To Grill, or Not To Grill?

This weekend, Emily and I decided to have a couple friends over for a BBQ, drinks, and games.  Friday night, it sounded like a great idea.  All week, it had been relatively cold for South Florida, but Friday was 70 degrees, sunny, breezy, and just beautiful.  Naturally, I assumed the next day would be the same.

I was wrong. Overnight, the 70 degrees was replaced by a cold front, and when I woke up Saturday morning, it was 35 degrees, windy, cold, and rainy.  I was convinced my plans to grill BBQ chicken breast cutlets, with my own homemade BBQ sauce, was ruined.  It was then that I had to make the decision...to grill, or not to grill?

Still undecided, we went to the grocery store and got all the necessary items to have a successful BBQ.  Our friends came over that evening and I still wasn't sure if I was confident enough to brave the elements just for a couple pieces of meat on the grill. We snacked on hors d'œuvres, drank wine, and chatted. 

Around seven o'clock that evening, I decided I would brave the weather and start the grill.  We have a patio so are able to stay dry outside if we choose, but it's not very big.  Being a responsible adult who is paranoid about fire, I knew my only option was to put my grill on the grass, and hope it didn't get rained out.  At that point, it was raining, but not as hard as it had been all day; it was more or less sprinkling. 

I stacked the charcoal in a little pile in my Kingsford tabletop grill (hey now, it's convenient for camping), doused the nuggets with lighter fluid, and set it ablaze.  Surprisingly, the coals, fluid, and flame worked together beautifully and started a nice fire, which roared for a good 5 or 7 minutes before the nuggets became hot embers. 

I was ecstatic! Although it was cold out, now we would have grilled meat to accompany the garden pasta salad and fruit salsa we had prepared.  Normally on a cold rainy day like this, I would have opted for a less summery meal, perhaps a nice bowl of chili, but I wasn't going to let the weather break my stride. I wanted a summer meal damnit!

The meal turned out to be not only a grand idea, but it tasted excellent.  My taste buds and stomach were all pleased with my decision. I am convinced that the meat would not have been as good on the George Foreman grill.  Nothing beats a Kingsford grill, even as small as mine.

Apparently, not everyone is as grill savvy and responsible as I am.  It may sound like a good idea to some idiots, but grilling inside the house is never a good idea.  Too bad a family in North Miami didn't get that memo.  According to SunSentinel.com, this family became ill overnight due to carbon monoxide poisoning. 

So, this family decided it would be a good idea to not only grill "out", but they decided to grill "in".  Now, I can only assume that the parents are either A) foreign and can't read the charcoal bag/grill manual in English; B) illiterate and can't read the charcoal bag/grill manual; and/or C) are just that f**king stupid. Both the charcoal bag AND the grill manual warns in large letters NOT to use the grill inside because even the smallest amount of carbon monoxide is poisonous. 

The article also states, "two parents and four children were overcome by the fumes as the father moved the grill from room to room".  I feel terrible for those children, especially if they were too young to really understand what was happening. But if they were between the ages of 12-18, even they should know about carbon monoxide poisoning...pretty sure they teach you that in school. 

But what truly perplexes me is the father! Not only did he bring the charcoal grill inside, but he moved it from ROOM TO ROOM? WTF??? And what was the wife doing during all this commotion? She must have been taking out the batteries in the smoke alarms because there's no way a smoking grill would NOT have set off the alarms!  Even worse than moving the grill from room to room (who grills in the bedroom, btw?), they probably didn't even air the place out because it was so cold! Floridians are pussies when it comes to cold weather...they blast their heat and shut their windows. I'll bet large amounts of money on the fact that these people closed their windows, blasted the heat, and then used the grill inside.

Unfortunately, this is not the first time this has happened, and it certainly won't be the last.  Stupid people are fertile and breed like cockroaches. Note to North Miami family: next time, read the warnings on the bag and take a second to rethink the idea of bringing an "outdoor" grill "indoors".