Dinner will be steak on the grill.
Too early to start drinking (barely), so that’s a tbd.
Keon Coleman is going to LSU or Louisville or Florida State and no he can’t play the 4.
Fire Bakich!
FIRE WARDE!
Sorry…it was my immediate response to Fire Bakich! I have an impulse control problem. That makes this message board the place for me.🙄
Bout to head in to U of M main hospital for an MRI to see how badly/if I reinjured my 1 month old reconstructed ACL.
But at least I get Valium, so there's that.
Hope all turns out well for you!
Oh damn, what'd you do?
I've given my "stay between the lines" speech a thousand times over the last 25 years but a month is early for someone to get too froggy after an ACL reconstruction.
I was walking, sans crutches, for about 20 feet to get a bottle of water from the fridge. The knee gave out, and I sorta crumbled. My surgeon said the ACL seemed ok, but was worried about MCL/PCL/meniscus damage.
Sounds like your risk/reward analysis needs some work
I was a few weeks into physical therapy. I had been working on short jaunts with no crutches, so I figured it was ok. I figured incorrectly.
Good luck!
And? Today is older son's birthday, hooray!
Guy is already on his third career, but this one seems to be a much improved path over the first two. Mom and Dad are very happy for and about him. Breakfast at his favorite eatery then an all day quiet gathering celebrating his arrival and accomplishments.
Birthday cake around 4pm. 😁👍
And he's only 12!
As a fellow parent I can so relate. Happy birthday to your son! It’s not how often you fall that matters but how many times you get back up. Resilience is the key ingredient.
Sunday is a chill day. It has been grueling with my son's high school work for a few weeks. Finally, a weekend with no work on Sunday for him and for me :)
Best day to binge watch some show, go for a walk. Possibly buy a grill. I just never had one and I think it is about time I buy one.
Great. Grill talk. Now you did it - all the chefs will come out and force feed you information you didn't know you wanted. This thread will be 97 entries deep by the end of the day, with indents so far England is reading the damn thing.
So what are you looking for - charcoal, gas, an egg-type, pellets? I mean, we can't tell you what to buy until you tell us what you want. Except, yes we can...
I recommend a gravity fed charcoal grill, like the Masterbuilt Gravity series. Chargriller also makes one. They're like offset smokers, but will get to ~700 deg for searing the holy hell out of steaks. They have a digital temp control with an onboard controller board that includes a thermostat and two temp probe inserts - and it maintains temps better than your oven. They aren't as good at grilling as they are at smoking, but they're pretty damn good at grilling. They'll run you from ~$500-$1000 depending on which version you get. You can also mix wood splits with the charcoal, or just use plain 'ol wood instead of charcoal.
::end unintentional product placement campaign::
I feel like I need/want 5 or 6 different types of cooking devices in my patio. I’m out of room.
Weber Genesis, Blackstone griddle, Blackstone pizza oven, Masterbuilt smoker, Big Green Egg, and, my pride and joy, a custom Shirley fabrication offset smoker.
I recently moved like Wendy below and did not bring the griddle and masterbuilt with me.
I want a charcoal one but my wife wants a gas one. I don't think I am going to win that argument. I travel and she wants to be able to do it herself. Our budget is less than $1,000. We don't entertain a lot of people. At most 10 or less and that too only a few times a year. So, we are thinking something small or medium sized one. Anything that would make it easier to grill and grills well, as we are not too much into smoking.
For less than $1000 you should be able to get 2 grills.
Honestly, you can't go wrong just getting the Weber Kettle charcoal grill. Very traditional/typical looking grill; I got a few add ons (larger size, higher, has removable shelf, and soot collecter can vs pan) and it was like $150. Plus, if anything wears out, you can get replacement parts everywhere.
I love mine. I have a smoker now so I use that more for other things but for grilling burgers, brats, and steaks - you can't beat it for the price.
A bag of wood chips and a chip box can take gas grilling to another flavor level. I’d add a rotisserie, as well.
