2023, Family, Food, holidays, Nature

Grilling Season!

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We took the grill out on Monday and fired it up!  For many years, when YA was younger, we had an old kinda-grill that we inherited when I bought the house.  It looked like it had been cobbled together from parts found in the garage and was so rickety that I wasn’t sure I could get it to the boulevard to give away before it collapsed.  I felt a little guilty that somebody stopped and took it before I’d even had a chance to go in the house and make a “FREE” sign.

Our second grill was a little hibachi-type thing, but we didn’t use it much.  Let’s face it, spending 30-40 minutes coaxing charcoal to just the right stage so you can heat up a veggie burger for a minute. 

I finally caved and got a gas grill when YA was about 12 – got it using award credits at work.  Then I splurged to get a little wheeled cart that it sits on; it was a little too big to lug around.  Last year we switched from the little canisters to a big one.  It works much better and saves a lot of gas.  

So to celebrate Memorial Day we did grilled corn on the cob and veggie brats with all the fixins.  It was a perfect day for grilling and eating at our outdoor table!  And so much nicer to just turn on the gas for 10 minutes and then turn it off!

What do you like to grill?

26 thoughts on “Grilling Season!”

  2. I’ve been grilling since mid-April, mostly meats of various kinds—chicken, salmon, burgers, kabobs, etc. I did grill a basket of mini zucchini, sliced in half, with grape tomatoes, sliced in half and drizzled with olive oil. Very good.

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  3. We have no grill at this point, so we rely on eating grilled foods when invited elsewhere. In Robbinsdale back yard (The Garden of Eden) we grilled brats and burgers for family July birthday gatherings. I was always going to learn to grill veggies, but…

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  4. My outdoor grilling days are over. Oven grilling still works for steak AND…radishes with a dab of minced garlic on each slice.
    Here’s a grilling story from 3 weeks ago. On a Saturday afternoon, my newest neighbor was in the back of the apartment building setting up to grill. That rear door opens into an alley and some parking spaces. We spoke for a few minutes but I made no reference to my never having seen a resident grilling outside. Perhaps two months earlier, I had let the landlord know that we needed a new dumpster (You’re already guessing where this story is going, aren’t you?) One of the lids was gone and it was rusted completely through at the bottom on one side. Then a month ago, the basement here flooded. As part of the cleaning up process, the DMV people threw out a lot of material which filled the decrepit dumpster to overflowing. One of the pieces of debris was a laminated sheet of plywood sized 6 feet by 4 feet. That item wasn’t picked up by the trash guys for the longest time. Now back to the weekend in question. Sunday morning, I went out the back door and saw that the dumpster was about 2/3rds full and the garbage in it charred by fire. The dumpster company’s signs and logos were toasted away and the plywood piece, still outside, was charcoal. Burnt paper was strewn beneath the hole in the bottom. It didn’t take much detective work to figure out what had happened. And I can well imagine Mr. Grill’s panic in putting out the fire and likely standing in the dumpster, on that plywood, to extinguish the flames. On Monday morning, I happened to be putting out my garbage when a new dumpster arrived. The delivery guy and I spoke for a while about the scene. He informed me that that happens many times in grilling season. He was impressed by the idea that someone was jumping up and down in the dumpster fire. I chose not to inform the landlord of the event. However, the next Saturday, Mr. Grill was out again but this time the grill was out under a big tree. The small pile of ashes I saw Sunday morning, wasn’t a welcome sight but there was evidence of water having been poured on them.

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  5. Oh my! What doesn’t husband like to grill. He has this big griller/ smoker contraption that looks like an iron lung. He also has a smaller, round top Weber. He is strictly a charcoal user, and he has wood smoker chips in various types as well. He really likes smoking large cuts of meat like pork shoulder. Smaller things like brats and steaks go on the Weber.

