On Friday, I took my international law exam. (Boy, am I glad I don't have to do that again!) After the exam, it was time to celebrate my 27th birthday. I had been planning a grill out for about a week; of course, we were blessed with beautiful weather on my big party day. It was a balmy 48 degrees and rainy - just perfect for a grill out on my patio. Okay, maybe not perfect weather, but that wasn't going to stop me. The night before those who were thinking about coming to the party got fair warning that if the did decide not to come, they were not allowed to blame it on the rain.
A lot of people joined me for the party! Woot!
Seriously though, I told people the party would go from 1-4 PM. Of course, I was late, blaming that on an international law exam and my own failure to check the bus schedule. Oops! I definitely missed at least one party-goer because of my lateness (sorry again, Biz!). But, I did have a couple people wait me out...I forgot that many of my friends are Type A and were of course going to be on time. Once I made it home, we got the party started. I made pasta salad and there were plenty of munchies.
As more people started to arrive, I thought it might be time to start up the grill. If you read my last post, you know that I don't exactly get along with my grill; I swear it's out to get me! Well, on Thursday, I tested the grill out and was able to get it to work. I thought that I had it figured out, so I did not decide to borrow a grill from the neighbors. Do you see where this is going...
We boiled the brats in beer. I ran into the rain and set the grill up near the garage so I could stand inside the garage while we grilled outside the garage. At this point, I was at least halfway through a bottle of Pomelo (yum!) on an empty stomach (bad idea!). I pulled off the rack on the grill and the cover that dissipates the heat. I turned on the gas, threw in the match, and Voila! A working grill completely ready to grill those delicious brats (thanks, Crespo!). I closed the lid and had some more Pomelo.
I checked the grill a couple minutes later and it was out. Shoot! I took off the rack, took off the cover, and tried my trick again. No dice. I tried again. No dice. And again. No dice. At this point, the pressure of no food for guests and my friends staring over my shoulder giving me backseat grill directions makes me a little nervous so I make everyone stand in the back of the garage. I try one more time (fail again) and figure there must be something else wrong.
James suggested that we might be out of propane. I don't think so...the tank feels heavy to me. Someone else checks...feels heavy to them too! Apparently, I need to start lifting some free weights soon because James pulled the tank out and quickly declared the tank empty. Darn! Now, who wants to take me to the gas station to exchange the propane tank? Maggie? Nope; she had half a beer and made the responsible decision not to drive. Dave took me instead and we quickly replaced the propane tank. Game on! Except, not....
A full tank of propane was attached and the grill still wouldn't work. The rack was off, the cover was off, matches were thrown in and nothing... Now what??? Someone suggested I use my George Foreman...however, that's broken too! This must be God sending me a message: Jayme, you are not meant to grill, try baking instead. I decided to make the best of it and threw the brats in a skillet. This didn't work for some of the guys though, so they went to work on the grill. Eventually, it started working again and we brought the brats outside again to put them on the grill. I avoided interacting with the grill and there weren't anymore problems. How many law students did it take to work my grill? I have no idea, but it must have been at least 5. Ridiculous.
The rest of the party went off without a hitch; I think the last party-goers left around 9 PM...a mere 5 hours after the planned party end. Apparently, it was fun for more than just me.
Here are a few pictures from the party...the blurriness only indicates that we were having fun, not that we had imbibed too many beverages.
And...many thanks to Maggie, Liz and Bornali for the lovely gifts!
