:::The Fire Zealot:::

Just giving some word of advice... take it or leave it... use it or ignore it... With this being the season of the BBQ I think it's my duty to give a little advice of BBQ-ing etiquette. This is all coming from experience.. recent experience... like yesterday afternoon experience.. anyway no more babbling.

Over the last few days, I've been taking advantage of the weather to bar-be-que some dinner in my back yard when I get home. Since I have yet to buy a decent BBQ grill I have been trying my hand on a $20 charcoal grill over the last couple weeks... Now, many of you reading this would think that I would/should be extremely careful when dealing with fire... ah well.... I guess not. I have been a little over-zealous with the lighter fluid. Yesterday after soaking the coals with lighter fluid, I threw a lit match stick on the coals & WHOoOSH!! The flame was like over 3 feet high... I quickly threw the lid of the grill over the raging flames... whew!... let me let it sit with the lid closed for a bit...

About 3 minutes later it appeared as if the flames died down... light smoke came out of the corners of the grill.. cool now I can open it..... I stand right over the grill the open the lid.... and WHoooOsh!!... the flames damn near burned my face right off! I actually stumbled away from the grill temporarily blinded for a few seconds from the intensity of the fumes and later found out [through my wifey] that my eyelids and beard were actually singed from the flames.... crazy...

Word of advice... no playeth with flames... no good... Don't say I never warned you.

Memory-all

I'm Just Hangin' Ouuut... (c) Main Source
In previous years when Memorial day comes around it not only signifies that the summer season is official for me but also that it is time for the BBQ stalking/crashing to begin... Usually I'll have an APB out on fiends and family and slowly but surely I'll make my way through the spots to snack (& drink) on some home-made grilled delights. Yesterday my mom summoned me to her crib because my Grandma was in town and she decided to have a BBQ at the last minute. My pops wasn't in town so basically she needed me to do the heavy lifting/cleanup/setup etc. I was a little thrown off be her call because I had just started working on the resurrection of the wasteland that I once knew as my back yard [more on that later..].

Anyway I hauled my @$$ over to my parents' crib a couple hours later[hmm] and I was shocked to see that damn near the all of her family members were there. Aunts, cousins, the dog down the street.. you get the idea.. My mom had prepared some food to be grilled; you know the prerequisite chicken, turkey dogs, burgers.... but some thing was missing.. ah...um... where's the grill?...oh yeah...it's in the garage.. right?.. cool. As I navigated my way through a sea of "stuff" in the garage I came across the little dusty/rusty contraption pictured above... an ooold school fire red(?) charcoal grill... nice... And of course I was the one charged with setting up and working the grill... ah..hmm...ok

Anyway, after a slow start... [a mutiny of hungry family members drew closer by the minute] I finally got thangs cookin'. People complimented me on my grilling skills [they just didn't know that the kid got it like that] which was cool. the best part is that I got to catch up and reminisce with family and friends. It definitely provided me with pleasant memories...

Thanks to all that came thru yesterday and God bless all of the officers of our armed forces that arent alive to spend time with their families this holiday season.