If you’re checking englers.org for updates, and have been disappointed, I apologize. We’ve just been so busy, it’s been hard to keep up with posting new stuff.

While I’ll continue to post to englers.org in the future, I am inviting you to follow us on Facebook or Twitter, if you really want to know what we’re up to all the time:

John on Facebook
Christine on Facebook

And, even my little brother Evan is on Facebook.

I’m also on Twitter @johnengler.

See you around!

Average Rating: 4.8 out of 5 based on 285 user reviews.

This year, we headed out to the lake again. Debbie and Raymond had a full house… so full we shared a room with two cousins! Jack got to sleep on the floor on a pallet, which Christine and I shared one double bed, and the two little girls shared the other double. Grayson was in his playpen that first night. We were all so exhausted after a full Friday, that it didn’t matter a bit (and I hope my snoring didn’t keep anyone up too much during the night).

We went swimming as soon as we got there, and the boys had a blast swimming with their cousings:

Aunt Peggy and Payton were in charge of dinner Friday night. Talk about good! Mmmmm. Mmmmmmm… Everyone got plenty of good food (fish, chicken, and beef) and lots of great conversation.

On Saturday, we took all of the kids out on the lake in the morning, for a little fun in the sun!

Grayson got sick that afternoon, and so he and I headed home… Christine and Jack stayed and played… and headed to church on Sunday before heading home to hang with us.

Good weekend, althought it was too short.

See all of the photos here.

Average Rating: 4.5 out of 5 based on 259 user reviews.

After this afternoon’s BurntWurst debacle, I had to try again…

I defrosted a Sockeye Salmon that had been in the freezer… then I marinated it in some Rice Vinegar, Soy Sauce, with Cinnamon and Ginger, and a healthy portion of Sea Salt for about three hours.

I stoked the fire, added a few charcoal briquets, and a heathy helping of hickory chips, and let it start smoking.

I put the Salmon on the grill around 4:00. The temp was 120°F and the smoke was flowing. I checked it every 10 minutes or so until about 4:40.

Smoked Salmon

Looks good, doesn’t it?

Grayson woke up right after I took that photo, and was crying, so I got distracted for a few minutes… I took it off the grill at 5:00. I should have grabbed it at 4:45 or so, I think.

It smelled amazing. AMAZING!

I put it in the oven to cool a little while I finished up the peas and corn.

We sat down to eat around 5:30, and while the Salmon tasted like Smoked Salmon, it was just a tad dry. Not bad, mind you, but definitely should have come off the grill a little earlier.

Did a much better job of keeping the fire under control this time, and got the perfect amount of smoke.

More practice is in our future for sure. Tastes too good, and I definitely want to get good at smoking…

Average Rating: 4.8 out of 5 based on 245 user reviews.

This morning, I got it in my head that I wanted to smoke something on the grill (I installed the smoking part on the grill yesterday).

So, I defrosted 10 Bratwursts we had sitting in the freezer.

Things were looking good for the first 45 minutes or so, then I added some wood to the coals… and the fire got a little out of control. I went outside to check on things after about 20 minutes, and the grill was over 500 degrees… Needless to say the Brats were a little burnt.

The three I saved were really good though…

burntwurst

Gonna try again soon.

Average Rating: 4.9 out of 5 based on 152 user reviews.