Reprieve....

I was off the hook today. By the time we all got up and got cracking, it was almost noon. We headed to Popeye's for lunch. I remember now why we haven't been to Popeye's for lunch... That place always seems to be staffed by the most unmotivated people. They loaded everything on the tray and we headed to the table. About the time we figured out that we were missing the kids meal, one of the employees brought it out. This girl was in her late teens I guess. When she walked, she drug her feet. She put the bag containing the kids meal on the table and walked off. Not a word spoken, and no eye contact. Sort of like our presence was a nuisance to her. I should point out that it was raining outside and we were the ONLY customers at that time. Only 3 more came in the whole time we were there, so it's not like they were busy.

After eating lunch, we headed to Lowe's to get the tinted glaze for the sponge painting. Of course, we bought water hose hangars, a bird feeder, bird seed, etc, etc, etc before we ever made it to the paint section. Once in the paint section, Shelly changed her mind and decided that instead of sponge painting, she preferred the distressed leather version of faux painting. So, we bought the glaze, roller covers, stippling brushes, etc, etc. On the way home, we hit the grocery store. By the time we made it home after 4:00, it was pretty much too late to start on the painting. We did laundry and cooked dinner instead.

I have to say, tonight's dinner was crack-a-lackin' good. We grilled boneless, skinless chicken thighs, yellow and zucchini squash, and corn on the cob. OK, pay attention, here is the trick to a great dinner on the grill. First, grilling must involve charcoal. Gas grills are for women, Yankees, and metrosexuals (I'll give my opinion about these another time). First, you trim the fat from the chicken put on a little salt and pepper, set it aside, and make the marinade. Here is a link to the recipe I used today. http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=258507 I know the recipe calls for breasts, but we like to use the boneless thighs, making sure to trim the up pretty good. I find it best to double the recipe to make sure to have enough.

For the squash, I slice it in big, flat length-wise slices. They go on the grill better this way. A drizzle of olive oil, salt, and pepper, and set them aside. For the corn, shuck them and remove all of the silk. Lay out enough foil to wrap the ear up for the grill. Lay the ear on one end of the foil, sprinkle some kosher salt and coarse ground pepper on the first 3 or 4 inches of the foil (just what will be in direct contact with the corn), and a slice of butter (lengthwise from the stick, then again lengthwise so a sliver down each side of the ear works perfect). Roll it all up, and now you are ready to hit the grill.

Put the corn on the hottest part of the grill. It will take longest, and a little charring is is really good. Chicken on the next warmest, and squash around the edges (they really don't take long, so put them on last). Turn the chicken every few minutes and baste liberally with the marinade. Turn the corn a couple of times, and keep the squash on just long enough to get some good grill marks on each side. Pull it all off and eat it while it's hot.

Shelly made some cheese biscuits and sweet tea to go with it, and we called it a meal.

Can you tell I like to cook? Almost as much as I like to eat.

In case anyone is wondering what king of grill I use, it's a Weber Performer. It is the 22.5 inch kettle grill with gas charcoal ignition. No lighter fluid, no newspaper and chimneys, just make a mound of charcoal and light the gas until the coals light, then turn off the gas and let the coals do their thing. Here is a link to the grill. http://www.weber.com/bbq/pub/grill/2007/charcoal/Performer.aspx