I love our wonderful New Mexico springtimes. The birds singing, the breeze through the trees… and the chance to fire up the grill.

Grill??

As my dog says,

“Grill?? As in Food??? For me!?!? Oh boy!”

I love to grill. I’d grill every day if I could, as it is I’m going to start grilling every weekend until probably November. However it’s been a while since I had a grill. Not since I started living in apartments about 6 years ago (it’s a long story). But this year, living in my SO’s house, I could finally get a grill. It’s not the biggest or the baddest grill…

But it’s mine! And it only cost me $10 at Home Depot!

It was the last one, a display model!

(more pictures to follow)

And it’s enough for me to grill out for four people, every weekend!

Ah, but young one. For you to become one with the grill, you must choose your weapons wisely.

First, the charcoal. Yes the grill, as all true grills must be, is a charcoal grill. None of that deviltry that is the… gas grill. I prefer Kingsford or possibly the charcoal at Wild Oats (I haven’t tried it yet). This particular bag comes with mesquite briquettes.

Then, you have the smoking chips. These are very important to give your food a nice hearty smoked flavor. Very good with salmon and chicken (my two preferred grill treats)

I’m a big fan of maple or cherry wood chips.

And finally, because I don’t like to use lighter fluid, a charcoal chimney to get the fire started.

(As you can see here, I like to mix the chips and charcoal from the start, it not only helps to get the fire going, but also starts the smoke early.)

And all of the fuel you need to start this fire? Just a couple of pages from the Alibi! After a few minutes, this…

Turns into this…

and

And after a few more minutes, we have a nice warm fire.

But there’s still something missing. What could it be? Oh yes, dinner!

It was a small dinner, just some chicken breasts, salmon and a foil sack of okra for my SO and I. I cooked dinner a couple of weeks ago while she was sleeping after getting home from work. The next night we cooked a lot more for our Sunday get-together with my brother and my SO’s sister. Complete with grilled pineapple with a honey and black cracked pepper glaze. Fantastic!

Tags: grilling, albuquerque