Well dammit anyway!

Yes, dammit!

Before we left on this trip back in April, we purchased a new portable tabletop propane grill, one that would travel in a bin of the motorhome. It was a nice one, stainless steel, two burners, and it came from Costco. We bought a wind screen for it as well. This picture shows the new grill in use when we were in Lone Pine.


The grill cooked some mighty fine New York steaks!

We've used the grill maybe four times since we bought it. When we came back to our park yesterday, we found it sitting primly on the ground, within its wind screen. The folding table it had been sitting on was neatly folded up and lying on the ground, with the propane tank sitting on top of it. It was pretty late, so we didn't investigate, but we knew it had been extraordinarily windy during the day. We figured someone had come along and taken it down so it wouldn't get knocked over.

Wrong. It had fallen over, we discovered. When I opened it up to check it out, I saw that one of the burner tubes had broken off its moorings -- the spot welds holding it had given way. Being not certain of the stability of the other burner, we have discarded our nearly new barbecue grill! Suzy remembered seeing the identical grill at the Costco right up the hill above our park here in Carson City, so guess who headed up there and bought one today -- yup. There went another $100 added to our already bulging American Express credit card account.

For today's dinner we grilled some fresh pineapple slices to accompany some previously grilled chicken breasts, along with a side of teriyaki chow mein noodles. Here's how we fixed the pineapple:


Start with a fresh golden ripe pineapple.



Twist off the top -- yes, that's how it's done.



Cut off the rind including the eyes.

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Slice the pineapple into 1/2 inch slices, then remove the core.



After heating the grill to high, dip the slices into coconut milk...



...then into a mixture of turbinado sugar and cinnamon.



Place on the grill ...





Grill about six minuites per side ...



... and serve hot.

 The pineapple can be served hot or cold. After the main course, we each had another half slice topped with vanilla ice cream. And that was the tasty finish to this day in ... Our Life on Wheels.

But first ... just three pictures from yesterday's visit with family.

Daughter Kathie and her son Sam.

Son-in-law and Grandpa Shawn with Darren. The balloons are from Kathie's party.

Granddaughter and Mommie Renee with Darren.

I gotta tell you this: Darren is climbing aboard a rocking horse I made for our daughter Deb in 1963. Every one of our descendents has had a turn at that rocking horse. One rocker has had to be replaced, and there is a little more maintenance needed now. But it is still going. And I still have the pattern for it, just waiting for someday somebody wants a new rocking horse. But as long as this one keeps rocking, that's it!