I'm Burned Out On Burgers

Last weekend I learned that vegetarians shouldn’t be in charge of lighting barbeques. I also learned that when I invite people over for parties, I really should spend at least part of the day preparing for it, rather than heading off to go surfing for the entire afternoon. On second thought, forget it. How many more times will I have the chance to go surfing this year? Still, I felt kind of bad that people showed up before I even got home, and even more bad that everyone had arrived before I even finished putting together the second hibachi. Despite that I think most people had a good time. I credit Graham for that though—buying tons of beer and food for everyone was his idea, and a good one at that. Lucky he was there, or I might have resorted to grilling cans of beans and serving water. Disorganized is my middle name.

But back to the lighting of the barbeque fiasco. Graham tried to get the first one going. I think he had the right idea with stacking the briquettes into a pyramid in the middle, but he’s way too cautious with the lighter fluid. A tiny little flame and a bit of smoke does not a roaring fire make. Squirting more lighter fluid onto the not quite burning briquettes seemed like a good idea at the time. The resulting massive cloud of smoke and no additional flame made it clear to everyone that it actually wasn’t a good idea at all.

Thinking I had learned from his mistakes, I tried lighting the now awesomely built second hibachi. I squirted what I thought was way too much lighter fluid, struck a match and let it rip. Oh, did I say rip? I think I used about 10 matches before it finally caught.

Two hours later we finally had enough heat and coals to start frying up the veggie burgers and kebabs. But were they ever good. The guests that hadn’t gone home to get something to eat all seemed to agree.

My bike is being cranky these days. Yesterday on the way home from the hospital after getting my stomach pumped, the right pedal came loose. Turns out the threads where the pedal screws into the crank are stripped. Crap! I just replaced the pedals last week. After my pavement splashdown the week before on Sackville street I must have knocked something out of alignment, because my left pedal seized up on me. All this is to say that the good folks at Jack Nauss still rule. Knowledgeable service, good rates. And trusting. I forgot they don’t take interac and had no money on me. No worries they said, just come back to pay us later. Oh, and they didn’t charge for labour.