It’s a ton of work. I get to cook with it about two weeks out of every year and as a consequence I have very little experience in figuring out how it works. Practice makes perfect, as they say, and I’m really out of practice. What is more, every time I come back to the charcoal grill, I have forgotten *most* of what I learned the last time I cooked with it. And I like to keep things interesting by doing things like buying lump charcoal and seeing how THAT works. My wife and kids tolerate this insanity because I don’t mess things up too terribly (that often) but it is a testament to the triumph of hope over experience.

Hey, I love a challenge. A few days ago I did a brisket on the grill, and that worked out much better than expected. I’ll suggest that it was beginners’ luck and a fortuitous Google search for ‘barbecue beef brisket’ rather than any type of hard experience informing the outcome, but the family was happy and so am I. What is more is that I read all kinds of brisket horror stories and I managed to avoid all of them. It was delightful. Watch this space for the next time I toss one of them on the grill. Maybe it’ll be even better. Maybe not.

Charcoal tonight is for ribs. Here’s hoping they’ll be Ok. I expect they will, as I have had a fair amount of experience with ribs.

Regardless of the challenges, the entire process is tremendously enjoyable. Not that I have much else going on here at the lake. My daily highlights are, in no particular order: coffee. Dog walk. Book reading. Swim. Taking a few photos. Making dinner on the grill. Vacations should be like that.

That said, I’m not sure I would love it as much if it were November.