Admit it: you’ve always longed for a double-chocolate, bacon-studded whoopie pie.

Right? This was the “Chef’s Choice” invention of my dear friend Jenn of Howling Hog Barbecue in this weekend’s Championships of New England Barbecue competition, held at the Harpoon Brewery. Somewhere in that tasty filling is beer, the mandatory ingredient for all Chef’s Choice entries. “Kept it moist,” claimed Jenn.
What’s even more interesting than a double-chocolate, bacon-studded, beer-infused whoopie pie?

A deep-fried double-chocolate, bacon-studded, beer-infused whoopie pie. This is what happens when you are stationed next to another BBQ outfit – Feeding Friendz – which spent today selling deep-fried oreos for $4 a pop.

“HOT!!!” declaimed Chef Jenn.
The resulting mega-calorie payload of doom was deemed tasty, but it was noted that the inner layer of chocolate filling was destroyed in the process.
So that’s how I spent my afternoon, hanging out with the good folks of Howling Hog.
On my way back to my car, I crossed over police “do not cross” tape to get a look at some milkweed.

This pod’s maybe an inch long, at most. You can still see the dried-up flower petals on its tip. At home, later on in the day, I visited with some milkweed close to the house to see if any flowers had been fertilized. It didn’t appear so.

I had fun looking at the leaves, though. Back to Harpoon Brewery:

I admired a thistle.

And found some outrageously huge poison ivy.
Back on the home front, the honeysuckle berries look pretty ripe. Of interest to me today: instances where the paired berries did not conform to the guide book.

Normally they’re the same size as one another.

These two got fused together.

I visited some yarrow.


As well as a brand new black-eyed susan.

So yes, I’m going with the idea that in compound flowers, it’s not unusual for the rays to start off tightly rolled. Makes for efficient use of space inside the bud.

Here’s one a little farther along. I love the blurriness of this one, caused by my camera’s grumpiness about late afternoon shade.

And here is one that is almost done: see how the petals are fading?

Check out what the flower parts look like at this stage. Not for the first time, I am reminded of persian lamb’s wool.


Some digitalis (foxglove) is still going strong.


And a cinquefoil is looking mighty interesting. Definitely going to keep an eye on this one. That assumes we continue in our regimen of Not Mowing Our Lawn, of course, as this little guy is right in the middle of the lawn.