(Originally published in The Daily Telegraph in England.)

A day after model Kate Hillman told how a red kite swooped down and tried to fly off with her pet dog, police are investigating reports of the huge predators pinching sausages from a garden barbecue.

(Originally published in on NJ.com)

BRIDGETON — A woman who was angry that 7-Eleven did not have any fully-heated sausages for her started attacking an employee and ultimately had to be pepper-sprayed, police said Friday.

Brittany C. Glanville, 25, of West Lincoln Street, was arrested Friday and charged with disorderly conduct.

Chief Mark Ott said an officer responded to the 7-Eleven on West Broad Street when someone set off a panic alarm at 3:05 a.m.

The officer said that as he pulled up he saw Glanville wing an item at the head of the clerk on duty. With quick reflexes the clerk was able to snatch the item out of the air and avoid being hit.

The officer said that as he began to enter the store Glanville was attempting to climb over the counter and go after the clerk, so he immediately arrested her.

He put her in the back of his patrol car where she repeatedly tried kicking out the windows until finally he pepper-sprayed her into submission.

The clerk and other store employees said that Glanville became enraged when there were no sausages ready for her to eat in the store’s hot dog cooker.

The officer said she appeared to be intoxicated because of her strange behavior, slurred speech, bloodshot and watery eyes and the distinct odor of alcohol on her breath.

After charging her, police released her on her own recognizance and turned her over to the hospital for evaluation, although no one was available Friday afternoon to say which hospital.

Glanville said she did not wish to offer any comment about the story when reached by telephone around 6:15 p.m.

For some strange reason I had the urge to create a meal in “honor” of Black Friday.  I have no reason other than sometimes cooking has to be fun and I just needed to do something different.  The only way to represent Black Friday properly would have to create an all black meal.

Do you have any idea how hard it is to find foods that are black?  It’s not all that easy.  So I decided that black beans would do the trick.  And when I was able to locate some black sweet rice at the asian market I knew I had the right formula.

First a little about Black Sweet Rice.  I bought the rice because it was black.  I had no idea what it tasted like or how it would work.  Once I got home I did a little research and learned that Black Sweet Rice is mostly used in Indonesia and Thailand to make sweet deserts like puddings and cakes.  It’s rarely used as the primary rice in a meal.  Black Sweet Rice has a nice nutty flavor and I thought it might still work as a compliment in the black bean recipe I was going to make.

Black Sweet Rice is hard as a rock.  You’ve got to soak this stuff for up to 10 hours before actually cooking it.  It take a long time to make it soft enough to actually eat in a meal like I was preparing.  So if you find yourself wanting to use it leave yourself plenty of cooking time.

This is my standard Red Beans & Rice recipe, except this time I used black beans.  I also normally use a smoked ham hock but I found some smoked pork necks at the store and used them instead.  They worked out great.  I put the whole mixture in the Traeger on the smoke setting for a couple of hours to see if I could get more smoke flavor.  Not really sure how much that worked.

All and all it tasted amazing.  I really liked the sweet rice with the beans.  It actually was a good combination.

BBQ Grail’s Red/Black Beans and Rice

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups green onions, chopped
• 2 cups onions, chopped
• 1 cup celery, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup bacon drippings
• 1 pound dried beans, traditionally red (but black works)
• 1 ham bone, ham hock or other smoked pork product
• 1 pound smoked sausage, sliced in 1/2 inch slices
• 3 bay leaves
• 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• Hot Sauce to taste
• 1/3 cup cilantro, chopped (or parsley if you prefer)

Directions:

The night before put the beans in a large bowl and cover them with water.  Soak overnight. 

The next morning rinse beans throughly.  In a large dutch oven saute onions, celery and garlic in the bacon drippings until softened.  Add all other ingredients, except cilantro, to the dutch oven.  Add enough water to cover everything.

Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to low and simmer, partially covered until the beans are tender.  Plan on 2 or 3 hours.  Remove bay leaves and add the cilantro just before serving.  Serve with hot rice.

Start with a 1lb chub of Jimmy Dean Pork Sausage and some Dinosaur Bar-B-Que Cajun Foreplay rub.

Coat the sausage chub with the rub.

Smoke your sausage chub at 225 degrees (or so) until it reaches 165 degrees internal. What was a sausage chub is now a FATTY!

Slice and fry up a couple pieces of fatty, add a toasted English Muffin, poached egg and some Cilantro Chipotle Sauce and you've got a breakfast to be proud of.

Add some fruit, canteloupe so you've got a balanced meal