Day 54

This is the aftermath of our failed barbecue. I guess we have plenty of leftovers to get us through.

Day 41

I grilled again this evening. I know it's only concrete, but our "yard" was looking pretty good a few weeks ago. I had swept up all the dog poop, organized my grills, and started killing off the poison ivy. Then all of a sudden the second floor started parking their scooter in the middle of the patio and the first floor dumped a pile of trash back here. Now it looks like a landfill. I'm pretty upset about this.

Day 30

We went down to Rhode Island to go to my buddy Jim's cookout on Saturday. It gives me hope that maybe one day I'll be able to have a house and a yard. Of course, I'm not eager to have to move to Rhode Island to make that happen.

It's shaping up to be a very social few days for me. Dinner with Joe on Friday, shopping Saturday, cookout Sunday, and perhaps dinner with Frank on Tuesday.

Day 2

This picture represents one of the only redeeming features of life in the suburbs. That's right, I have three (count 'em... three) charcoal cooking implements out back. I've got the itty bitty Thermos brand grill, my Brinkmann smoker, and the Weber. This time of year, the Weber becomes a major factor in my weekly diet. I grill whenever there is time, rain or shine.

I know the folks two houses down probably look down on me for using charcoal, but I prefer it. If I wanted to cook over a gas flame, I'd go upstairs and turn on the stove. I enjoy making the fire, smelling the food mingling with the smoke, the idea that getting the proper cooking times and temperatures is a bit of an art... basically everything about cooking with charcoal.

Tonight, we had a small steak, a porkchop, garlic-chicken brats, italian sausages, grilled plantains, and potatoes cooked in the coals. I want to experiment with more grilled fruits and vegetables as the summer progresses, and if I can find a cheap one, I'd like to get a dutch oven for cooking in the coals.

As I stand back and look at this picture with a stranger's eyes, I have to laugh a little bit. Yes, our backyard is all-concrete. How Boston is that?

This picture also represents my discovery that blogger lets me send pictures directly from my phone to my blog. That's a cool little piece of software, but I don't know how much I'll use it. I would end up paying more for messaging and I can't exactly type one of these little missives on my phone's number pad. Still, as the year progresses, it may come in handy.