The Fire, The Meat, and The Rum

We had steaks planned for dinner, and today, the charcoal Weber called to me. For convenience, I often wuss out and use the gas grill, but not today. Today called for FIRE. The real stuff, with smoke, and sparks, and ashes.

Stuffed the charcoal starter chimney with newspaper, poured the charcoal in the top, and... hmm. No matches. Look in the kitchen drawers. Nope. Look in the bathroom. Nope. But I did find my flint-and-steel kit in there.

You ask: why do you have flint-and-steel in the bathroom? I... uh, nevermind.

Couple good strikes of the flint, and a bit of puffing, and I had the charcoal going. Steaks came out great. Even toasted up some buttered sourdough slices. Mmm.

But I had all this perfectly good charcoal burning. Shame to put it to waste. In the depths of the freezer, I dug up a forgotten beef roast. Didn't bother thawing it. No time! There were perfectly good charcoal BTUs going to waste! On the grill it went with a glorious hisssssss. Closed up the lid, and enjoyed our steak dinner.

Checked on the roast after dinner, and it had a nice sear going. The coals were going strong, glowing with content that their heat was appreciated and useful. When I flipped the roast, the meat, too, hissssed rejoicing its freedom from the frigid plastic shroud. Here, with The Fire, it became its true self--The Meat.

In the fullness of time, The Meat was wrapped in foil, resting and awaiting the glory of sandwiches and dinner to come on Monday.

And The Fire, again it called to me. But what to do? Then The Love Of My Life spoke: "What's for dessert?" Hmm, dessert, indeed.

Inspiration struck, and out came the cast iron dutch oven. Sliced up a bunch of apples, stirred them into the cast iron with brown sugar, cinnamon, and a little water. But something was missing... something... ah, yes. The Rum. A generous splash of The Rum, and then another for good measure, and we returned to The Fire.

As I arranged the coals around, and atop The Iron of the dutch oven, The Fire again released sparks of joy. The Iron, The Rum, the sweetness, the sour, the magic, thickened and coalesced beneath The Fire.

And it was good.

The Fire has cooled, and the ashes bear mute testimony to the evening.

The Fire, The Meat, The Iron, The Rum.

Dammit, now I have to do The Dishes.