Hey Riff, what's for dinner? Aw, meat-loaf again?

Had friends over yesterday, so the grill came out and, yea, there was the grilling of meat. Much meat. And the people did feast upon the lambs and sloths, and carp and anchovies, and orangutans and breakfast cereals, and fruit-bats...

See, my family has two imperatives of life. The first is if people come over for visiting and vittles we feed them until the pop. Or faint. Whichever comes first. The second is that grilling is a Holy Calling. One that should never be taken lightly or without proper preparation.

Also, we're old style yankees. Since we grill on charcoal we shouldn't leave much to waste. To that end, even though there were only the four of us, six Boston Strip steaks, twelve skinless hotdogs, and some sixteen or so hamburgers were offered to the Gods of Ambrosia Sniffing.

The fire? Well thanks for asking. It was a mix of charcoal and hickory (some dry, some wet). The fire, as most non-gas fires are, had it's own peculiarities. Not too many cool spots, and once we started to monitor oxygen flows it came to a nice uniform heat. The steaks came in nicely although a little on the done for those wanting Medium (ah well, Grill Chef prerogative), although with enough juices that the meat was still very moist and the fat caramelized (as it should be). The hotdogs had a a pleasant plumpness splitting in uniform lengths and golden finish (like a good, deep suntan) with only a few spots of black to show they had been grilled (and for taste). The hamburgers, well, you like them in the meatloaf style and well done don't you? Nice grill pattern on the outside with the caramelization of the fats, succulent on the inside (no pink, sorry).

Bette out did herself with tomato salad, cole slaw (made), baked beans, and various and sundry other dishes and victuals. I can't remember it all. So the fridge is stocked with excellent eating for the last week of "official" Summer (September doesn't count).

And today was a picnic for those involved with SCAD (Souther County Ambulance District) where we got to catch up with friends we don't see often and make new ones. I am the alternate delegate to the board, our regular delegate is president so I was expect to show up. We had grilled chicken and steak.

So, probably around Wednesday, I'll be experiencing a meat coma. How was your weekend?