Just so you don't think my entire life is about my EeePC.... Tonight I grill! It's been the first time since the move. I bought a couple sirloins and a couple filets and I'm going to town.
My grill of choice is the Weber Performer which is a charcoal grill with a propane assist. I had the Char-Broil brand version of this type of grill when in Florida and it does the job nicely too, but the quality in construction of the Weber is far superior. Plastic pieces on the Char-Broil started breaking after only a year. This Weber is still like new after a year, and that includes sitting out in the snow all winter. The only thing I really miss about the Char-Broil is the side burner. I usually blanch my vegetables before grilling them, so for now I have to run inside to do that.
So first you pile your coals up into these little baskets and fire up the propane flame....
Then throw the grate on top and cover. It'll only be a matter of minutes for the coals to turn white. That's more than enough time to prep everything that's going to go on the grill.
The Performer is nice in that it gives you a little container to throw your bag of coals and some accessories into:
They expect you to use the little 16.4oz disposable tanks with the Performer, but I typically grill too much to waste my time and money on those, so I bought an adapter hose and a full size 20lb tank that pretty much lasts me all year:
The extra tank does seriously reduce the mobility of the grill, but I pretty much just leave the thing next to the deck. The hose on the tank has one of those big release knobs so I can easily detach it if I did need to move it.
So the coals are white, time to sear one side....
And you can see I have the area to the left of the coals for indirect cooking like when I want to grill veggies. Now the other side gets a good searing.....
And it's time to eat! 