I recently had to retire my favorite portable grill. It was an older Meco charcoal grill with a cooking grate that could be adjusted relative to the coals. The grill had countless hours on it. (It was used when I got it.) It had also traveled to a number of campouts, cookouts, and hangouts.

My recently retired Meco grill

With the bottom finally rusting out, the legs no longer have a solid connection point. I suspect that the combination of heat and moisture (condensation) over the years took its toll. I have decided that an appropriate final resting place for this grill would be a local recycling yard. I will use the buck or two that they pay me for it to seed the fund to purchase a new portable grill of the same style...

I couldn’t resist. I was at the grocery store yesterday, doing some last minute shopping before a late in the year Christmas party, and I had to swing by the meat department. I was a little surprised to find a package of K.C. Strips on sale. As soon as I saw it, I knew when my first grilling randevou was going to be in 2013.

I pulled out the grill, drug it through the snow to be closer to the house, and started hunting down the last of my charcoal. Much to my disappointment, my Cowboy Charcoal was nowhere to be found. I was slowly resolving to prepare my prize on the electric stove when a hope crept into my mind.

The local gas station in our small town just happened to be open. Even better, they had saved some charcoal for me. OK, they happened to have a bag left over...