One morning in early January 2006, when I lived in Austin, TX, I woke up to the sound of, what I thought was, a bookcase falling over. "Damn those cats" I thought as I rolled out of bed and staggered towards the coffee pot, little thinking I didn’t have any book cases that could fall over (don’t judge, after years sitting in front of a computer I have a serious coffee dependency and don’t function before I’ve had a couple of cups). An hour later I have consumed enough coffee to be legally allowed to drive and I leave the house to go to work. Looking down the driveway towards the garage there’s something lying across the driveway from behind the house! My beautiful pecan tree in the center of my garden, providing shade to the, ahem, living room was sprawled across the ground! How did I not notice? Bu**er. So I went out and bought a chainsaw; and after a few minutes on Craigslist, I had found a BBQ pit. Guess there was a way to turn a disaster into something that might be productive. A few months later I’d signed up to be the head cook for the Texas Cavers; this involved cooking for their once yearly party for 350+ people, and being Texans you know there’d be plenty of BBQ on the menu. I’ve been figuring it out ever since, ably assisted by my buddy Vico who’s dispatched, butchered and cooked more things than you could possibly think of.
