2013 SOUTH FLORIDA GATHERING (THIRD ANNUAL GATHERING) NOV. 8-10TH COME JOIN IN..............

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Don't worry Doug. There are others who are not packed and watching the calender roll over day by day. Just got the camper yesterday and have some work to do on it.
 
most of the parts arrived today.. still waiting for heater, on/off switch, and terminal block.... gonna need a rocket scientist to figure the controller out... LOL

This is adding up to be what I think may be the best Gathering yet... although the inaugural event was pretty damn good...

Here's another question that's been rattling what lil pea brain I have left...

Judges and judging... So we are going to pick random campers to be judges, correct ? .... Maybe something like a score sheet for this. With columns for Appearance, Taste, Tenderness with a score of 1-10 for each and then add all totals up... ?

Just throwing something out there to get y'alls thoughts...
 
I think I have a copy of the FBA score cards they use. They run 5-10 in 1/2 point increments. They also have you start at 7 as good and move in either direction according to the judges taste preference. if not I can make a quick one on excel and put out for approval and run a bunch of copies at work.

I understand it is for fun, but it is a starting place. I sent Doug a copy of the rule book after the boss and I went to the class. One of us is bound to have a copy somewhere for reference.
 
 
Don't worry Doug. There are others who are not packed and watching the calender roll over day by day. Just got the camper yesterday and have some work to do on it.
LOL i know right? Some of us have to work ;) jk
most of the parts arrived today.. still waiting for heater, on/off switch, and terminal block.... gonna need a rocket scientist to figure the controller out... LOL

This is adding up to be what I think may be the best Gathering yet... although the inaugural event was pretty damn good...

Here's another question that's been rattling what lil pea brain I have left...

Judges and judging... So we are going to pick random campers to be judges, correct ? .... Maybe something like a score sheet for this. With columns for Appearance, Taste, Tenderness with a score of 1-10 for each and then add all totals up... ?

Just throwing something out there to get y'alls thoughts...
I definitely was going to print out score cards where people could right notes and a final judging number or "favorite" marking. This has been a point of confusion in the past and unorganized on my part so i wanted to fix that this year. In the past its generally just been a easy "whats your favorite"...in the pats we've had all types of judges from the Elderly couple across the way to I think we had a small child judging last year or the year before so i wanted to keep the system as easy and fun as possible. But i'm open for any suggestions. I'll whip up a score card idea here today and put it up to get feedback from y'all.

And i agree Keith...i think we are on the verge of the best Gathering yet! :)
Will there still be time to make sausage?
Oh yea....with JckDanls07 doing all this work we are most definitely making sausage! :) I'm gonna bring some jerky meat to throw in there as well. Gotta figure how to "hang" it from the dowels. I use a few pizza trays usually. maybe i can sit them on a couple dowels. 

Keith - how far apart are the dowels from each other? can i rest a couple 16" round pizza trays on them?

So it looks like with Ron's recent purchase we are good on Sausage making supplies correct?
 
Looks like were good with casings.. Well I got the bellies de skinned and into brine.... I'm using pops brine on 4 pieces with some. pepper, onion powder and garlic powder added to the brine......  I have 2 pieces and the skins in my own special brine using TQ. 

bacon and skins bagged with my bacon brine.. Going to make some cracklins with the skins.....


The fridge is starting to fill up with goodies for the trip.... Pops brine bacon is in the pot in the back right corner....


Whats about wifi at the park.. will there be any
 
Man Joe, I wanna eat that right now!!

I dont see anything on there website about WiFi...i'll call and ask. Anyone have a wifi hotspot?
 
 
Man Joe, I wanna eat that right now!!

I dont see anything on there website about WiFi...i'll call and ask. Anyone have a wifi hotspot?
I have wifi on my I-phone. That is a state park so they most likely do not have wifi.

I feel if it is just a friendly competition, keep the judging simple. Pick some close by campers for judging and they vote for their favorite in each category.
 
Well In the presentation category It wont be fair because I'm better looking than all of you.........................
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Does everyone want to have a group breakfast each day? If so, I will bring my gas fired griddle, also waffle irons, and I will prepare breakfast each day, with some additional help of coarse. If we do this, everyone bring some eggs, breakfast sausage, bacon, etc. I will bring all the ingredients, etc. for the waffles.
 
Doug... dowels are about 2 inches apart.. so yea... trays will set on them....

As far as keeping it simple Ron... I agree... was just thinking that if all judges picked a different "favorite"... then what happens ? with a scoring system of some sort (even if it's just a scale of 1-10 for just favorite), totals could be added up...

