Convert old grill into roll-away tabletop for Cuisinart 3-in-1

You know how it goes. You buy a new piece of outdoor cooking gear, and suddenly there's this old grill cart just sitting there — rusting, taking up space, not really doing anything useful anymore. Most people would drag it to the curb. I looked at it and saw a project.

I had just picked up the Cuisinart 3-in-1 pizza oven, grill, and griddle, and right away I could tell it needed a proper home outside. It's a tabletop unit, which is great for portability, but you still need something sturdy to set it on — something at the right height, with room to work. I wasn't about to spend money on a new cart when I had an old grill base in the garage and a stack of leftover wood just waiting to be used.

So here's what I did, why it worked, and what you should know if you want to try something similar.

Vanilla Extract Revisited — One Year Later (And It Made the Best Christmas Gifts)

About a year ago, Tytus and I made our first batch of homemade vanilla extract. We used Siesta Key silver rum — the clear one — along with a little spiced rum and some toasted coconut rum, poured it all over vanilla beans, sealed the jars, and let time do the work. Then we basically just... waited.

Fast forward almost a year, and I pulled those jars out to show you what happened. If you haven't seen dark vanilla extract before, you're in for something. That clear rum we started with? Deep, rich brown. Almost like molasses. You can see the vanilla specs still floating in it and the beans right there through the glass. That's when you know you did something right.

We bottled it all up as Christmas gifts — and this video is us doing exactly that, with Tytus helping every step of the way, a year older and still just as much my kitchen partner.

Lyon Family Farms — The Fall Day Trip Worth the Drive from Huntsville

Some days you just need to get the family out of the house, off the screens, and into something that actually feels like fall. That's exactly what we did when we loaded up and headed to Lyon Family Farms in Taft, Tennessee — and it was one of those outings where you're glad you made the drive.

We got there early, which I'd recommend. The morning light was beautiful, the crowds were still thin, and the whole place just had that crisp fall atmosphere you can't manufacture. By the time you're reading this, you might already know about Lyon Family Farms — they've been drawing families from all over the Tennessee Valley and North Alabama for years. But if this is your first time hearing about it, let me give you the rundown.

Early morning at Lyon Family Farms — the best time to arrive.

Teaching My Son to Serve — Why We Show Up for Our Community Twice a Month

Two Saturdays out of every month, Tytus and I show up to serve. We're not doing it for recognition, we're not doing it for content — we do it because we genuinely believe that one of the most important things you can pour into a child is the habit of showing up for other people. And cooking is our lane, so that's where we plug in.

Last year I decided Tytus was old enough and mature enough to start coming alongside me for real. Not just watching, not just tagging along — actually working. Cutting, prepping, cooking, serving. And he has risen to it every single time. I'm proud of him in a way that's hard to put into words. Watching your son understand at a young age that his time and his skills are worth something to other people — that's the kind of thing that sticks with a kid.

Tytus putting in work — this is what showing up looks like.

Easy Home Pickles — No Recipe Needed, Just Leftover Pickle Juice

Stop pouring that pickle juice down the drain. I mean it. That leftover liquid sitting in your empty jar of dill pickles is already seasoned, already acidic, already flavored — and it's ready to go to work again. You don't need a recipe, you don't need a canning setup, and you don't need to buy a single extra ingredient. All you need are some fresh vegetables and about five minutes.

This is one of those kitchen habits that once you start, you can't stop. Tytus and I knocked o
ut a whole jar of mixed pickled vegetables in the time it takes to chop everything up. Here's exactly how we do it.

Quick Calzones with Store-Bought Dough — The Boys Take Over the Kitchen

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If you didn't know, Aldi has a ready-to-bake pizza dough they sell right in the store — and it's actually pretty good. We've used it a couple of times now and it's become our go-to for a quick lunch that gets the boys involved in making their own food. This time around we put it to work on calzones, and let each of them build their own from start to finish.

Tytus, Ezra, and Kyle all got in on it — and let me tell you, the personality differences between these three showed up immediately the moment they started choosing their fillings.

Serve - Love Your Neighbor!

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Another Saturday well spent — feeding neighbors and showing up for the community.

Every first and third Saturday, Tytus and I show up to cook. No matter what the weather is doing, no matter what else is on the schedule — we load up the gear and we go. It's become one of the most important things we do together, and honestly one of the things I look forward to most on the calendar.

