Winter Defiance grilling

Yesterday was a prime day for some winter defiance. What is winter defiance, you ask? Winter defiance is a term I picked up from Howard Tayler, author of Schlock Mercenary. Schlock is a great webcomic I’ve become quite addicted to, thanks to Howard’s great story writing, good art, and excellent dry wit. But Schlock is not what this post is about.

Yesterday was a holiday, and as both my wife and I work for the state, we didn’t have to go to work. I also did not need to go to school. It has recently snowed here in Salt Lake City, and there was plenty on the ground still, but it was also warm enough to be outside in my shirt-sleeves. That kind of weather = Winter Defiance. So, we opened up the freezer, found some steaks we’d been saving for just such an occasion, Messy threw them in some marinade with a little red wine vinegar, and hours later I fired up the grill. Now, for me, a grill isn’t a proper grill unless you actually have to use charcoal briquettes for cooking. I’m not a fan of propane grills. The flavor of the food is different when cooked over propane than when cooked over some nice, smoky, mesquite charcoal briquettes.

We called a couple of neighbors and they came over with some chicken, and we sat outside chatting over the wonderful smells of a barbecue in the middle of January. The marinade was perfect, and I’m eating the left-overs for lunch today. There really is nothing quite so beautiful as firing up the grill in the middle of January, surrounded by snow, and screaming at the top of your lungs, “Come on, old man Winter! You can do better than that. What are you doing, sleeping? It’s still warm enough out here that I can come out in jeans and shirt sleeves and fire up my grill, have a nice chat with a neighbor, and never feel seriously cold. You’ve seriously got to do better than this!” Aaaah, life is wonderful, it really is.

I highly recommend some staunch winter defiance to anyone who reads this post, and thank Howard for the wonderful idea.