First BBQ of the Season

The one BIG thing I’m missing at my place is a BBQ. I live on the third floor of a house and don’t have a balcony so BBQ related food doesn’t happen during the week for me. As a big lover of all things grilled, this makes me sad, but on the up side, it means that I usually have BBQ all weekend when I go to visit my parents.

My parents are also big BBQ fans, although my Dad is adamant that charcoal or wood is the only ‘real’ way to grill food. My Mom is a bit more of a realist and places the need for food on the table quickly above most other things. They usually meet halfway by grilling on the propane grill during the week when things tend to be more rushed, and opting for the slow grill on the weekends.

Since my parents are such fans of grilling we, (my brother, uncle, grandparents and I) decided to buy them a really nice BBQ for Christmas. I naively thought that lots of other people must want to buy people BBQ’s for Christmas, but I soon found out otherwise. There was only one place I found that had a decent BBQ for sale, and since the plan had already been made, we stuck with it. All in all, it turned out pretty well. They loved the BBQ and it works and looks good.

My Mom started cooking on it once the snow melted, but it wasn’t until about 3 weeks ago that it really started getting warm enough to actually stand outside beside the BBQ as you cooked. That’s when I took these pictures. My good friend Milana came over too and the three of us, Mom, Milana and I, chatted and sampled as we grilled. My Mom chose the prepackaged kabobs, which is rare of her to do, but we were all tired and just wanted to eat. We cut up some peppers and mushrooms and I made some tzatziki to go with all of it. I think it’s this sort of thing that makes me love food and cooking. There are few things that make me happier than cooking while you have good people around you and just sort let time pass you by. I find it calming and settling, and when I look at these pictures again, I get a smile on my face because that’s the feeling I remember.

Do you love to BBQ? Have any ‘must haves’ at every BBQ? I’d love to hear your stories.