Food Truck Invasion

Few weeks back we went to the Food Truck Invasion up off of Okeechobee Blvd. It takes place every 1st and 3rd Thurs of the month and alternates with the trucks in Wellington which are every 2nd and 4th Thurs. There are about 10-12 trucks and the options range from Vietnamese to BBQ to various fried options and if you have a sweet tooth there is also a frozen yogurt truck.
We tried the Vietnamese truck and had their Banh Mi with pork (spicy). First of all, I love Banh Mi and this version did not disappoint. They had fresh carrots and daikon and cilantro on top of savory pork and threw in some jalapenos. Nice fresh flavor, a must try.
We then tried the BBQ truck which featured their pulled pork sandwich and a beef brisket. To be honest, I would recommend picking the pulled pork over the brisket. The pork had a nice moistness to it and you could pour whatever sauce on that you like. The brisket was too heavily sauced and was not quite as satisfying. Im not sure if it comes unsauced or not, but if it does, it may be better.
My friend had some frozen yogurt but from all accounts, she was not overly thrilled. So I guess try it if you are craving some but if not, keep it moving.
Overall, we had a good 1st time but my main criticism is that a majority of the trucks shut down with over an hr to go. Im not sure if this is a common occurrence or just a fluke. Will try it again and see what happens.


http://www.foodtruckinvasion.com/calendar/

 

Pulled Pork (Kimmie style)

Awhile back I decided to make some good old fashioned pulled pork but wanted to change things up a bit. I'm a believer in that some things don't work and others do, and sometimes you just need to do a lot of mixing things up to find whatever makes you content. Pulled pork is one of those things that I don't know if I will ever be truly happy with but that I may like a variety of methods.

That being said, I attempted to go to Publix and find a Boston Butt but they had none so I ventured off to Whole Foods. Let me say that if you are looking for something cheap, then disregard the Whole Foods trip and maybe wait for a local butcher or somewhere else. But I wanted the Butt bone-in so Whole Foods it was, they cut it to your liking if they don't have it in the window. I went with a 6 lb Boston Butt, but you may want to go with something larger if you want a lot of leftovers.

I went with a dry rub, kind of Korean style, with a Korean chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, paprika, pepper, salt. The Korean chili powder is a little more on the sweet side but do be careful if you use it, the spice can creep up on you. I didn't want to do any sauce in the crock pot because I wanted to use the leftover pork for other things so I only sauced the portions I was eating for the pulled pork sandwiches (and I did use a Korean bbq sauce for this). I did add a little bit of water into the pot so it wouldn't burn or dry out. I also cooked it for about 10 hours, maybe a little less.

Notes:
 I am always critical of myself, first and foremost, so some notes I would take into consideration for next time would be:
   - Perhaps get a larger pork portion, I do like leftovers and this type of food you can use in so many ways.
   - Do a little heavier rub on it, the flavor was good but I may like a little more seasoning.
   - Add a little heat to it. I do love me some spicy food.
   - The next time, I may sear the pork and put it in the oven low temp for the entire cooking process. I liked the crock pot because I did step out of the house for the majority of the cooking time, and it allows you to not babysit it...but I may try the oven option later. Although, I am tempted to grill it...will keep you posted.

Day trip to Miami...BBQ and all.

Took the Tri-Rail down to Miami yesterday to meet up with Eva to play frisbee golf (otherwise known as frolfing) and get some BBQ from a popular local joint. First of all, I highly recommend taking the tri down to Miami provided you have a way of getting around once you get there, it saves you a ton of $ in gas (it's only $10.65 for a roundtrip weekday ticket, and buying roundtrip saves you $2), saves you from being caught in rush hour traffic, and for me, it saves me from getting lost. But I would recommend bringing cash for the machines, yesterday they weren't accepting credit/debit cards.

We went to lunch at a BBQ joint, Shorty's, that's been around for 60 years. When you walk in, it's a seat yourself restaurant and has picnic benches throughout the place so chances are you will be sitting near someone you don't know. I had the BBQ Beef Brisket Sandwich and an appetizer of Fried Okra, it automatically comes with a side of coleslaw as well. There are a few BBQ sauce selections but my personal favorite is the one that came with the sandwich, it's a vinegar based sauce. The sandwich itself had a good bun, my only issue with the brisket was it was slab style as opposed to some brisket that I've had where it's been shredded and chunky...the slabs had good flavor but it would have been nice if it was a little warmer. But overall, good sandwich. The okra was good and from what I hear, fried is the way to go in terms of taste and texture. It also came with a buttermilk ranch sauce. If you've read any of my previous blogs, you will know how I feel about coleslaw...this coleslaw didn't have too much mayo (which was nice), cabbage had a decent shape/cut to it, but it was a little heavier on the liquid than I like. I like my coleslaws to have a little more body to it. But I would recommend checking it out if you're in the area of Shorty's, they have multiple locations including Boca, Davie, Doral, etc.

Went to a local park down in Kendall called Kendall Indian Hammocks to play the frisbee golf. The park itself was beautiful and although we didn't get a chance to go down the nature trail, it's definitely a place I'd like to check out in the future. The only complaint I had with the park was the frisbee golf course, I'm not sure if they didn't have the proper layout or ran out of room or what, but I would recommend scouting it out otherwise you may want to just walk away from it after playing 6 holes. In terms of the course, it had a decent amount of difficulty to it by the location of the branches and the trees and various other obstacles...definitely check it out whether you are planning a picnic or birding or frisbee golf.

http://www.shortys.com/davie_bbq_menu.php

http://www.miamidade.gov/parks/parks/kendall_ind_hammocks.asp