake 50 to 55 minutes. Let cool.

If you’d like, add a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top of warm pie.

Her response, “and?”

“Do you have any compliments you’d like to share with me?”

“Ummm”, she said, “no, not really”.

“Not one?”

“Okay” she said, “here’s one…you don’t smell as bad as usual.”

With Christmas and New Year’s Day gone, the question becomes, “Do we wait until Valentine’s Day for another barbeque celebration?” So, I poked around a bit and found a few reasons to celebrate.

Our first holiday: January 18th Thesaurus Day.

You may wonder why a purveyor of barbeque ribs would give a hoot about Thesaurus Day?

A thesaurus opens and expands the barbeque lexicon. While toiling over smoking pits (and drinking large amounts of beer), we bandy about different terms such as barbecue, bar-b-q, bbq, and barbeque. Each term denotes a personal preference or a geographical region. In turn, this leads to discussions of which region serves the best barbeque or the most authentic. In reality, this is the life blood discussion of the barbeque world.

Next time you chomp down on pulled pork, smoked brisket, or Memphis style ribs, take a moment and thank Mr. Roget for documenting the many different ways we talk barbeque.