Joe... my wife begs to differ with ya on the presentation... LOL

Ron... breakfast in the mornings sound good... we will have plenty of bacon (thanks Joe) and plenty of fresh breakfast sausage (thanks to all)....I will give a hand in the mornings...
 
There will be a lot of breakfast cooking going on... I love my breakfast......To get the bacon going i picked up a 15.5 inch cast iron fry pan from agri supply today...... The gas fired griddle will help too so definitely bring it.... I think were going to find a lot of friends in the camp ground stoppin by........
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  I will whip up some country sausage too so we'll have plenty....
 
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There will be a lot of breakfast cooking going on... I love my breakfast......To get the bacon going i picked up a 15.5 inch cast iron fry pan from agri supply today...... The gas fired griddle will help too so definitely bring it.... I think were going to find a lot of friends in the camp ground stoppin by........
drool.gif
  I will whip up some country sausage too so we'll have plenty....
Country sausage will be great.

Yea, the campground is fully booked, so when the smell of the cooking starts there wont be any strangers in the park.

Keith, I'm fine with whatever ya'll want to do on the judging, just didn't see any reason to make it to complicated if we are going to use other campers as judges. But a scale of 1-10 would not be too difficult.

I certainly hope cooler weather prevails for our gathering, us fat boys don't like the heat.
 
 
I have wifi on my I-phone. That is a state park so they most likely do not have wifi.

I feel if it is just a friendly competition, keep the judging simple. Pick some close by campers for judging and they vote for their favorite in each category.
yea i'm doubting they'll have wifi, maybe close to the office or something. I'm sure between all of some people will have good enough service to appease the SMF masses with a few teaser pics ;) I'll be uploading a few each day for sure. 

Completely agree on the judging. Last year we had each judge pick there favorite and assign 2 points to that dish, and a 2nd favorite to assign 1 point. so if you get 2 2nds and a 1st vote you'll have 4 points. Is everyone ok with this?

As for presentation - if we added that category to judging i wouldn't even have to cook anything...i'd just stroll up to the judging table and give them a smile and instantly win 1st place :)
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Does everyone want to have a group breakfast each day? If so, I will bring my gas fired griddle, also waffle irons, and I will prepare breakfast each day, with some additional help of coarse. If we do this, everyone bring some eggs, breakfast sausage, bacon, etc. I will bring all the ingredients, etc. for the waffles.
those waffles were good Ron! I'll help out and scramble some eggs again like last year. I have a 12" and 17" skillet i can bring as well as another propane burner. 
Doug... dowels are about 2 inches apart.. so yea... trays will set on them....

As far as keeping it simple Ron... I agree... was just thinking that if all judges picked a different "favorite"... then what happens ? with a scoring system of some sort (even if it's just a scale of 1-10 for just favorite), totals could be added up...

Joe... my wife begs to differ with ya on the presentation... LOL

Ron... breakfast in the mornings sound good... we will have plenty of bacon (thanks Joe) and plenty of fresh breakfast sausage (thanks to all)....I will give a hand in the mornings...
Perfect ill set the jerky right on those!
 
Welp.. have a little set back on smokehouse.... it rained last night so now the door is very warped and bowed.... guess I'm gonna have to make a frame for it and try to get it back some kind of straight.... still waiting on the rest of the parts...

Doug... thinking we will get more jerky in the house if we put it on the pans... will only need 2 dowels for each pan... if we set jerky straight on dowels it will take 2 dowels for each row of meat... I may be wrong here but I would bring the pans just in case...
 
oh yea definitely! sorry i just re-read my post and that's not at all what i meant! haha. I meant i'll put the pans right on the dowels! 
 
Good News! Steve (Roadkill Cafe) called HH and they said we can put more then 2 tents on a site, as long as we are not packed in. And Screened Tents and Canopies do not count as a camping tent.

So anyone who may have been on the fence and wanted to tent camp with the rest of us, feel free to jump on either tent site that i reserved
 
Cool... Steve... you coming to join us... haven't heard anything from ya in a while... will be good to see ya again...
Totally excited about being able to make it. Still have to get some camping gear but whatever I get will be better than the front seat of my car...LOL. Looking forward to seeing you, Doug, Don, Bill and everyone else again and meeting the others. I've got a couple butts about 7-8 lbs. each I can contribute. Vac sealed in the freezer so they can go into the fridge to thaw 4-5 days beforehand. May pick up a slab, or 3 of ribs for the comp. if someone has room in their smoker. Not sure if I'll do the SS.again. Still thinking about it. As I recall, they do have WiFi available but not sure how strong the signal would be.

I'd be happy to pick up whatever may be needed as long as it fits in my Civic. Just let me know.
 
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