Your wife is wrong, but if you know what's good for you, buy the gas one.
If you have $1000 for something small-medium sized, you can get a really good grill. Consider the Weber Spirit line, which is Weber's entry level. It'll keep your costs below $500-600 and give you a great starter grill with Weber's quality. I use my grill 2-3 times/week, on average, all year long, and I think the Spirit would last me a good 7 years, maybe more. And I don't really take care of them - out on the elements without a cover year round.
Of course, you'll have a LOT of options in that price range... Have fun!
However. Look at pellet grills, also. You'll get some of the awesome wood smoke flavor in everything you cook. It won't be as hot as gas or charcoal for high heat searing, but are plenty hot enough to grill an awesome steak anyway. And they start with a pushbutton, just like gas, and have temp control like an oven. Well worth the investment...
Second the Weber Spirit line at that price point. (Genesis used to be in that range).
You'll pay more than some other gas options but you'll always have parts availability to keep it going a long time.
It doesn't sound like you're "into the life" so to speak and given this (and your wife's wishes) gas seems the way to go.
Think of it as a gateway to maybe a Big Green Egg or a Weber Summit Kamado or a pellet pooper
My Weber Genesis is 12-13 years old and always sitting outside. It pretty much still looks new with little maintenance. Really well built product.
Cast aluminum body! This is what I have.
This is my 4th grill. It's already lasted about as long as any of the others and it's in great shape.
I’m a Weber fan - and have used them for years. Started with a charcoal kettle, added a Genesis when we moved into our home (stainless steel, covered when not in use - we use it throughout the year - including the Chicago winter - natural gas), and a Traveler (fueled by bottle propane - and our cooking surface / device for tailgates).
I don’t consider myself a grill master - but, the above have performed well.
One suggestion - get a marinade cookbook - it can add a lot of flavor as you prep / cook - and makes grilling a bit more interesting.
Enjoy - and good luck shopping.
Buy something with a cast aluminum body. A Weber will last you 20 years. Stamped stainless steel grills probably 5
Concur with the Weber kettle and 2 or 3 burner gas grills (Spirit).
Have both and they have lasted 7+ years and counting are still in great shape.
Combined, total cost should be in your budget range.
One note on the Masterbuilt Gravity series smokers - build quality isn't the best, but customer service is pretty good (owned by the same company that owns Kamado Joe), and the smokers are usually on sale at big box stores (Home Depot, Walmart) and Costco. Would only buy it if it is on sale. Biggest benefit (other than great bbq that comes off of it) is that you can use regular charcoal briquettes (or even lump charcoal and/or wood splits, if you want to get fancy) - no pellets or other specialized fuel needed. Does tend to rust out over a shorter period of time vs the enameled Webers, though, so more maintenance.
I love my Gravity grill/smoker - but what you said is spot on! I've had mine for ~4 years now, and I've replaced the controller board and power supply, and the manifold (heat distributor) was so rusted out I just removed it a couple months ago. The charcoal hopper is about worn out, too. Granted, I don't pay a lot of attention to keeping it out of the elements, and I use a lot of high temps, but jeez! Nonetheless, it's ~$600 I'll spend again because it's that fun/easy/good to use!
You can order a replacement manifold on Masterbuilt's website for $40+ shipping, I believe - mine is starting to rust heavily no matter how much i oil it down after cooking, so probably need to replace mine soon, too. I bought my 560 a few years ago on sale at HD (they are always on sale somewhere it seems), and have to say customer service has been top notch at Masterbuilt so far.
I also saw they added an electric controller to the Joe ('Konnected Joe") but $1,600+tax is a lot of $ to spend on another grill/smoker!
Leaving (Indiana) to head to Chicago in about 30 minutes for the Blink 182 concert tonight at United Center. 2nd row seats beyond excited!
I remember seeing Blink in like 97 at St. Andrews Hall
They were fun. Hopefully old age hasn't ruined that
I'd be less surprised if you were going to a screening of Turk 182.
