Grill Masters

The way Lee's eyes lit up as we walked toward the checkout at Home Depot, you'd have thought it was Christmas morning. In front of him, he pushed a cart bearing a large box. In the box was a large and fancy new grill.

Our old grill has been broken for about a year, and we just couldn't stand being without one any longer. So at 10:00 this morning I started marinating the steak, and we got the grill this afternoon.

But once we got that nice, big box into our backyard, it was suddenly like a sitcom episode. But it wasn't very funny to us. We spent hours putting that monstrosity together. The very first step was confusing. The next step didn't get any easier. There was a broken screw, we thought another part was missing until we found it under some cardboard we'd tossed aside, and there was an entire step left out of the directions. Fortunately, we stared at the grill and the leftover pieces long enough to figure it out - only to then see the additional sheet that had been stuffed in the box explaining the missing step. There was cursing. I muttered obscenities at some of the screws until they cooperated - it seemed to help.

Finally, at almost 9 p.m., the grill was done. The steak and asparagus were incredible. And most importantly, the grill works. We rock.