BBQ

Mark's parents bought us a little charcoal grill as a housewarming gift. This was very cool as I had been thinking about buying a grill, since we now have a place to put it, but had decided it was an extra expense that wasn't really necessary. So when Mark's dad asked if we'd use one, I said definitely yes. I was a little hesitant, though, because I've never actually cooked on a grill (neither has Mark), and my dad uses electric, so I'm not at all familiar with charcoal. Well, we've had the grill for two weeks now and finally fired it up last night. They bought us charcoal, lighter fluid, matches, everything we needed. After reading the directions half a dozen times and enlisting Mark's help (just so I'd have some company and a second opinion during the experiment), we piled in the charcoal and lit it up. 30 minutes later, as promised on the packaging, we were ready to grill. I made up some hamburger patties and sure enough, they were done in the amount of time listed in the instructions. And, they were actually pretty good. So far in my experience as a cook, something usually doesn't go quite right the first time I try a new recipe or technique. When I first started cooking after Mark and I got married, this was very discouraging. Now, Mark and I just kind of know what to expect the first time around--some adjustments to make the next time. But, overall, last night's grilling experiment went really well. Of course there were a few things to change for next time: we didn't leave the cooking grate on the grill when the charcoal was heating up, so the food didn't get the tell-tale grill marks on it. We also put the cooking grate on upside down (which didn't really matter, but now that we know...). And, the burgers could have used a little more seasoning, but since I'm still restocking our fridge, I didn't have Worcestershire sauce, which I usually would have used. I've also realized that using the grill will take some planning ahead, since it takes a while for the charcoal to heat up. That's a little bit of a down side, but maybe it won't matter much once we see what our schedules will be like. They also say grilling in the summer is a good way to cook because you don't heat up the house with the oven, but here, every time you open the door, the A/C comes back on from the heat you let in, and we sure opened the door a lot last night. So I don't know if we saved any energy, but it was fun, and pretty tasty. I don't know what we'll try next on the grill--send me your favorite recipe and maybe we'll give it a try!