The Inmates Run the Asylum

Despite the fact that it had been snowing a good part of the afternoon and evening, I decided I was going to grill anyway. It wasn't like I'd be standing outside the whole time and I'd grilled in the cold before. What was a little snow?

Well, I was right. The snow was nothing.

The wind, however, was fierce. And snow can sting when it hits you in the face at high velocity. I'm just saying. Not to mention the havok it played with my flames every time I opened the lid. But, I managed to cook the steaks without much trouble considering how many times I've nearly set myself on fire with that grill.

And then I brought the steaks inside and went about finishing up the onions and mushrooms when the power went out. The first thing out of my mouth? "I'm cooking here, dammit!"

After a few more seconds of blackness and my confused brain trying to figure out what the hell I was going to do with dinner, the power came back on. Good thing because I was blanking on a back-up plan.

The power just went out again about twenty minutes ago. Carrie said that Spot was sleeping under the table upstairs in her room at the time. When the power went out, Spot woke up and looked at Carrie like it was her fault.

And if you ask Pete, the wind and snow are the bipeds' fault, too.

Well, we're sure as hell not doing anything to stop it.

Edit: The power just flickered again. I'm getting really tired of resetting my clock.

Just a few comments on tonight's episode.

( Castle..'Love a good perp walk.' )

In cooking news, I added another burn to my hand. I hit it on the very hot oven as I was putting a pizza into it. So now I have a blister and a red stripe. Along with the miscellaneous scratches (that I can't remember/don't know how I got), it looks like my left hand has been involved in some very serious business usually found in a high-violence action-adventure or possibly a low-key slasher movie.

Not the best look after Halloween. I'm just saying.

Made mushroom and swiss burgers for dinner tonight. I chopped up the mushroom and onions and put them in the hamburger as well as sauteed some for the top.

I loved them and they seemed to go over well with everyone else, too.

Provided we don't all die in the night from some food related illness, I think this recipe is a keeper.

And for the first time ever grilling burgers, I didn't have some big flame up that threatened my eyebrows.

I need to invest in an apron though. I am not a neat cook.

I decided to make hamburgers for dinner tonight. I usually make dinner between 6:30 and 7:30. About twenty after six, I hear thunder.

I assess the situation. It seems it's going north. Terrific. I'll just get my burgers grilled real quick and be done with it.

I light the grill, make the burger patties, get the cheese ready, and haul everything outside. As I'm slapping the patties on the grill, it starts to sprinkle. Well, hell.

I get the burgers on the grill, close the lid, and feed Pete and McGee cheese in the garage. It starts to rain lightly. I get a bag of dried cat food out of the back of the jeep (we'd run out today and that is just a no-no situation in this house), take it in, and come back out to flip the burgers.

It's still raining and I have no skill at flipping burgers on a grill apparently, but I get it done. I slap the cheese on, close the lid, and take refuge in the garage with the cats.

After a few minutes, I go back out into the rain to get the burgers off the grill. The flames are spiking. The burgers will not get on my spatula so I can put them onto the plate. It's raining on my food.

I at least had the sense to turn off the grill, but I still wrecked two burgers in my haste and the rest got wet. I can never get away with grilling hamburgers without wrecking at least one of them, rain or shine.

And to top it all off, I had nothing to serve with them because the corn on the cob I was planning on grilling had gone bad.

I'm taking this as a sign that I'm done grilling hamburgers for the year.