BBQ

I just have to share something with you all. Until last night I had never started a fire in a charcoal grill. Until recently I was usually just grilling for one and found gas grills too convenient to give up. Last night however, Jeffry was coming home late from work so I decided that gosh darnet I could start our Webber all by myself, and I did. It was way easier than I expected and I didn't even get that smoky. The smoke is another reason I didn't like cooking with charcoal. I can't stand the smell saturating my clothes and more importantly my hair. Its not a girly thing, the smell is just REALLY unpleasant to me. That's not to say I don't enjoy catching a whiff of a passing BBQ, but I don't like the smell of it absorbed into my hair where I can't get away from it.

I think what made it so easy to start was that I used brown paper grocery bags to light the coals. They seem to burn a little slower than newspaper so they really got the coals going before the paper was all burnt up. I've seen friends and family trying to get their charcoal going and they have to add more newspaper and mess with it a lot which results in a waste of time and even more of the afore mentioned smoke saturation. I simply tore up 1 1/2 brown paper bags, crumpled the pieces into little balls and shoved the bottom of the chimney full of them. I only had to light it once and then stand back a good distance from the smoke and watch the coals take light. If you can't tell, I was quite proud!