A Birthday Barbecue for the Boy

As I mentioned over the weekend, Eric's birthday was Saturday! He turned the big 3-1 and much to my chagrin, isn't huge on all the birthday pomp and circumstance as some of us are (confession: I'm a birthday NUT! I love a good birthday celebration). 


However, he will accept a good birthday gift. And this year, he got something that every male homeowner should have: A Weber grill!

We were going to get a grill soon after we bought the house, but Eric was a bit more practical and opted to get a lawnmower and trimmer, instead. So we spent the next month and a half grilling $18 steaks this way:

Now, nothing's wrong with an itty-bitty grill, but when you're gonna cook some quality meat, you oughtta have the right tools. So, I did my research and after Bon Appetit itself recommended the Weber One-Touch Gold 22.5" grill, I knew that was the one to get Eric. Though.... it wasn't much of a surprise. I knew he was getting tired of grilling on the little guy, so I asked him outright if he wanted a grill for his birthday and if he cared if he got it two weeks early. 

Of course, he didn't care when he got it, he just wanted that new, shiny grill.

Eric was gone mountain biking one evening after work, so I hurried home to assemble the grill to (kind of) surprise him. I'd never built a grill before, so I consulted the instruction manual.

Ummmm.... WUT? It took me about 15 minutes just to figure out what step #1 was trying to get me to do. Plenty of "WTFs?!?!" were flying, but finally I figured everything out. Luckily, it was smooth sailing after that first step.

But let me point out just how sexist the people at Weber may be. Clearly, they weren't planning on a lady putting this grill together, as you can tell by the illustration.

On second thought, could this be a lady? If so, she desperately needs to upgrade her shoe collection.

ANYWAY, like I said, after the first step it all came together rather quickly. Once it was all set up, I was so proud of myself! I bought Eric his gift and set it up for him! Surely this calls for some kind of girlfriend-of-the-year award.

Along with the grill, I also got him a Weber Rapidfire Chimney Starter. Apparently, it prepares the coals much faster, so the delicious vittles cooking on top get in our bellies quicker. Sounds good to me!

Eric loves the grill, and so far we've cooked brats, burgers, pork tenderloin, chicken breasts and vegetable packets on it - everything's turned out perfectly!

Me? I just like it for the fun photo ops.

Happy grilling, everyone!