Last smoking of the season ???

I smoked a pork shoulder and brisket this past weekend, in honor of my brother, who lives in ________, and his visit to Minnesota. I'm not allowed to say where he lives as he does not like to be on the internet and prefers to stay off the grid, as he puts it. Actually, as he reads this he is probably already irked that I have acknowledged that I have a brother, or brothers, (oops). Anyway, because we had a packed weekend I decided to smoke the meat Thursday night... all night. I planned to tend the firebox all night and set my alarm for every 2 hours, starting at 1030pm. That 230 awakening was rough, but the others were manageable.

Unfortunately in my sleep deprived state I did not keep the meat warm enough. I suspect a good part of the night was spent with a temp of around 160 or so, when it should have been at least 50 degrees higher. When I checked the taste around 6 am parts of it were ok but other sections were almost raw in texture. However, after a couple of hours in the 275 range, the shoulder came out great. The brisket was edible, though a bit tough. so what did I learn? That those less thick cuts of meat, such as ribs and brisket, take much more care to get right. Lesson learned.

Another lesson was learned again and it had to do with taking risk. In the financial markets I've made money slowly and I've made it quickly. Quick is better as you do not have time interrupt good fortune. Losing money slowly is better than losing it quickly. Slow losses eventually get your attention and cause you to make adjustments to failed strategies. With quick losses you tend to act irrationally, and think some quick act or the next trade will put things right. In reality events are beyond your control and you often don't have the opportunity to right them.

So, what else did we do... stopped by the local ice cream shop and had dessert prepared by Minnesota's finest ice cream artist, had one of the midwest's best breakfasts at Wampach's in Shakopee, twice did NOT drive to the Buddha in Hampton, toured the world's most worthless flea market in St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin, strolled the streets and shops of Stillwater MN, watched the SC KY football game, played 10 little indians, ate dinner at Santorini - a Greek restaurant, went to church, had hotdogs at Costco, ordered pizza, played Godfather trivia.