Generally, I love being a Canadian — but when I learned last week that Brits have a Bonfire Night every November 5th to celebrate the capture of renegade Guy Fawkes in 1605, I was bitter. Why don’t Canadians have a bonfire night? Just for surviving our crazy climate we deserve a bonfire. We do! We really, really do!
So, since we have no culturally sanctioned bonfire holidays here, I decided to put my pyromaniac urges to good use by lighting up the charcoal grill over the weekend while I was raking leaves.
During the summer, standing over a smoky, hot charcoal grill can be uncomfortably hot. But, stoking up the coals as you do your yard cleanup in the fall is actually a pretty fantastic way to make an afternoon spent outside in the crisp fall air more enjoyable.
So, why not create a low and slow grilled brisket or flat chicken this weekend? Or, just use the hot coals to make grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch and to warm your hands after planting bulbs?
Be sure to have lots of marshmallows around and cups of hot chocolate so that you can bribe your helpers to stick around and help for more than a few minutes!
Is your grill kit packed away for the winter or are you still grilling and barbecuing?
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November 11, 2009 at 9:27 am |
That’s a hard question to answer. We have a gas grill and just put the cover over it in winter. We occasionally grill in cold weather — and the past few days have been unseasonably warm, so it would have been ideal — but for the most part, we’re done until spring.
November 11, 2009 at 11:47 am |
I’ve been meaning to clean my grill since I used it so much over the summer, but haven’t gotten around to it yet. (Fancy that.) I certainly CAN grill all year, but whether I feel inspired to is another question entirely.
Do you do a heavy-duty grill-clean-up every year, or just scrape the grates after each use and not worry about the rest?
November 11, 2009 at 12:16 pm |
I do take apart my grill every spring and give it a thorough cleaning. I find it works much better after the burners are brushed free of soot and the bottom catch all is cleaned out.
November 11, 2009 at 11:49 am |
When we need to shovel, one of the first paths to be shoveled is the one to the grill.
November 11, 2009 at 2:00 pm |
I used my grill pan this week … does that count?! LOL
Kidding aside, if I had a yard or a grill, I’d take you up on this fine suggestion. It does seem like the perfect way to cap off a crisp fall day spent outdoors. Really, there’s no reason not to – great idea, Dana.
November 11, 2009 at 6:28 pm |
Excellent idea! I use a gas grill but having a charcoal one or firepit while doing yard cleanup makes a lot of sense.
New subject – I met a fellow from Turkey a couple of weeks ago and he shared a recipe for stuffed peppers that his mother makes. He asked us if we had any “Canadian” recipes to share with him. Everything I could think of had origins from elsewhere. Except bannok. What am I forgetting?
November 11, 2009 at 8:26 pm |
Well, Canada and the US are the only two countries in the world that produce maple syrup….
November 11, 2009 at 9:40 pm |
Butter tarts?
November 18, 2009 at 4:12 pm |
something with Blueberries.
November 11, 2009 at 9:39 pm |
Sorry to stray off topic but I can’t let your mention of “renegade Guy Fawkes” pass – we where lied to all those years! Guy wuz framed! No, really. Read “Faith and Treason: The Story of the Gunpowder Plot” by Antonia Fraser – excellent (corrective) history and a real page-turner, too.
November 11, 2009 at 9:44 pm |
Good to know – I only know that he was a (supposed) renegade. Then my knowledge on the topic is finito!
November 12, 2009 at 12:36 pm |
We grill all winter. We’ve even been known to rather unsafely pull the grill right next to the door and cook without even leaving the house.
Hmm, but I do think a fire is in order in the backyard firepit this weekend. The girls would love it because it is actually dark now!
November 13, 2009 at 11:14 pm |
Those are the most perfect marshmellows ever in your pic…if I come help you rake leaves will you toast some for me??
November 14, 2009 at 4:20 pm |
Actually, Oliver toasted those babies up – you’ll have to talk to him!
November 18, 2009 at 4:14 pm |
Normally it’s too cold here to even think about BBQ’s by this time of year, but this year we’ve been blessed with a much warmer than average autumn…I think we need to fire up that BBQ sometime soon. We’d have a bonfire too if we had a large enough yard to do so leagally.