Blog: Boys and Their Barbecues

What is it with men and barbecues?  I mean, I get it, the whole grilling, smoky smell, beer in one hand summer pastime.  We hosted a bbq on Saturday for some friends, and I guarantee had I not stepped in, my sweet hubby would have thought it to be perfectly fine to serve hot dogs on a dixie plate and Coors Light. Call me crazy, (or just a girl), but isn't there an unwritten rule that once you hit a certain age, your parties should not resemble a frat party? 

Let me back up. My husband was super excited a few weeks ago to invite our friends over to kick off summer. And so was I. Until 9 o'clock the night before. You see, he was anxious to plan it and the only day that really worked was the Saturday after I returned from being out of town. The agreement (in my mind) was that he would take care of the cleaning so when I arrived home that Friday afternoon, all I would have to do is cook, right?  Uh, hmmm. No. I walked into a house that needed to be cleaned from top to bottom.  Seems there was a mis-communication and my husband thought I said to leave the cleaning until the last minute so we didn't dirty it up all over again.

So, while my daughter screamed for the last hour and a half through traffic on the beltway of our five hour drive home and we ended up having to make an emergency pit stop in Greenbelt at the State Highway Administration building so I could use the ladies room (while holding her at the same time because exhausted me forgot to bring the stroller inside), I also ended up close to tears. Once we arrived home, my little darling would not let me to put her down without crying so I proceeded to scrub, mop, 409, vacuum etc. with 16 pounds of pure love on my hip.

The next morning my husband was to go to Knill's Farmer's Market to pick up some fresh tomatoes and lettuce. That was it. He returned with turkey legs, chicken, Kingsford charcoal and mesquite wood chips. Seems we were now having a smoke-out too. Oh, dear.

I decided to just focus on setting everything up while my husband cracked open a beer and began getting into his manly mode of mastering the art of grilling. And smoking turkey legs now apparently.

It ended up being a blast! You can view more photos here.  I learned that planning a bbq is a lot of work with an 8 month old, communication is key with a guy who would just assume keep things simple, oh, and if someone offers to make something, get over being a control freak and take them up on it. All in all, there's something about getting friends together in combination with the smell and colors of summer that make it all worth it. 

So fun! And, my husband is officially a grill/smoke master. Turkey legs were a hit!