Another grill done and another feast devoured. It’s so hard to go wrong with this grilling business. The hot coals, the simple ingredients, the champagne, the giggles, all so straightforward. It’s funny how many of the girls I’ve worked with have not known the magic of the chimney. Once they do it, they all say, “that’s it?” which is practically the “is it in yet” of grilling. All the macho books. All the fuss. All the religious perfect and only way to grillisms. Total crap. Charcoal is fun. Charcoal is easy. Charcoal goes for a long time. Once we get the charcoal going, the girls could go all night. They start inventing things to grill. Rachel exclaimed, “let’s put a brownie in the banana leaf and see how THAT tastes!” Natasha saw an egg and couldn’t help herself but pop in on the grill to see what happened. It’s crazy. As I talk with various girlfriends, I tell them about my project, then I turn it on them asking them to step up and grill. It’s so cool to see their eyes light up and explode with fantastic ideas they would experiment with on the grill. Some take recipes they had thought about making, but quickly turn to improvisation when the coals are lit. The girls can’t help themselves. It’s like they see hot coals, they know they are in charge and go off testing any food they can find on the grill with spices, sauces what ever they can get their hands on to create some amazing dishes. It’s exhilarating to experience. When I started this project, I had no idea how passionate the girls would be. They really get into it and I step back to let them run with it snapping along the way.
The photography and tasting have been the best part of this. I’m less and less interested in writing up exactly how we made things. I’m more interested in writing up what happened, what we used with lessons learned along the way. It turns out, you can cook a damn good egg on the grill and that brownies in banana leaves taste less like brownies and more like chocolate banana leaves which approaches “yuk” for me. It’s also fun to attempt to capture the fun with stillness. Trying to convey an active, zesty photograph that says, “dude, you totally missed it. It was deeLICIOUS.” The last shoot was filled with sass and faces. Amber and Natasha were a bit hesitant as they hadn’t grilled much, but when we turned it into a Brunch BBQ, they totally brought it. It’s hard to cut down all the photos to a group that are relevant, classy and flattering. They are volunteers after all. I want them to feel comfortable. I don’t want them to regret grilling for the camera. But, here are few lovely moments that didn’t make it to the Girl On Grill Action™ site.
Tags: barbeque, bbq, blogumentary, cooking, food, fun, grilling, photography
