- Mar 12, 2009
- 14,477
- 58
It has been so long I think I should have to say Hi I'm Mark from Florida and I'm a smokeoholic . Well, I'm still alive and really doing well. The last time a lot of ya'll saw me I was well let's say pleasurably ( I topped out at 318) plump. I went on a diet the doctors told me I was a great subject for a lung transplant. But, I was too fat so lose the weight we will fix your lungs. Atleast that's what I heard. I lost the weight about 142 lbs of it. the doctors now told me that my lungs were now too good for any surgery. Well that pissed me off and as most of you know I love surfing. So I picked up my surfboards and started surfing again. I have been surfing all summer and even got the wife surfing. I'm down to about 180lbs now and have started working again. I opened my business back up about 3-4 months ago and I'm feeling fantastic. Almost young again. I have always maintained my love for smoked meats and making bacons and sausages. I actually just cured, smoked, sliced and enjoyed some Lamb Belly Bacon. The wife has me smoking and frying 8 birds this year. I really missed your guys here and my smoking family. It has been a long and hard road but I have made it though with almost flying colors. I'm still ugly but now there's just less ugly of me.
Me in June 2012
July 2013
This is my kind of Selfie Lamb Belly bacon
lamb belly. I had to remove the bones and then glue two together and then cure for 5 days and then cold smoke with cherry for 16 hours.
Lamb Bacon
This is a cured dried beef chuck roast I did a few months ago.
Some baby back I did last night.
I still love to smoke meat and now. I'm going to get a food truck and serve hand made sausages and smoked meats. The wife has been pushing me to do it and I think I'm good enough now. I'm feeling good enough and think my food is pretty darn good. So I have missed you folks here and I'm swear I'm going to start checking in more.
Thanks,
Mark "The Fat Kid" Ballinger