my first grilling experience!

 so, i got an old smokey. my sweet little porch at the new apartment was perfect for it. i was talking about wanting to cook on it to my friend kate the other day and she asked if i knew what i was doing. i'm assuming i took too long to answer because the next thing i knew, we were planning what to cook on it and she was going to show me what to do. ha!

here is my tiny beauty in all it's glory!

 nick was in charge of keeping an eye on it. you know when something is brand new you think its going to explode or something? nick was quality control.

 kate brought some shrimp. i've never cooked shrimp from raw. remember when i did the seafood? yeah, i got sicked out and got the already cooked kind. kate has no fear.

that's kate by the way.

 see? this is why i dont cook them. they have tiny wieners.

this is what consisted of our kabobs:

shrimp
chicken
red and green bell peppers
pineapple
onion
mushroom

i washed them and simply sliced them all into large chunks. the chicken, i marinated overnight in a ziplock, cut up, in some italian dressing. simple. easy.

kate showed me how to properly slice a pineapple. nick doesnt eat pineapple (which makes sense why you'll see some skewers filled with just chicken - far away from shrimp and pineapple).

nick, still monitoring the grill.

so, if you notice, there is a method to my madness. now, i'm not real sure if it means anything - but when i put the ingredients on the stick, i thought of what i would want to meld into the other. kinda to have a good veggie, bad veggie ratio. pineapple MUST be on the chicken, not on the mushroom. (sick) does that mean anything? am i just making shit up? chicken and shrimp, far far away from anything like the veggies. aside from being sicked out of goo touching goodness - its unsanitary.

OH! also, soak the skewers in water for a good 30 minutes before hand. this keeps it from burning when its on the grill.

 so - now to the grilling. nick's duty has been halted and he is now playing guitar and drinking a beer. check.

you dont want to grill anything until all the coals turn white. thanks, dad. there was something he told me about how to tell what temperature you have. something about if you hold your hand over the grill and you can sit for 6 seconds, its low heat. and so on a so forth. i was on my second glass of chardonnay - so i really didnt do that. whatever.

 slap those babies on the grill. shrimp, last - they dont take very long. just enough to where they look pink and well - like a shrimp you would eat. the veggies, you want to make sure they're still firm so you get nutrition from it, but by the time the chicken is done, the veggies are done. poke the shit out of the chicken until it looks cooked and then flip it to the other side.

yeah, uh, dont spin it. its on a skewer. those babies will spin. pick it up, flip it over the opposite end - and lay it back down. i'm a moron, i know.

almost done!

 little Penelope was so sad that she couldn't come out and sniff around. she'd think she was licking a shrimp (or "skrimp" as kate called them all night. ugh, lol) and she'd lick a damn flame. sorry, p.










anyway - i had a successful night grilling. too much wine was consumed. we ended up playing a game of donkey kong jenga with our full bellies and our tipsy heads. didnt work very well. but we were all richer for the experience. HA! okay, i have no idea what i'm saying. i'm just trying to make up for the fact that i didn't take a photo of the finished product. i was tipsy and i ate it. so what?