A Welcome Hand-Me-Down

Received a surprise gift today from a co-worker.  Originally a 'thank you' gift from relatives for his hospitality, the recipients had no use for it.

Let me back up a bit here.

Everyone at work boasts about their summer grilling; be it their fresh caught fish, steaks, vegetable ka-bobs, or even the lowly barbecued chicken. When asked, I always made suggestions of recipes for rubs and sauces, side dishes and salads.  All tried and true, tested in my previous life as they were, many liked the recipes and wondered why I didn't grill for myself.

Well, first of all, I have no place to put a grill if I bought one. Second, most grills are too large to fire up for a single person's supper.  Wasteful and time-consuming.

So I contented myself with a round cast iron grill, purchased to try out one of friend Peter's (of Tippin' the Scales fame) delicious recipes and have used it from time to time for panini, pork chops, burgers, even a petit sirloin. Since I have an electric cooktop it took a bit of getting used to, but no real disasters occured.  It wasn't the same as outdoor grilling, but close.  Got rid of the fats and seared the meats well. Though "clean-up" wasn't exactly a breeze as advertised, it was worth the effort to enjoy the grilling experience.

This new arrival won't compete with outdoor grilling either, but it does so much more.  I don't know if the image here is the model I have, but it's very similar. It's a single or double sided grill, or griddle. It can open and lie flat for a larger cooking surface and the cooking options are many.  Ham steaks can be cooked on a grill side while eggs are cooked on the griddle side. 

OK, I don't have the box or instruction booklet, but I just downloaded that (and the image above from the Cuisinart site), so I see cooking fun and experimentation in the near future. I am grateful to my Honduran friends for their thoughtfulness and generosity.

I know many of you live in homes rather than apartments, so it may not be of interest to you, but I'll write more when I've taken it for a test run and let you know how it performs.

Doing a Snoopy Happy Dance tonight.

And so it goes.
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