In an effort to
get into the summer spirit, on Sunday I decided to go shopping for a
grill. Nothing says Summer like grilled
food! I also decided that I would drag
Steph along to help me.
The afternoon was
long and full of ridiculousness that lasted well into the next evening. I could write a 10 page post about it, but I’ll
just give you the highlights that led to me finally ending up with a grill:
Mission: FIND A GRILL – checked at Kmart, Walmart,
Target, Fleet Farm and finally Menards.
After breaking a glass dish—(EMBARRASSING), purchasing a grill, portable
fire pit, the necessary grilling tools, a badminton set, and marshmallow
roasting sticks, we sat down for a much needed rest. Too bad the patio chairs we sat down in were
the most comfortable pieces of outdoor furniture I had ever experienced! Add 2 chairs to the list of purchased items
above. We needed to get OUT of that
store immediately! It was getting out of
control…
Upon wheeling my
new purchases to our cars, we realized that the chairs (already assembled) were
absolutely NOT going to fit in either of our rides. After much laughing and attempting to rotate
the chair in every direction hoping that somehow it would fit… we were
approached by a nice, elderly couple who had noticed the ridiculous scene unfold in
front of them. They offered to bring the
chairs to my house for me. If I were
anywhere other than small town Minnesota, I feel like it may have been a
questionable idea to let a stranger load my chairs into their vehicle, but really,
what was the alternative? Moral of the
story—they call us “Minnesota Nice” for a reason… Thank you to my fellow Menard’s
shopping, parking-lot strangers--your random act of kindness is inspiring and
makes a person truly believe in the good of others.
Since the list of things that went wrong after this point in
the story is endless, I’m just going to bullet point:
·
Forgot to purchase propane
·
Did not have food in house. I went to the market and left Steph to start assembling
·
Started to rain during assembly process, had to
move entire production into the garage
·
Light was burnt out in the garage—no replacements
to be found, had to move everything AGAIN, but into my living room.
·
Took longer to assemble than anticipated, no
grilled dinner – Jimmy Johns to the rescue!
·
Mixed up the parts from fire pit and grill—grill
ended up with fire pit wheels on it…
·
Missing parts for the grill
·
Lawn clippings and branches are VERY flammable
and multiple feet of flames shot out of fire pit (note to self, less is more)
·
Next morning, go to get the missing part from
Menards—lose keys and cellphone search for 40 minutes to find them. Awesome! L
Confident that nothing
else could go wrong, I had planned a group dinner Monday evening. I invited Steph, Sara, Al and their two boys
over for a delicious dinner of mushroom and Swiss brats and one of my favorite
recipes-
Pinto, Black & Red Bean Salad with Grilled Corn and Avocado.
The slightly charred vegetables mixed with a medley of beans are so fresh and amazing.
The dressing is only a small bit of
olive oil and a ton of lime juice… so healthy and delicious!
As the clock
struck 5PM, I was ready for my guests to arrive; the house was clean, beer was
cold and the miscellaneous patio furniture and appliances were all assembled
and ready to go. I was confident that
nothing else could go wrong. THINK
AGAIN! 10 minutes into the grilling, no
propane left! They had sold me an almost
empty container—of course that would happen to me!!!
After a trip to the gas station to switch out
the tanks, I was back in front of the grill.
Never ending…
Regardless of all
the shenanigans, it was a fantastic adventure that I will remember every time I
pull out my new grill. Great food,
fantastic friends and some FINALLY decent weather! Amen to that!!
 |
| Typical Henri--- Always looking for something to eat... |
