Page 23 - JAN2020 BBQNEWS Digital Issue

bbq guidance
Down in Naples, Florida, we are doing our share to keep a good bit of hickory smoke in the air, and we plan to keep the wonderful BBQ smoke rolling for the new year! Several people I know are cooking on pellet cookers, and several more have pellet cookers on their Christmas list. My good friends Danny and Nicky got a Green Mountain Davy Crockett edition that they take with them on all their trips. They bought a big toolbox that the cooker fits in perfectly. When they pull it out to cook, it fits great on top and is the right height. This setup works out excellent.
We cooked a steak contest in Lake Wales on our way to a wedding in Daytona Beach. I cooked my steak, turned it in, cleaned up, and left before awards. We were almost to Daytona when my good friends Rick, Tony and John sent me a picture of my 7th place metal and some cash. I think I am luckier when I leave. That makes the 2nd time I've left before awards for a wedding and the 2nd time I've got a top 10 call!
We got to Daytona and enjoyed being with my great friends Wendy and Rich Eames to celebrate the wedding of their son Shaun to his lovely bride Kristina. Shaun is a BBQ guy and is also part of the team called Flying Pig Duckers. Shaun has married a beautiful bride and when her sister made a toast she mentioned that Kristina was marrying Shaun for several reasons. One of those reasons was being a "great BBQ cook." I want all you single guys out there to take notice. If you become an excellent BBQ cook, it will help you land a nice wife!
My son Cadin recently married a beautiful young lady. He is also quite the cook and she plans to keep him around. My son Shane wears out his Davy Crockett and his Weber. His wife and three boys have never been happier! My son Vonn cooks on his ceramic grill every Saturday and says he is going to give me some lessons on ribs and chicken! If he keeps up the great smoking and grilling, it is just a matter of time before some good looking gal will be snatching him up to cook for her!
If you want young people to succeed at whatever they do, reward them with some ribs for achieving their goals. My grandson Koda wrestled his first tournament of the year and I told him if he won, I would cook him a slab. He won. His younger brother Kael just turned seven and is involved with a fitness program at his school. He goes in early almost every day to exercise, and it includes run- ning. His goal was to accumulate 26 miles of running so he would get invited to an awards ceremony. He was awarded his first gold medal for running a total of 35 miles. He just earned himself a
Dana “big
papa” Hillis
BBQ From Florida
lighthousepointe@ hotmail.com
JANUARY 2020
BarbecueNews.com - 23
Let’s Light The Smokers In 2020
slab of ribs. Kase is only two, but his days of earning ribs are get- ting close. These kids make me a proud papa.
Everybody that cooks BBQ needs to get in- volved with cooking with kids. Brian and Dana Coleman have a cool little son named Graham that cooked a kid's Q for his first time. He takes after his mom and dad cause he cooked an awesome steak and won first place! Thank you to the Lake Wales contest for giving kids a chance to cook.
I talked to Jim Elser at the steak cooks meeting and asked him if he was cooking steak. He said no, but he was helping a kid cook in the kid's Q. I thought that it was remarkable that a guy battling to win a BBQ contest would take time out to help a kid and pass on some of his cooking knowledge. Good to see you Jim and good luck next year!
Several of my bbq friends go out of there way to feed folks over the holidays. We are feeding the New Beginnings School for there annual Christmas party in Immokalee and Naples next week. It al- ways warms my heart to feed these kids and help this fantastic program. To all the people involved, thanks for doing an excellent job for a great bunch of kids. Years later, I have run into several of these kids and they tell me they are doing good and appreciated the food! Research New beginnings School and you will see what a great program this is.
We do a class in some communities around Naples, where we teach kids to cook for their parents. We did a Father's Day event where the kids cooked burgers for their dads. It was a riot! I also noticed on Facebook that Carl Griffith is involved in a program at the local high school where he works at teaching high school kids how to cook BBQ. That is so cool. Thanks to all our BBQ family for spreading the word and knowledge of cooking good BBQ!
I hope everyone had a great Christmas and brings in the New Year safely. Cook some ribs for some kids. Feed people BBQ it makes them happy!
Dana"Big Papa"Hillis