As some of you already know, my husband and I bought a house and moved to the suburbs almost a year ago. Prior to that, we lived in an apartment in Brookline, MA. Our apartment was wonderful in many ways, not the least of which was the proximity to our favorite thai food and craft beer restaurants.
Off the back of our apartment building we had a little deck, which was small and had a view of the parking lot. Not exactly the type of place to lounge outside on warm evenings. We did, however, have room for a small gas grill. We bought the Weber that is actually designed for tailgating, but you can stick it on a stand and pretend it's supposed to be used at home, too. Everything was going wonderfully until all our neighbors saw we were grilling and put grills on their decks, too. Not long afterwards, the fire marshal posted that grills on decks are illegal and they needed to be removed. That was the end of grilling at our apartment.
Last summer we were thrilled to resume grilling outside. We set our little gas grill up next to our porch and feasted on burgers and grilled vegetables all summer. The gas grill is small, and not as hot as it could be, so we didn't attempt fancier or more complicated cuts of meat. To clarify, by we, I mean Jon, because I was scared to turn on the grill thinking it would flare up and my hair would catch on fire.
A few months ago we started researching new grills. Now that we are completely settled in our house, we are looking forward to hosting barbecues this summer, and need to be able to feed more than four people at a time. After lots of time spent researching features, reading reviews (this was Jon), and suggesting pretty colors (that was me), we had agreed on a fancy Weber gas grill. But then, we thought, we have a gas grill, why not take this opportunity to become grill purists and go with charcoal? Food cooked over charcoal (never with lighter fluid) tastes better. It does take a few more minutes of preparation, but we usually reserve grilling for weekend evenings anyway. And so, we have a shiny new Weber charcoal grill. There's a learning curve to cooking over charcoal, but we've made progress, and the results have been pretty good so far. Last night we decided to give barbecue chicken a try, and it was delicious.
No recipe today, we just used thinly sliced chicken breasts (next time I would go with regular breasts), grilled on one side for a few minutes, flipped and added sauce, and then flipped again and cooked indirectly (away from the coals) to finish. Served with a classic baby red potato salad, this meal put me in the mood for Summer!
Off the back of our apartment building we had a little deck, which was small and had a view of the parking lot. Not exactly the type of place to lounge outside on warm evenings. We did, however, have room for a small gas grill. We bought the Weber that is actually designed for tailgating, but you can stick it on a stand and pretend it's supposed to be used at home, too. Everything was going wonderfully until all our neighbors saw we were grilling and put grills on their decks, too. Not long afterwards, the fire marshal posted that grills on decks are illegal and they needed to be removed. That was the end of grilling at our apartment.
Last summer we were thrilled to resume grilling outside. We set our little gas grill up next to our porch and feasted on burgers and grilled vegetables all summer. The gas grill is small, and not as hot as it could be, so we didn't attempt fancier or more complicated cuts of meat. To clarify, by we, I mean Jon, because I was scared to turn on the grill thinking it would flare up and my hair would catch on fire.
A few months ago we started researching new grills. Now that we are completely settled in our house, we are looking forward to hosting barbecues this summer, and need to be able to feed more than four people at a time. After lots of time spent researching features, reading reviews (this was Jon), and suggesting pretty colors (that was me), we had agreed on a fancy Weber gas grill. But then, we thought, we have a gas grill, why not take this opportunity to become grill purists and go with charcoal? Food cooked over charcoal (never with lighter fluid) tastes better. It does take a few more minutes of preparation, but we usually reserve grilling for weekend evenings anyway. And so, we have a shiny new Weber charcoal grill. There's a learning curve to cooking over charcoal, but we've made progress, and the results have been pretty good so far. Last night we decided to give barbecue chicken a try, and it was delicious.
No recipe today, we just used thinly sliced chicken breasts (next time I would go with regular breasts), grilled on one side for a few minutes, flipped and added sauce, and then flipped again and cooked indirectly (away from the coals) to finish. Served with a classic baby red potato salad, this meal put me in the mood for Summer!
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