charcoal grill kit, thinking that nothing could go wrong with such a simple, straight forward project. Boy were we mistaken!
It was a patio pro charcoal grill, really nice and perfectly designed to fit into our backyard. The term professional charcoal grill is really a misnomer - all kinds of different grills are used by professionals. For the most part, there are a few things that distinguish professional grills from the rest. They tend to be better designed so that the charcoal can burn more easily. Many charcoal grill designs are made in such a way that most of the charcoal just sits on the bottom, not doing anything. You have to continuously douse it with lighter fluid to get even a spark. With professional charcoal grills, however, air can come through the bottom grate, allowing much easier and more even ignition of the charcoal. Besides that, they are a little bit better made and easier to clean as well.
This professional charcoal grill that we were building was pretty fancy. In retrospect, I probably should have started with an easier project. You see, it was a kit that you could build out of bricks and metal grating. Working with bricks and mortar looks deceptively simple, but if you have never done it before, you are in for a few surprises. We couldn't get anything to fit evenly, and my small daughter accidentally dropped her teddy bear in the cement. By the time she pulled it out, it was completely ruined. Worst of all, the professional charcoal grill looks lopsided and uneven. The pieces don't fit very well together, and we can't really get a consistent flame. Because I had put together a lot of different projects, I assumed that I was up to this one. I guess I was wrong. We still use our portable charcoal grill for barbecues. The professional charcoal grill sits, unused and slightly embarrassing, in the corner.
My family has a tradition: we build things. While other families take Sunday drives, play card games, Or go and see movies, we spend a day in the workshop putting together something or other. I have three kids. The oldest is 17 now, but the youngest is only five. She has not been able to get involved in putting any of our projects together in the past, so I thought that, this summer, I would find something easy to involve her in. We bought a professional