Naughty or Nice

When you live far from family members you get to have several Christmas celebrations. This is the case with my family. We started Christmas with my family in Tennessee spending four nights there. The next four nights we will be at home celebrating with Renie's family. Junior loves this because he gets presents spread out over a long period of time. The only thing that he has consistently asked for has been a train and Renie and I have one set-up now under the tree for him.

He also got to play with a leap pad that belong to one of his cousins and he loved that. Fortunately, Renie was able to find one several months ago at a consignment sale. We have some "girl-friendly" games that we plan to share with some of our female cousins.

The last toy that he has asked for is "Hungry-Hungry Hippo" (where he saw this game we will never know). This the the final toy that we have for Christmas morning. He loves games and after receiving several from his Tennessee cousins we look forward to having something to do on rainy days.

As I look at the pile of toys assembled under the tree I think that I am more excited than he is.

As I alluded to in an earlier post I have asked for some more charcoal (the traditional gift of naughty boys and girls). I hope that I have been nice enough to get charcoal. Hope your Christmas wishes come true.

Broken Camera and steaks

Last week the button on our digital camera fell off. The "button" is what you push to take pictures...kinda an important part of the camera. We never purchase extended warranties but for some reason we bought it with this camera. This was the second time that the "button" has fallen off. We dropped the camera off at Wolf Camera and should have it back in about six weeks. Unfortunately, we won't have a camera for Christmas...we will have to rely on family members to take lots of pictures.

On Friday night we invited Renie's sisters over for dinner with brother-in-law Rob and boyfriend Stan. Renie's father was also in town and joined us. I cooked steaks on the grill and again used the side-burner for sweet potato fries. Renie made a cheese dip and salad.

Our Christmas tree has taken over our dinning room so rather than eating on the coffee table we ate outside. A warm December evening in Birmingham with a string of Christmas lights strung along the deck made for a perfect evening. Too bad that I didn't have a camera to prove it.

Side Burner

This weekend was my first experiment using the side burner. I found it to be quite easy and do plan to use it again in future grilling experiences.

The fries are sweet potato fries...similar to what Uncle Win introduced to us. A small amount of cajun seasoning was sprinkled on them when I removed them from the skillet.

The burgers were stuffed with blue cheese and cooked over the last bit of charcoal that I have. With me traveling with work before Christmas I may not have another opportunity to cook before the new year. Maybe I will get some more charcoal for Christmas!

Happy Birthday

Last week was the annual celebration of Renie's 29th birthday. She, of course, requested steak. Though we didn't have child care we had a great time being together as a family. With Renie quiting work this past year our financial situation has changed quite drastically. However, though we didn't have a table full of presents or really any presents at all I believe it was my favorite birthday so far. Renie ran an errand in the late afternoon and came home shortly after 5:30 to a meal fully prepared with a homemade card from Junior.

The steaks were t-bones received from the cow my parents purchased. (We have ordered half a cow for next year-it will be ready in August). I used a basic beef rub. Feel free to let me know if you want mine but if you google "beef rub" you will get many that are very similar.


Finally, yes I made the cake too...but not on the grill.

On-Sale

Chicken breasts went on sale recently at our local grocery store for $1.99 a pound. My wife, feeling bold, bought $50 worth. The butcher put it in four separate bags for us to use. Most of it is in the deep freeze and hopefully will last through the winter. This was a sweet pepper marinade that I mixed together. In the future I plan to keep track of what I am adding to better prepare for future grilling experiences.