[longwayfromhome]

We had a wild weekend, catching the tail of a cyclone (hurricane) from the islands. I had half a bag of charcoal that I didn't cover well, so I needed to dry it out. I used 3/4 chimney of damp charcoal and eventually got it going, then put the bulk of the damp stuff in the waterpan and cooked it. Thought I'd do some country-style ribs at the same time... eventually the temp climbed after 90 mins, and I took off the (hopefully) now dry charcoal, re-filled the waterpan with water and now trotting along nicely at 250 with a top-up of the now preheated charcoal. Damp charcoal is going to be a challenge in the Auckland climate (like Seattle).