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  6. I used to grill much more than I do now. Not sure why. I’ve just been trending toward simpler meals and preparation. We have a not-so-old gas grill on its last legs. Just did hamburgers on Sunday. My repertoire is burgers, steaks, salmon filets, and the occasional pork ribs. I think this year I might try a pizza on the grill since my wife has gotten into pizza a lot more in the past few years, but we usually only do it in cold months so the kitchen won’t get hot.

    Chris in Owatonna

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        1. I do it with indirect heat, but quite hot. So whether gas or charcoal, you heat it, then allow the heat to be on one side of the grill, then cook the pizza on a stone or foil on the unheated side. It is just like roasting a whole chicken with indirect heat.The grill flavor make the pizza so very good.

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    3. Pizza on the grill is fabulous. Although I have discovered more than once that you really have to watch it so that it doesn’t char.

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  7. Last week we visited Mpls friends while they were camping at Great River Bluffs State Park – we had “foiled dinner” – vegetables and maybe polish sausage chopped in chucks, a little butter, wrapped in foil and roasted on the grill for not very long. Was delicious!

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  9. Under normal circumstances, we’d have grilled many a meal on our Weber by now, but this year we haven’t yet brought it out of its winter hiatus. There’s is just no safe place to put it.

    Replacing our back entryway is turning into a much more elaborate ordeal than I had anticipated. I had wanted to hire a professional to do it, but husband, ever mindful of the money we could save by doing it himself, protested. This would be a fun project for him, and so the debacle began. Six weeks and thousands of dollars later, here we are, and no end in sight.

    He started tearing down the old “porch” on April 20th, and since then everything has been in constant state of flux. Tools and lumber are scattered about in the yard. More tools, an air compressor, and buckets of screws and hardware have taken up what appears to be permanent residence on the kitchen and living room floor.

    Needless to say, my domestic fairy hasn’t been here since this project started, and the house is a mess. At the rate husband is going, I’d be surprised if this project is done by July 4th! The new entryway will be a vast improvement over the ramshackle shed that was there before, but I’m not a happy camper at the moment.

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  10. My HS class celebrates their 60th anniversary this year. We graduated 92. They invite a few dropouts (there were several) and a few whose families moved away. This is the plan. It will be held in the backyard of a classmate (more on her later). You are to bring your own chair lawn chair, food and drink. If you are willing to set up a large grill, let them know, so they can tell others who may want to grill. Out of 92+ does it not seem odd that is all they are doing?
    I have not kept up with them. Told woman who runs it all to drop me from mailing list, but she did sent me this. So is she tired of running it all? Have that many died? Have so few participated lately? They do want RSVPs to get a count. But it seems odd this is the best 78 year olds can muster, or maybe this is all they want, no fuss, no program, just sit around and talk. But they have never gotten along. And I bet right now they are separated by hard lines on Trump.
    The hostess has a first name of no classmate I remember or is in the yearbook. Same with last name. I can suggest some thoughts on that, but I won’t.
    Clyde

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  11. I will accept and happily devour anything that someone else has grilled. I am averse to using the grill we bought 4 years ago for a family gathering, and have only turned it on once or twice since then.

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  12. I have never gotten very deep into grilling. I will do a chicken kebob with pepper, onion, and new potatoes occasionally, if I can rustle up a friend to meet me in a park for a picnic. Never been a big meat eater, so no steaks or anything like that. Burgers or brats are OK if someone else is grilling them.

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  13. I’m a day late again.

    I love lots of veggies done on the grill. I like to do carrots, potatoes, Brussels sprouts, mushrooms, onions, corn, cabbage, eggplant and more. We were talking about burgers the other day. One really good vegetarian option is a big portobello mushroom cap washed, dried, brushed with olive oil and grilled. Then you layer on veggies and cheese and serve it open-faced on one of those thin wheat buns.

    I also like to grill salmon and I do it about once a week. I’d have to say that is my favorite thing on the grill. I wash it, pat it dry, brush it with olive oil, then rub a favorite seasoning mix into it.

    I just have a little Weber gas grill but it’s all I really need.

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