Grilling

I've found that one of the ways to get my kids to eat so-called "yucky" food (or rather potentially "yucky" food, since usually they've never actually tried it) is to involve them somehow in the preparation of it. Since it's summer, we tend to cook outside on the grill quite a bit, so combine participation with the spectacle of charring food over an open flame and you have pretty much an irresistable combination.

Let me first note that safety is first and foremost when cooking on the grill with kids around. Anything that gets hot enough to put a nice sear on the outside of a steak can similarly do so on someone's hand or arm, so the first rule of helping Daddy cook dinner on the grill is "stay away from the grill". The second rule is—wait for it—"stay away from the grill". Sensing a pattern here? Kids are not allowed outside unattended when the grill's hot, and trips outside to see what's going on are on a strictly escorted basis and confined to a safe zone on the deck overlooking the barbecue area.

For those of us who like to set things on fire... and then cook something over the flames, I stumbled across a nifty new product this past weekend: the Lazzari Baja Firepack! We were planning on making use of the BBQ grills out at a picnic area in Point Reyes, and I wasn't really hot on packing up a big chimney starter and bag of charcoal, nor was I thrilled with the prospect of using one of those "matchlight" bags that's chock full of nasty petrochemicals. So, understandably, I was thrilled to find the nifty little Baja Firepack on sale at Harvest Market in Novato.