One lazy day a couple of years ago Bridget came to her mom and I with an idea. She noted that we had clamshell grills (aka pie irons) in our garage but we never used them. I had purchased them for when we camped and so we had actually used them but she was young enough not to remember. "Why don't we use them over our fire pit tonight?" she suggested. And so began a fun activity for our family. It's not exactly novel but I assume most families use them while on vacation and not in their own backyard like we do.
The typical protocol is for me to get the fire started, setup the table and chairs and bring the hose out for safety. Mom will prepare the menu inside which will vary depending on what we have but usually consists of at least shrimp, bacon, a beef option, mushrooms, onions, and tomatoes. The veggies are lightly covered in oil to prevent them from sticking and I usually cart the meat thermostat out just to be safe with the raw food.
For no real reason this has been exclusively an activity (to date anyway) for the three of us. We've talked about expanding the audience but we're not sure how well the pickier eaters in the family will respond (and when they are here we tend to play way more board games). Either way it's a special treat and always leads to fun group conversations around the fire before bed.
04/11/2021