Champion BBQ pitmaster Chris Lilly of Alabama’s Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q team will be golfing at next week’s Bob Hope Classic celebrity tournament in La Quinta, CA. This year’s Hope Classic lineup includes Snake Plisskin, Agent Dale Cooper, Detective Kevin Bernard, and Subliminal Man, to name just a few. Personally, I hope my friend Chris plays circles around Dr. Phil.

Chris dropped me a note to say,

“It’s great to hear from you and I would love for a bunch of my California friends to drop by and see me!! Yes it is true. I will be playing in the BHC and cooking all week as well.
To pull this off I am bringing my right hand man, Ken Hess, to help with the pits during the week. Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q will have pulled pork sandwiches available all week for the public Wednesday-Sunday during the tournament. I will also be doing a short cooking school on Sunday at about 9:00 or 9:30am at Hope Square…samples available. [ed - Hope Square is located between the Nicklaus Private Course and the Palmer Private Course, directly behind the practice facilities at PGA West]“

For those who can’t make it to the Palm Springs area, you can watch the tournament all week on the Golf Channel. Lilly’s legendary pork shoulder just won’t taste as good on the telly.

January 18- 24, 2010 La Quinta, CA
Bob Hope Classic

We live in a great food nation. It’s greater still that we have a President who apparently loves the regional food traditions we have across these united states. Apparently, Barack Obama is one of us.

Just got back from Salt Lake City, where one of my college roomates married his honey. Congratulations to Matt and Julia. Being a food blogger and not a people blogger, I’m only posting food photos from the wedding.

Matt was a bread baker at Deer Valley Resort. His pastry chef made their cake.

The cake has beer in it. Can you see it?

Four layer carrot cake with sour cream frosting

Beer. Plenty of beer.

Matt’s dad Richard is a beekeeper. A battalion of bears awaited the wedding guests. To order your wedding favors, contact:

Catskill Mountain Beekeepers Club
Richard Ronconi
484 Ravine Road
Berne, NY 12023
Phone: 518-797-3922

On the way home, I noticed this vending machine that Satan installed near the ticket counter at the Salt Lake airport. The Dark Lord taketh your money and the TSA taketh your food. You can not has cheezburger past security.

French fries, pizza, fried chicken, and cheeseburgers all dispensed from the same machine. Where’s the milk shake? I want my milkshake, dammit.

Tombstone pizza out of a machine must be good. It’s sold out. Gotta be good, right?

Some of you may have noticed a distinct lack of activity on this blog. Cricket sounds and cobwebs.

I spent the past six months in a sales job for a wholesale pizza manufacturer that pretty much sucked any free time or will to blog.

As of yesterday, I am free of said sucking job. And so the blogging will resume. Did you miss me?