We were having a friend over for dinner and had sorta gone back and forth over what to serve. I've been wanting to try a crazy recipe/method for burgers I've come up with, but didn't have all the ingredients and didn't feel like going to the store.
Then a conversation from earlier in the week came back to me. I'd been talking with a friend and lamenting the fact that with the growing popularity of gas grills and charcoal chimneys, that signature smell of burning charcoal lighter is no longer wafting through the neighborhood on summer evenings. Like the smell of fresh cut grass and the silly tunes being broadcast by the ice cream man, that smell is permanently attached to the part of my memory associated with summer.
It brings up memories of my dad and uncle, clad in tacky plaid Bermuda shorts, standing out on the patio drinking PBR, manning the grill and solving the world's problems.
Yeah sure, the food's better without the underlying hint of petrochemical, but damnit I miss that.
So I decided, in an effort to pay tribute to all the suburban Dads of old, we'd have a proper old school cookout. I remembered I had part of a small bag of Kingsford left. And I also remembered that at least ten years ago, before I'd discovered charcoal chimneys and proper BBQ, I had, in fact, regularly used charcoal lighter. Could there possibly be any left? With all the hopeful anticipation of a kid at Christmas, I dug into the dark recesses of the cabinet under the sink. And a few minutes later, way in the back, behind a bag of potting soil left over from my failed attempt at a kitchen herb garden, I found a quarter full jug of charcoal lighter fluid.
The agreed upon menu was hot dogs and corn on the cob.
So, later that evening, clad in my best tacky Bermudas, I stood around the grill with loved ones, drinking beer from a can, inhaling the old familiar aroma of petroleum and charcoal and solved the world's problems. We toasted our Dads, bored each other with stories of the backyard bbq's of our youth and ate our hot dogs. It was a pretty good day.
I'd unintentionally gone completely old school in that I left my phone in the car, so didn't get any pictures. But here's one of a hot dog from a while back.
Then a conversation from earlier in the week came back to me. I'd been talking with a friend and lamenting the fact that with the growing popularity of gas grills and charcoal chimneys, that signature smell of burning charcoal lighter is no longer wafting through the neighborhood on summer evenings. Like the smell of fresh cut grass and the silly tunes being broadcast by the ice cream man, that smell is permanently attached to the part of my memory associated with summer.
It brings up memories of my dad and uncle, clad in tacky plaid Bermuda shorts, standing out on the patio drinking PBR, manning the grill and solving the world's problems.
Yeah sure, the food's better without the underlying hint of petrochemical, but damnit I miss that.
So I decided, in an effort to pay tribute to all the suburban Dads of old, we'd have a proper old school cookout. I remembered I had part of a small bag of Kingsford left. And I also remembered that at least ten years ago, before I'd discovered charcoal chimneys and proper BBQ, I had, in fact, regularly used charcoal lighter. Could there possibly be any left? With all the hopeful anticipation of a kid at Christmas, I dug into the dark recesses of the cabinet under the sink. And a few minutes later, way in the back, behind a bag of potting soil left over from my failed attempt at a kitchen herb garden, I found a quarter full jug of charcoal lighter fluid.
The agreed upon menu was hot dogs and corn on the cob.
So, later that evening, clad in my best tacky Bermudas, I stood around the grill with loved ones, drinking beer from a can, inhaling the old familiar aroma of petroleum and charcoal and solved the world's problems. We toasted our Dads, bored each other with stories of the backyard bbq's of our youth and ate our hot dogs. It was a pretty good day.
I'd unintentionally gone completely old school in that I left my phone in the car, so didn't get any pictures. But here's one of a hot dog from a while back.