The command is simple. Love your neighbor. For us, that looks like firing up a grill in a parking lot, standing over a smoker for hours, or setting up an assembly line to make sandwiches for a crowd. Food is how we serve, and food is how we connect.

Stephanie's New Job - From The ER To School Nurse

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Three years in the ER, through a pandemic, and she landed exactly where she was supposed to be.

I want to take a minute to brag on my wife, because she deserves it.

Stephanie just landed a new job as a school nurse — and if you know what she's been through over the last three years to get here, you understand why this is such a big deal. Three years working in the Emergency Room. Three of those years overlapping with a global pandemic. The things ER nurses dealt with during that stretch — the hours, the weight of it, the decisions made under pressure — most people have no real frame of reference for what that actually looks like up close. Stephanie does. She lived it, and she handled it with grace every single time.

Ezra Takes On Karate — And He's Not Stopping

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Ezra decided earlier this year that he wanted to take karate. That announcement caught us off guard — which, if you know Ezra, is kind of the whole thing. When he decides he wants to do something, it comes from him completely. No outside pressure, no one suggesting it. He made up his mind and told us what he wanted.

We said yes immediately. And then we watched to see what would happen.

A Few Months In — And He's Still Going

Here's the thing about Ezra: when something isn't working for him, he lets you know. So the fact that he's been going consistently, sticking with it week after week, and genuinely looking forward to class — that tells us everything we need to know. He loves it. And he's not just showing up — he's progressing.

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Showing Up

Consistent attendance, every class, no complaints

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Stripes Earned

Multiple stripes added to his belt — progress is real

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Belt Advancement

Already moved up a belt level in just a few months

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Home Practice

Grandma & Grandpa got him a punching stand — he uses it

Family Kitchen — Life is Full, Groceries Are Expensive, and We're Not Compromising on Food

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Where it all happens — the family kitchen, the planning zone, and the place everyone ends up eventually.

Let me check in with you for a minute, because life is full right now and that's actually a good thing to talk about.

Why I Quit Social Media (and kept LinkedIn)

"I'm going to QUIT [personal] social media." Everyone talks about it at one point or another. But few seem to carry through with it. Friends told me, "You can block 'this' and restrict 'that'. You can remove the app from your phone..." before quitting altogether. - That's more of a hassle. Quit already and stop trying to appease addiction.

What we want is for everything to be convenient for us. Or we have gotten used to "humble bragging" and haven't noticed it yet. How many "selfies" do you post? In USA culture that tells me how much we think of ourselves. Not because we post a Selfie, but how many times and why?

Kitchen Tools - Weighing In & Weeding The Clutter

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The kitchen doesn't need more stuff. It needs the right stuff.

People love lists. And lately I've been running into a lot of kitchen tool lists that are worth talking about — not just to share them, but to put some real honest commentary alongside them. Because a list of 15 "must-have" kitchen tools is only useful if someone's actually cooked enough to know which three of those 15 are worth your money and which twelve are headed straight for the junk drawer.

Today I'm covering three articles in order. And there's a method to this — read through to the end and you'll see how all three connect in a way that actually helps you think smarter about your kitchen.

The Mayor of Flavortown, McDonald's Onions, a Ridiculous Pot Hat & Trader Joe's Reviews

🍴 C3 — Curated Culinary Curiosities · Issue 01

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Welcome to the first edition of C3 — Curated Culinary Curiosities. Or as I like to call it, the Foodie Feed. Things that landed in my news feed and earned a reaction, a comment, or at minimum a raised eyebrow. Let's get into it.

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Food Culture · Marketing

Guy Fieri — The Mayor of Flavortown

✊ More Respect Than He Gets

Guy Fieri — people either love him or they come up with creative reasons to hate him. I genuinely don't understand the hate, and I'm saying that as someone who's spent time in professional foodservice where Food Network doesn't exactly get standing ovations.

Here's the thing people forget: Guy was a restaurateur before he won The Next Food Network Star. He had already built something. The TV show didn't create him — it amplified him. And Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives specifically? That show has done more for local, non-corporate food businesses than most food media combined. It puts real people, real kitchens, and real communities in front of a national audience. That's not nothing.