The Captain got us a grill yesterday, put it together, and made the bestest hamburgers and grilled vegetables last night. I never get to have grilled outside food at home because I'm too scared of fire and haven't had a grill because it's just been me here alone, but the Captain is an excellent griller. The vegetables were kabobs, and they had red potatoes, purple onions, mushrooms, and zucchinis on them. And the hamburgers had some kind of Montreal seasoning that he used.
Fantastic, I'm telling you! We had a Cabernet to go with it and homemade chocolate chip cookies for dessert.
Oh, and TWC...the Captain told me to tell you that he took your advice on the cylinder thing to start the fire with. Worked very well and he's sold on it.
As for boating, we are definitely planning on either bringing the boat down south or selling it in Washington and buying one down here if the transport is too expensive. The Captain really liked the marinas we looked at the other day. I told him he has to promise me that we'll sail down the Tenn-Tom all the way to the coast at least once a year. Should be about a 5-7 day trip each way. But we've got friends on a lake over in Alabama that we can sail to, and friends in Memphis that are boaters, so we'll be having some booze cruise weekends for sure. Did you know that you can sail anywhere in the world from Pickwick Lake? And there's a sailing/cruising route that goes around the whole eastern United States called the Great Loop that boat people sort of congregate around and pass each other along the way.
Today we're planting marigolds and splitting an English Ivy I have on the veranda. We're going to put it in two big urns on either side of the veranda doors. I can't do it by myself, though. Too heavy and too many crawly things in that ivy for me. But the Captain's not scared.
He's sleeping in this morning. I had some very disturbing nightmares last night about killing my former boss and her becoming a zombie. I woke up screaming and kept him awake a while. So I left him to sleep when I woke up again at 7am.
8 comments:
I don't wake up screaming much anymore. Just sort of somehow 'know' that it's just a crazy dream. Not sure when that changed.
The boat stuff sounds great. Hard to imagine sailing on inland waters on anything larger than a catamaran. Except maybe Lake Mead or Lake Mojave. Out here, most sailing is in the ocean.
We don't have many large bodies of fresh water and were it not for all the dams, the rivers would be dry by July.
Glad the starter chimney worked out. I like them because they get the charcoal uniformly hot at the same time and quickly. Glad NoStar is manly man enough to forego propane (real men do not use propane grills).
Miss you guys.
Hey! Biscuit Boy! Didya get the laptop fixed yet?
BTW, that was me that sent the text message urging you to do so.......
12 hours of work, 2 hours of Blackjack with the Bambinos, 1 bottle of Sadler-Wells Cab....
Dude, I am tired.
real men do not use propane grills
I've eaten food that was cooked on a propane grill - I wasn't favorably impressed. I even worked for a short while where I was required to use a gas grill occasionally - wasn't favorably impressed with that either. The more I consider the matter, the more strongly I must conclude that people who buy and use the things are people who can not manage to light a charcoal (or otherwise) fire - either that or they live where they aren't allowed to use something that burns solid fuel. I will say this: over the last twenty-five years or so I've seen more propane grills thrown in the trash than charcoal ones. Oh, just in case anyone is tempted to think they are less messy than a charcoal grill with its attendant ashes, think again. After awhile those greasy rocks have to be cleaned out and/or replaced.
I have used one of those starter chimneys/cylinders to get the charcoal burning (many years ago in my in-experienced yoot, when I still used charcoal) and I have to give them my endorsement. They work really well - even when they are homemade from a couple of large coffee cans. Their main advantage is not needing lighter fluid to start the fire - just a wad of newspaper in the bottom.
sasob
Forgot to mention regarding the charcoal starter chimney: I use what essentially is a giant version to make charcoal. (I use lump charcoal in my forge occasionally.) I use a steel, fifty-five gallon drum with some holes poked in the bottom and sitting on several bricks so that it's off the ground a bit. Fill it with split firewood and small limbs as much as I can get in it and light it off with kindling from the top. Put a lid on it cracked open an inch or two and let it go. Takes four to six hours to convert a drum full of wood and a good breeze helps. I control the amount of air it gets by piling dirt around the bottom to cover the holes. When the load is done (as judged by the color and volume of the smoke) I cover all the holes and put a tight-fitting lid on the top. Then I let it sit for overnight before opening the drum. Beware that large amounts of charcoal can spontaneously ignite, so it should be stored outside and preferably in a metal container. Besides a great deal of smoke a fifty-five gallon drum of wood will make about half a drum of lump charcoal.
If I can do this on a large scale, I don't see any reason it couldn't be done on a small scale with a starter chimney other than the fact that one would have to use much smaller pieces of wood. I will add that lump charcoal is much easier to start on fire than briquettes.
sasob
Grilling out sounds lovely.
Everything sounds lovely.
Now if the price of oil would just go up. And the economy would right.
Everything would be lovely!
I still say that sailing the boat around Tierra del Fuego would be the ultimate adventure. I'd love a voyage like that!
I'd love a voyage like that!
Ha! Ha! Not in a small craft, you wouldn't - and certainly not near the time of an equinox with its attendant storms. I've been around the Horn and even on an aircraft carrier, it's no picnic. Panama is much safer. ;-)
sasob
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