Grilling...A Rite of Passage

May 27th was Heat Safety Awareness Day, and this day passed without anyone breaking much of a sweat over it. I’m sure that many people weren’t aware of this hot little tidbit of information.

I can only guess that this pertains to either your pets or barbequing in the back yard. As for National Spay Day (I kid you not), well, that is in the last week of February so I will get back to you on that.

Summertime is upon us and grills will be firing up all across the country. Burgers, hotdogs, chicken… chicken that actually tastes like chicken. In the spirit of this heat safety awareness, there are only two things that people have a natural fear of. One is fire, the other is water. Both are needed to ensure success and safety while grilling out doors.

Experts advise not to use a spray bottle of water on ‘flare-ups’ and I agree. It can, however, be used to keep stray cats away in the event you were on vacation the last week of February. Or you can use it to douse eyebrows. Let me explain. Christian, my oldest, feeling that his rite of passage was an open road, went out to light the grill. He turned on the gas, lifted the lid and pressed the ignite button. Nothing happened, so what did he do? He immediately stuck his head into the area where the flames were supposed to be coming out and pressed the button again. Know what happened next? The flames came out… in a whooshing ball of fire. Now I have always prided him on his quick reflexes, I’d rather be prouder of his smart thinking. See, I thought ahead, I grabbed the spray bottle and extinguished his brow, which had not fully ignited, but smoldered some. He walked away relatively unscathed, I walked away cursing and spritzing.

While there are many explanations of the word ‘barbeque’, one not having anything to do with eyebrows, this one is my favorite: 'Barbeque' could have also come from the French word "Barbe a queue" which means "whiskers-to-tail." So those of you that don’t heed February’s ‘Spay Day’ this could be a possible solution come May. I’ve heard it tastes like chicken.