Grilling

What did we eat this weekend that WASN'T grilled? Cereal for breakfast... that's about it. Everything else was grilled food - and we loved it!

Thursday night we pulled one of our 1-lb packs of sirloin steak tips out of the freezer to thaw overnight, knowing we'd be ready to enjoy the back deck in the evening on Cinco de Mayo (we used to go out all the time... what happened to us!?).

We ended up being sidetracked by our lovely neighbors ("Michael! Come over for a beer!" he yelled across the street), sitting on their front porch enjoying the evening sun and describing to our lawyer-neighbor the details of the recent murder trial on which BC#1 was a juror. She was very impressed by our legal terminology and gun knowledge ("do you shoot?").

So we were a little late grilling, but we still fired up the steak tips. Marinated in a quick mixture of salt, pepper, garlic powder, fresh-ground fennel, and soy sauce (and some cold water, of course - my new trick!), these had a nice, sweet flavor. Fired up the camper grill (still haven't bought our legit grill!) and these were done in 15 minutes. We enjoyed these grilled tips with a big salad made up of every vegetable we had in the house.

On a side note - are "steak tips" just a New England thing? My buddy who moved to Boulder, Colorado says he misses steak tips most of all... I guess it is a cut that is only around the Northeast. Whatever, good for us! It is my favorite cut - easy, just the right amount of marbled fat, not overly expensive, and delicious.

On Saturday we traveled down to BC#2's Dad's house on Cape Cod for lunch (and to do some basement rummaging for accoutrements and artwork to hang on the walls in our still-somewhat-new house) and his grill was hot the minute we walked through the door. Dad had asked "hot dogs ok with you guys?" the day before - I think he thinks we are flaky dieters who would poo-poo hot dogs. On the contrary, Big Papa Smurf, we love the occasional dog! Dad had those huge Pearl hot dogs grilled up in no time, BC#2 scarfed down two to BC#1's one... And we got some artwork for our walls out of the visit, what a deal!

While there we checked out a Consumer Reports comparison of gas grills - they rated the Weber Silver B (the one we were eyeing) lower than some less expensive models, including a Char-Broil one that was 1/2 the price. Hmmmm...

We arrived back Saturday in the late afternoon, and realized we had no food in the house for dinner. It was still so nice out that BC#1 ran out to the store to grab just what we'd need to grill some burgers for dinner (we really ate well this weekend, no? To the gym!). She came back with burger meat, lettuce, tomato, red onion, some whole-wheat buns, and a pint of tequila. Hello? We ended up celebrating Cinco de Mayo a day late (Seises de Mayo?) with a couple of Margaritas while watching the Kentucky Derby (Mint Julep, Margarita, whatever!) and firing up the grill. These burgers got the standard seasoning (salt and pepper, ground/dried onion and garlic, and a little ground fennel, a splash of water and a massage)... then, onto the grill!

The number 8 horse came in, just like ONE of us had predicted, and we ate our burgers and watched the Red Sox game (a 9-3 win over Baltimore) and had another margarita.

Sunday was all chores, all the time... but it was still a very nice weekend of food cooked outdoors. Looking forward for even better weather to come and for that big, new grill to show up on my deck...