While the ladies were busy as beavers in the kitchen, I fired up the Pitboss then set up a workstation in the Dining Room to start making Moose Jerky.

A friend gifted me a pack of jerky seasoning/cure which I mixed with 2lbs of ground moose meat. Right now I don't have a jerky gun or racks, so I used my sausage stuffer to lay out rows of meat on parchment paper which I flattened down by hand.

I put the sheets of meat on the smoker at 200ºF for about 45 minutes at which time they were stiff enough to take off the paper and lay directly on the grill for another hour.

The finished product was just outstanding! Flavour was spot on with just a note of smoke from the Pitboss. The bite was deadly, ground meat was a perfect choice as it was very tender.

Next up was getting supper started for the ladies which began with a few racks of ribs on the Pitboss. I removed the membrane and layered all of them with Kinder's Salt/Pepper/Garlic, topped a couple with BBQ Emporium's Gros Morne Coffee Rub and the rest with Meat Church Holy Gospel.

The Coffee Rub was noticeably darker than the Holy Gospel and smelled just amazing.

The requested side today was my Spicy Buffalo Mac N Cheese which I cooked outside under sunny skies while cookie baking continued full force in the kitchen.

By now it was time to wrap the ribs, once again laying each section down in a bed of Brown Sugar, Butter, and a drizzle of Honey.

When the ribs were nearly done I popped the Buffalo Mac N Cheese on the Pitboss to get a little smoke flavour.

The following week we got to work making Bacon which had been in brine for about 2 weeks. Shelagh did a full belly's worth for Christmas for her father while Sandra and I replenished our own stockpile and have enough on hand for Christmas gifts.

Christmas Day we had Sandra's crowd in for supper so our Turkey went in the oven mid morning.

Taking advantage of great weather we used our outdoor propane burner for our traditional Jiggs Dinner.

Needless to say, Sandra did an absolutely outstanding job on dinner once again.

To top it all off supper was finished with Sandra's outstanding homemade Cheesecake.

Her sister Stephanie also brought our favourite frozen desert which again was amazing.

Nothing is quite like a fresh turkey sandwich using leftover cranberry sauce mixed with miracle whip!

New Years Eve 2024 was a fairly low key affair, we had a few friends from our pool league in and enjoyed some tasty treats, beverages and even a game of Rummoli.

Old fashioned NL Specialty Hors d'oeuvres.

Buffalo Chicken Dip.

Sandra's famous Cuban Dip.

The Custom Rummoli Board I made a few years ago is holding up great and was a big hit tonight!

All in all it was another fantastic holiday season here on the east coast, very much looking forward to what 2025 brings to the kitchen!

Cheers, MIKE

Copyright © 2025 Michael Smith