When I was a kid, cook outs were special. They only happened in the summer. Dads would fire up the charcoal grill and drink sweaty ice cold beers. Moms would cut big slices of watermelon and shuck corn on the cob. Kids would play freeze tag, throw baseballs and “swim” in plastic backyard pools while we waited for dinner.
Around dinnertime we’d sit down at a picnic table to feast on juicy burgers, crisp hotdogs, toasted buns and paper plates loaded with chips, corn on the cob and baked beans.
As twilight came we would catch fireflies in jars before finally settling down next to the coals to roast marshmallows on sticks.
Decades later, I was the Dad grilling for my family. At least once a week in the summer, I’d fire up the old Weber charcoal grill for us to make burgers or steaks accompanied of course by corn on the cob, watermelon and marshmallows for roasting for dessert.
Grilling was still special. It required planning and effort to have the supplies, wait for the coals to be ready and to cook. But it was worth every second.
Sometime in the 1990s, friends and coworkers would tell stories of great meals they had made on their gas grills. There was no prep time, no charcoal and they even used these grills in the winter!
I was envious. I couldn’t afford to buy a gas grill. To me, these people were rich.
Until one day, after many years of hearing about gas grills, I finally bought one.
Suddenly, we were able to grill indiscriminately. It was quite a thrill to toss steaks, chicken or burgers on the grill year round and have a meal ready in minutes.
For the next 20 years I always had a gas grill until I gave away everything to live on the road.
On the road, mealtime sucked. I ate tuna from a can, cold cheese, raw vegetables, fruit and occasionally eggs or hamburger that I cooked using a portable propane stove. I had little appetite, was wallowing in grief, had limited options for food shopping and minimal storage so eating was perfunctory.
After I ended my life on the road and moved into my new house the first thing I did was buy groceries and start cooking again.
I hesitated to buy a grill. Did I really need one? After two months of subsistence living I had a full size fridge, stove, oven, microwave and running water. it felt like I had won the lottery.
Maybe a gas grill was something I could live without.
So for two years I baked, fried, boiled, pressure cooked and sautéed to my heart’s content.
Until now.
Being on the carnivore diet, I eat a lot of meat – hamburgers, meatballs, steak and whatever is on sale.
I missed the taste of flame grilled steaks and burgers.
So after months of thinking about it, I bought a gas grill.
After all..
I’m rich, bitch.*
*If you don’t get this joke, I recommend watching old Dave Chappelle Show reruns. You’ll laugh a lot and will eventually come across this line.