First of all, let us just take a moment to breathe in the long-awaited spring air (pollen optional) and thank the Powers That Be for finally making it out of winter and into our very first cookout of the season.
Yes! You heard me right! Finally, finally, after several false starts over the last month, I fired up our trusty Aussie grill, complete with a showroom-new grill grate and ash dump, and got to work. First up was an aluminum grill pan teeming with English peas (seasoned with black pepper), which I covered with foil and cooked for half an hour or so. As it cooked, I baked a sheet of tater tots in the oven indoors (because I still can’t figure out how to make them nice and crispy on the open flame – but give me time!).
While the peas and tots warmed up, I opened up a beer and sat down to leaf through the latest Real Simple. But not just any beer – a Double Take from a six-pack that LeeLee and I picked up today while at the Safeway. Why am I mentioning this? Because said six-packs were on sale for 50% off – on top of a pre-existing sale! So a $7.99 sixer cost us $3. Which, as LeeLee pointed out over dinner, means each bottle is precisely $0.50. Fifty cents! Now that’s what I call spring fever.
When I was about 10 minutes from dinnertime, I put four veggie burgers onto the grill to warm up, and before long they were sizzling and juicy. As I took them up, I put two buns on to toast. I like to cook with a wide-open heat (if it can’t be grilled at full steam ahead, what’s the point?), so they were nearly too brown in no time. ;)
The results were springtime personified. Everything tastes better after being grilled, and tonight’s meal was no different. The first cookout of the season always adds extra flair – the newness of the year’s Sunday cookouts hasn’t work off yet! After the winter we’ve had, I doubt we’ll settle into complacency any time soon. Veggie burgers, 50-cent beers – what’s not to love?
:)