First BBQ of the Year

Tonight the weather is more typical, misty rain and cool temperatures; however, last night was the end of a perfect, if atypical, day here in Seattle so I had my first BBQ of the year.

Generating coals

Beer to nurse while making coals

I say first BBQ because I fired up my favorite grilling device, a fifty- gallon drum cut in half and filled with sand. It makes a nice backyard fire and the leftover coals do a great job of barbecuing anything needing a good hot fire.  When the coals die down it's good for chicken or other things which like a slower fire.

I have a gas barbeque which is handy and quick and I have a Weber kettle which is pretty versatile. Both of those cook things but my favorite is the drum which not only cooks things but also gives me a nice fire, a comfortable feeling and generates some nostalgia from memories of fires in years past. Years ago I had Garth down at Ballard Sheet Metal make me a stainless grill for the drum. The grill has taken the heat for many years and some of the welds have parted but it is still serviceable and holds many good memories.

Sunday I helped Iko prepare dinner. My job was to cook rabbit loin. I broke down the rabbit carcasses that I had gotten earlier from brother Keith, the Shacho, who runs the best meat supply house west of the Mississippi and east of Honolulu. I used most of the carcass for stock but saved the hind quarters for another use, as the cookbooks say.

Most of the Sunday meal was good but I didn't do a very good on the loins. Well, I did a good job but we held them too long so the end product was not so good, but that's another story.

Nosy azaleas overseeing the coal making  

Back to my barbeque last night. The saved hind quarter meat I cut up into small pieces, threaded on skewers, dusted with Penzey's Greek dressing mix and let marinate for an hour.

When the time came I opened a can of Top Cutter IPA by Bale Breaker Brewing over Yakima way, spread the coals and burned off the grill. The Top Cutter is pretty good beer, by the way. It is hoppy, not too alcoholic (6.8%) and nicely bitter with an IBU of 70. I turned the skewers, sipped the beer and watched the waxing gibbous moon through the trees to the south of our backyard.

Iko made some wonderful potato balls for the Sunday dinner so the two leftovers I sliced up and sauteed in browned butter. Their crispy blandness complimented the slightly spicy meat. That plate, a small green salad and a glass of cabernet blanc made a good Monday dinner.

Pretty yummy entree

After dinner my little dog, Kuro, said it was time for his walk so off we went into the balmy evening.

Along the way we saw a panorama of downtown Seattle, Elliot Bay and our proprietary mountain, Rainier, standing regally above it all.

Seattle panorama from the Space Needle to Mt Rainier

On the way back we came across an ancient lilac in full bloom perfuming the evening air and giving us a glimpse of the moon overseeing the evening.

Lilac moon

 A lovely day like that makes us appreciate them so much more because they are rare this time of year. It was a perfect end to my first barbeque of the year.