The Phoenix

We arrived at the house in the town of Ship Bottom on Long Beach Island (which the locals refer to as LBI) on a scorching Saturday afternoon. My brothers Jack and Jim, and Don, our son Steve's soon-to-be father-in-law, were in the final stages of assembling the Ranch Kettle Grill. A few parts were missing, which was disappointing given Weber's usual commitment to quality, but they were not critical to operation so operate we did! A huge thanks to Jack, Jim and especially Don for all the work they did in transporting and assembling the grill in the 100 Degree heat! All I had to do was light the match.

We fired the grill up Saturday evening to much fanfare and singing of the Olympic Hymn by the assembled masses. The first meal was grilled corn and the rock fish and blue fish that had been caught by the guys at the bachelor's party where they went deep sea fishing in Chesapeake Bay. I was in Heaven cooking on a grill large enough to do 2 dozen ears of corn plus the fish. The beer was cold and delicious, home brewed by our son Roy and his girlfriend Joan, and by son-in-law Rob. The week was off to a great start!

Sunday was Tandoori Chicken out of the Weber book. It was yum but not as punchy as I remember it being the first time we made it. We cooked about 10 pounds of chicken and fed it to 25 people as friends from Philly joined us. What a great time sitting around on the porch looking out over the ocean, sipping wine and eating chicken and nan bread and fresh salad. Dessert most nights was some combination of grilled fruit and ice cream.

Luau theme surprise birthday party for Mary (Steve's soon to be mother-in-law) was Monday night. Everyone pitched in big time, decorating the house, making salads and side dishes, and getting everyone inside before Mary and Don drove up. When they did, family and friends came out to greet them and sing Happy Birthday to Mary who was perfectly surprised and delighted. Dinner was one of my favorite recipes in the Weber book, Salmon with Brown Sugar and Mustard Glaze. If you like salmon, (and even if you are not a big fan) try this recipe. It is an absolute home run every time we make it. (It never made the blog because it was one of the few recipes in the book that we had made before the project began. We already knew it was a winner!) This night we were cooking for 40+ people so we bought 15 pounds of fresh salmon at the local fish market. The large grill was put to work with this meal! For the recipe, you mix together and heat in a saucepan dijon mustard, butter, honey, brown sugar, fresh grated ginger and soy sauce. The salmon goes skin side down on tin foil - fold up the sides and ends of the sheet and spread the sauce over the salmon and cook it on indirect for about 20 minutes. Unbelievably good! We also had grilled shrimp and pineapple for appetizers. Ellie made Mai Tai's in keeping with the Luau theme. Lots of fun was had by all. Full moon rising over the ocean made for a perfect evening.

Tuesday turned out to be my sister-in-law Cathy's birthday, so we had another excuse for a party and boy did we make good use of it. Her husband Jim bought a bushel of steamed crabs so no need for grilling. We had 40+ people again and sang Happy Birthday at the top of our lungs at every opportunity including over on Jim and Cathy's porch after she was in her PJs. That didn't stop her from coming out and joining in the fun. Our son Charlie played the guitar and everyone did their best BB King imitation long into the night. I am sure the neighbors loved it.

Wednesday was the rehearsal dinner. It turned out to be 60 people but everyone pitched in and we had a great time. The menu started with Caponata Bruschetta for appetizers. These were a big hit, and made a really pretty introduction to the party, with all the deep color from the grilled vegetables. The grilled bread with goat cheese was a perfect background. Then we served with flank steak, clams and shrimp for the main meal, along with lentil salad and pasta casserole. Dessert was grilled peaches with ice cream, with either raspberry or chocolate sauce. Our son-in-law Jess cooked the shrimp and clams which he and I had bought at the local fish market. Both were excellent. The 15 pounds of shrimp went very fast.We bought the flank steak (again - 15 pounds) at Okies, the local butcher shop. It is one of the best BBQ butcher shops I've been in - excellent meat and lots of great rubs and sauces to go with it. We rubbed the steak with a spice rub I bought at Okies and we served the flank steak thinly sliced with two different barbecue sauces from the Weber book. One was from the Bodacious Porterhouse Steak recipe and the other was from the Filet Mignon recipe.By the end every scrap of food was eaten. We hope no one was left hungry!

The whole week ended up being a lot of fun and was clearly a help to the local economy. One of our favorite shops was Country Corner Farm Market, which had fresh veggies and a good bakery. I went there at least once a day. I stopped in Tuesday afternoon to see if they would have all of the ingredients for the Caponata Bruschetta. I asked them how many baguettes of Italian bread they had each day and they said 6 each one about 3 feet long. "When are they delivered?" I asked. 8:00 in the morning. "OK, I'll be here at 8 tomorrow and I'll take all six." And we ate all six together with the tomatoes, goat cheese, Kalamata olives, eggplant and onions that were chopped up on top. We also added some kernels sliced from the left over roast corn. It was all wonderful.

You can see a street view of Okies and the Country Corner on Google Maps.

On Thursday, the grill rested. The wedding was beautiful. It was at a little chapel on the island. It rained just as we were getting ready to leave the house to go to the church so that caused a little flooding and excitement but no one cared and it stopped by the time we got there. The reception was at a local Golf Club - very nice. Great food, music and fun for all. One of the highlights was when Steve and Audrey were carried out on Surf Boards to the sound of the Beach Boys blaring over the speakers. Earlier they had wowed us all with their "first" dance - a well choreographed tango danced to perfection. Roy and Ashley did their parts toasting the couple and the Koczela family kept up our tradition of singing a welcome to the family song to Audrey. Actually we sang two - one was to the tune of Joseph and His Many Colored Dreamcoat except that we substituted the names of all of the many members of our family for the colors and the second was to the tune of "The Walloping Window Blind" - don't ask, just look it up on YouTube.

Friday we spent at the beach, playing in the waves and basking in the sun. I went to Okies and bought a lot of baby back ribs which turned out to be not enough so two of my brothers-in-law went back for more. We cooked them and slathered with the leftover BBQ sauces from the rehearsal dinner. The ribs were a little underdone which was frustrating but they still tasted good so no one complained. The roasted veggies – mushrooms, asparagus, zucinni, peppers and radishes were nice. It is hard to do ribs right on a new grill. I wasn't sure how long it would take and how to keep the fire at just the right level. Oh well, I’ll know better next time.

Saturday was cleanup and move out day. The grill disassembled easily. We sang Taps while I took it apart. We also dubbed it the Phoenix, because it rises in flames and dies in ashes only to rise again someday. The Phoenix fit into the back of our rented Ford Explorer which we drove to my Mom's place in western Massachusetts where it is now safe and sound. It was sad to say goodbye to everyone and see us all scattering again to the four corners of the world, but it had been a great week and we felt like all of our work on the Wisconsin Grill'n project had been worth it.

The newlyweds had a great time on their honeymoon in Maine. They saw whales jumping and ate lots of Lobster and are now settling in their apartment in Boston.

As for the Phoenix, it lies in wait in Grammy's barn. Rumor has it that it will rise again soon!

- Mark