Grilling Time

[hrj]

I finally tackled cleaning up the smallish patio. ("Patio" by virtue of having a concrete floor and a roof, though otherwise it's just a space behind the garage.) Standard distribution patterns of yard debris mean that winter deposits a layer of dead leaves, and my inattention to the calendar means that I never remember to put a winter dust-cover on the grill and smoker, so they need to get a thorough wash-down, as do the shelves and the patio furniture.

But a couple of work sessions took care of all those factors and earlier this week a fired up the grill just for the heck of it. (Corn on the cob, grilled eggplant from the garden, grilled lamb chops marinated in lemon juice.) It's one of those pieces of equipment where my desire to own it seriously overwhelms the actual amount I use it. (I own it for the fantasy life in which I have friends over regularly.)

Next job is cleaning out the fuel feed of the smoker (which I made the mistake of not emptying at the end of the season). Maybe it's baked enough that the pellets have un-concreted. I previously made a stab at disassembling it to clean out the stuck pellets, but balked at how much disassembly that seemed to require.

Comments

[gurdymonkey]

I've thought about a grill - and convinced myself that I don't need it.

Can I interest you in a ginormous propane firepit I never use? ;)

[hrj]

A ginormous propane firepit would be even less use to me than all the fancy grilling equipment (though I won't say I haven't contemplated one in the past). At this point, it would just be more clutter.

[kareina]

The description of your solo grilling sounds so tempting that I wish you lived close enough that I could invite myself over to grill with you. I wonder if you were to make it a habit of doing solo grilling (because you are worth it) and share descriptions and/or images on line, if some of your more local friends will feel the same? If so, perhaps the grill would get regular use for your enjoyment, and random use for friends that is slightly more often than you would have thought to invite them if they weren't replying "I'll be right over" to your posts? (Writes one who had friends over yesterday, and so we used our outdoor pizza oven for the first time this year, and was reminded that we generally use it one or two times a year. We need to install that back door, so we don't have to walk all the way around the house to use it.)

[hrj]

Every once in a while I post on social media about plans with an invitation for people to join me, but it never comes to anything. And I tend to be somewhat impulsive, so there's rarely enough time between decision and action for anything more organized.

[kareina]

I really understand the part about impulsive, and not emough time for people to join! I do the same, and also get no one who is actually able to join on such short notice. The situation I was imagining when I wrote that was more of a compromise, where friends see the posts, say they wish they could have been there, and somehow it turns into an agreement to do it together tomorrow, or next week, or whatever notice they need to be able to join. No idea if it would actually happen, of course.