Adventures in Grilling

(Before I start, I have to take a moment to celebrate that I actually remembered to sign out of our main account and into the one that posts under my name. Woo-hoo for me!)

I've been wanting a grill for a little while now, so I finally bought one of those cheapies at Wal-Mart for $25. To break it in, I decided to make hamburgers. Simple, right? Nathan and I followed the directions that came with the grill, coals, and lighter fluid so we thought we were set. But, to our consternation, the coals seemed to create a nice, big blaze and then burn out. We put the meat on, but it wasn't any near hot enough to cook. So, I fried them instead. They tasted great, but I wanted that grill flavor so it was a little disappointing. Then...

about 30 minutes after we had finished eating, I started smelling that distinct fire/smoke/grill smell. (We don't have AC, so we keep our windows open all the time. Outside smells drift in very easily. We always know when a skunk walks by!) We go outside, and to our amazement, the coals had a nice orange glow about them and were nice and ashy as the instructions told us they should be. Putting our hand over them, we realized that is was now hot enough to cook the meat. We had previously jumped the gun and put the meat on too soon. So we went ahead and made more burgers. I didn't want to waste the coals, and I still wanted my grill-flavored burgers. Now we have a ton of hamburgers--some grilled, some fried--in the freezer ready for an easy meal. And we learned to have patience and wait for the coals!