Over the Coals

My dh expects this post, and I wouldn't want to disappoint him. As we unloaded the new grill, he paused and looked up. "This is going to be in the blog, isn't it?" he asked. Well, how could I dismiss such obviously good material?

It took both of us to unload it from the truck, not so much because of the dimensions but because of the weight of it. All stainless steel with sharp edges, I envisioned it slicing right through the palms of my hands. From the main body, two wings jutted out to the sides. "Can't it just fly itself up to the deck?" I asked. It has about the same number of controls as a small engine plane.

I won't bore you with the cost of the thing, but suffice it to say that I could've replaced my refrigerator that is held together with packing tape and that has limped along for 16 years now. "I knew you'd say that," he laughed. Well, how could I not? I suppose the grill is a symbol of having arrived in the male kingdom.

Once, when I worked at Colgate's very male-dominated, very rough factory, I listened to the guys discussing their boats. I tried to repeat a phrase that I had heard my mom say before - that you can tell tell the men from the boys from the price of their toys. Only, I got it wrong and what I said was that "you can tell the men from the boys from the size of their toys". My co-workers rolled around on the floor laughing for about an hour after that. It took me awhile to understand their mirth.

So, I am retiring from cooking meat at least. We now have a summer kitchen, complete with a burner, rotisserie, and grill. This is good, because the back burner of my stove doesn't work anymore and sometimes the oven, for no apparent reason turns off mid-bake. (It displays an F2 error that I don't even want to decode in case the stove is cussing me.) I'll get a lot of mileage out of this purchase!