BBQ Virgin

I'm still kind of bitter that my parents never bought or used a barbecue while I was growing up. Whenever I would ask why, the answer was always, "Oh I don't knowwww, what would we even cook on one of those?" To which I would always answer, "Um...anything? Everything?!" I learned early (mostly from eating barbecued deliciousness at friends' houses) that cooking something on a barbecue makes it taste like magic.

After 20-something years of frustration and desperation, I finally caved. I think it was a recipe on Pinterest that finally broke this camel's back. I drove to Canadian Tire, found their charcoal barbecues and bought the one that spoke to my inner grilling goddess, only $29.99! Coming from a family who doesn't barbecue, I had no idea what else I had to buy...but this guy did (don't you love him?) and so I promptly bought a bag of charcoal, lighter fluid and a grill scraper/cleaner.

My brother, also deprived for much of his life, helped me assemble the grill. To christen the grill I decided I would make marinated vegetable kabobs, hotdogs & a simple lentil salad. Yuuuuuuum!

This stage was a bit sketchy for me. More coals & more fluid next time...or maybe one of those electric lighters.

Lentil salad with cherry tomatoes, red onion, feta, parsley & balsamic vinaigrette. Recipe from Ginger Fig

Pre-grill veggies: green & yellow zucchini, bell peppers, red onion, cherry tomatoes & mushrooms. Marinade recipe from wash.the.dog

Just look at those beauties. We just grilled and ate..and then grilled some more and kept eating until we were sooo full. I may not be a BBQ virgin anymore but I'm super stoked for more firsts: chicken wings, salmon, burgers, maybe a thin crust pizza... Oh boy.