but I'm gathering the corn with laughter

[blk]

I missed posting on the autumnal cross-quarter by a couple days, thanks to an increasingly busy schedule, so doing it on the numerically stuttering day instead. Moving into the second half of summer and starting a harvest has meant a lot less relaxation, but still plenty of good things.

Comments

[fudjo]

Ack...when're you in Boston?

[blk]

Aug 20-24. Schedule is kind of annoyingly up in the air right now, though. Still waiting to hear back from a few pertinent people.

[r_transpose_p]

My favorite thing to do with a weber-type grill is to light it with a small amount of charcoal, and then add an oak log or two (small enough to fit in the grill) which will eventually catch fire, giving you wood-fired food.

It works really well for fish if you do the following:

Cook the fish on a slab of foil, with the top open.

Mostly cover the grill so the smoke stays.

Occasionally check the fish, pouring beer or citrus on it when it gets too dry.

You'll need a lot of beer and/or citrus for this method, but it makes really good fish. You'll need more beer if, like me, you drink the beer while waiting for the fish to finish.

This is best, of course, if you live in CA when citrus is in season.

[blk]

Mmmmm. That sounds really good. I clearly have a bunch of grill experimentation to do.

[rmitz]

Charcoal chimney starter. It's the only way to fly.

[blk]

Yep, I have me one of those. It, uh, took me a while to figure it out even WITH it. I haven't even tried lighting bare coals.

[devreux]

You can harvest carrots anytime between when they start looking big enough to eat and the heavy freezes in November. The first couple of frosts are no problem, but once we get heavy freezing the carrots occasionally start turning to mush in the ground, in addition to being irritatingly difficult to remove from frozen soil.

[jgs]

For pancakes on the grill, use a frying pan or skillet just like you would on the stove. Just set it down on top of the grill, pour the pancake batter, and proceed as usual. It's a little easier (especially for kids) if you put the pancake batter in a pitcher or something with a spout - helps keep batter out of the grill and makes it less of a giant mess-waiting-to-happen. I've used that instant pancake mix that comes in a milk jug-shaped container (can't think of the name of it) on camping trips, but regular pancake batter is fine when portability isn't an issue

[blk]

As amusing as you wearing pancake batter sounds, I imagine it wasn't fun at the time. Thanks for the tips!