Girls Guide to Grilling

Summer holidays like Memorial Day, Fourth of July, and Labor Day usually centers around some sort of cookout. I beleive the cookout is so popular because 1- you get to be outside and 2- you can drink while preparing the meal because it takes some time. I would also like to add a very important number 3 to my list: the men do it! I am all about being equal or whatever.... but I would like to leave the men to the grilling.


Tonight I had my very first lesson in grilling. I have never cared about it before, nor did I need to know. Tonight two of my friends and I decided to "grill out" because it is Memorial Day! Gracie, Maribeth, and I planned a small cookout for the three of us. Hamburgers, hotdogs, baked beans, corn, salad, dessert, and yummy beverages. Sounds like a great plan! As I am making my way over to Maribeth's house, I get a call from them asking if I knew anything about coal for the grill. None of us knew really anything about it. So I call one of my favorite guys and ask him about coal. Thomas explained to me about the 2 different kinds of coal.

Lesson 1: There are 2 different kinds of coal. One kind is ready to light and the other kind needs lighter fluid added.

After we realized that we have the kind of coal that is not ready to light.... I venture to the gas station to get lighter fluid. First stop: Exxon. Exxon gas station does not have lighter fluid. I was surprised so I kindly asked where I could find some. The two attendants there said they were not sure since they were not familiar with the area. What? Really? So onto stop number 2: Mapco. Mapco was dead. There was no one in the store which was lucky for me because I got great customer service. I asked Jeremy, the gas station associate, if he had any lighter fluid. Jeremy got a tiny little bottle of lighter fluid from behind the counter and gave it to me. I paid him the $1.08 for the lighter fluid and was getting ready to walk out the door when my friendly personality got me talking. Never having used lighter fluid, I wanted to ask my new friend for extra help. I asked him exactly what to do with this lighter fluid for the grill....

Lesson 2: Lighter fluid is not the same as charcoal lighter.

Once Jeremy knew that I did not need lighter fluid to fill up my lighter, he helped me get a bottle of charcole lighter. Yes.... much better. Side note - have you ever retured anything in a gas station.... it was weird.

Back at Maribeth's house... we finally put the charcoal lighter stuff on the coals and get the grill fired up. Then we put the hamburgers and hotdogs on the grill.

Lesson 3: Don't put the food on the grill till the coal turns white.

This would have been a great lesson for us to know BEFORE we started grilling. We thought the fire was what cooked out food. I guess that is more of a campfire, not a grill. When the fire went out.... I called my dad to ask for help. Thanks to my great dad for this lesson! He explained it very well.... but sadly we had already placed our food on the fire.

Lesson 4: The fire should go out on its own..... we are still waiting on this to happen.

Lesson 5: Leave the grilling to someone who knows what they are doing.

:)