Check out a guy named Alex Melton on Youtube. He makes all songs sound like Blink-182 songs. Worth a listen because he’s pretty good at it.
Jeez, not so loud. I’m hungover.
Any fellow Formula One fans out there? Enjoy the Miami GP! (At least qualifying was slightly interesting yesterday, giving us a bit of a grid shakeup).
I'm with you! Not a fan of the track (or any track that prioritizes glitz/celebs over racing), but quali did leave us with an intriguing grid. Hopefully that means an interesting race!
Been watching it more again in recent years (ironically I’ve never seen D2S and I’m not really that interested in changing that). I might fade away if Red Bull becomes a multi-year behemoth again—I accept that team dominance has been uniquely and necessarily a part of the sport for basically as long as it has existed, but it can make things rather boring at times.
With that said, we’re guaranteed for some action in the early stages because Max starts ninth and it will take a minimum of several laps to rectify that even if he’s clearly the fastest guy on track again.
I actually love what they’ve done with the Miami facility. I can get personally annoyed by some of the unfair gripes and I even accept that an event that draws an expensive crowd has its place. F1 is by far the most expensive division of Motorsport, a discipline that is necessarily expensive at every level; I’m a free market guy in that kind of sense, and I want this and other races to succeed. But, uh, anyone who wants to complain about ticket prices, well, they’ve brought that on themselves. If they don’t like it they can console themselves with massive revenues.
Anyway, I’m looking forward to it.
Dethatching and over seeding my back yard after spending all day on my front yesterday. My lawn is giving me a workout this year. Damn grubs.
Have you tried gophers? That should do the trick!
We're moving to a smaller place (empty nest and all that) so I'm packing up everything and getting rid of most of it, which is a colossal task, especially if you don't want stuff ending up in a landfill. I have my stuff, my husband's stuff, my son's stuff and daughter's stuff (she lives out of town), plus our collective stuff. 22 years of stuff. Wasn't there a George Carlin bit on stuff?
Right with you. 28 years accumulated here. Daunting.
You can do what my parents do to me. Just show up at their house with a car load of old junk and say you saved it for them.
Haha. My mother-in-law has been trying to get rid of her stuff at the same time I'm trying to get rid of ours and says, "You don't want this?" in that guilty tone that mothers do so well. I have kept nothing for the purpose of giving it to my kids someday. If they want it now, they can take it, but they don't even want their stuff.
My mom could be very sneaky. When I got my first job after graduation from U-M, my new employer, AT&T, paid for one moving van of stuff to my new apartment in IL. I had already started the job, so my mom said she would handle getting the few pieces of furniture and some boxes of clothes on the truck. Truck arrives and it's full of stuff my Mom wanted to dump. A huge old console color TV (that didn't work, of course), boxes of toys I never knew she had saved, old china and pots and pans collected from various deceased family members, the ugliest chair you can imagine from the 1970s, etc. I've been looking for an opportunity to do the same to my kids, but it doesn't look like that will ever happen.
My wife, kids and I are going to an open house later today to find a bigger place since we recently went from a family of two to a family of four. Guess we’re on opposite ends of that whole raising kids journey thing 😂
You're going to accumulate more stuff.
I'm verrrrry slowly working on the same task, now that we're down to just the one of us. Will be moving in to live in my mom's basement so I can take care of my elderly parents without having to commute 45 minutes one way multiple times each week. Can't blame my late wife for all this stuff, as she was much better at discarding things than I am. And at the same time that I'm working on my stuff, I'm helping them minimize 65 years of accumulation so that I have room to move in. Daunting tasks. I'm giving myself until the end of the summer to be fully transitioned. Good luck to you!
And you, as well. I dealt with my father's stuff when he died 5 years ago. Among 85 years of stuff, I found some really cool things like his baseball autograph collection from the 1940's and some very interesting letters that revealed a side of him I didn't know. So it was worth it to comb through it all.