I hear the boasts here and there from the toughies who claim they’re always ready to burn up a couple of sirloins for dinner out there in their backyard no matter the season.
Yeah, buddy, you master of your own universe, captain of the propane flame, king and queen of coal, grillmeister extraordinary.
Not me.
There’s our grill. Somewhere.
Not in the backyard of the beloved Little Bitty cherished by my dear wife Karen and I in the Syracuse city neighborhood of Eastwood.
Not even with Friday here, Valentine’s Day on deck and Sunday afternoon in the slot.
What, I should brush the grill off and shovel it out, you say?
From Thursday’s Syracuse Pot-Standard
Now are you feeling me?
For Valentine’s Day, MDW Karen and I have a late lunch/early dinner trip to Carrabba’s on the schedule, followed by a trip up our street to the Palace Theatre to watch the Syracuse Orange play Duke on the movie screen because we aren’t among the 30,000-plus with tickets to the Carrier Dome. We watched last year’s epic overtime contest won by Syracuse at the jammed-to-capacity theater last year, and because they’re inviting the community for free again …
What are your parameters for backyard grilling? What are your plans for Saturday dinner? Would you watch a basketball game live on a movie theater screen just to be part of the crowd?
Mark Bialczak 
I talked Dave out of grilling steaks on our outdoor bar-b-q grill today. While it is only 39 degrees here, I was worried he might catch cold. I just can’t imagine grilling outside in the snow. He cooked our Valentine’s dinner on the stove and they were excellent. 😉
LikeLike
Pretty cold down there today, Judy. Brrrrrr.
LikeLike
Our thermostat has the outside temp as 50 degrees at 10:28 p.m. The paper predicted a low of 39. It feels colder than 50, but I know better than to whine to those being hit with ugly snowstorms and bone-chilling temps. Stay warm, my friend. 😉
LikeLike
You can complain to me, Judy. I’ll give it back. Dang, we’re having a rough patch of cold, snow and blowing snow these past couple of weeks. 😦
LikeLike
Spring is near. Ignore that ignorant groundhog. 😉
LikeLike
I don’t grill outside anymore. I use to really enjoy it. When my son and his wife and kids lived here I would grill outside for them (usually bbq pork ribs or steaks). After they moved, I didn’t grill anymore.
LikeLike
I hope you get a win over Duke for Valentine’s Day.
LikeLike
my sons-in-law are all about year-round grilling and fortunately i’m on the happy end of that. going downtown detroit tonight to stay and see ‘once’ (again, ironically) and have dinner in a small restaurant. i’m very excited to have a beau this year, and even though it’s sub-zero here, want to enjoy every minute. i love your italian and then the game plan, i’ve seen a few big games that way and it’s always so much fun to see it with the big crowd, even if on a screen. happy valentine’s day to you and karen, two of my romance idols.
LikeLike
Well, when I lived through three hurricanes in a month, I as forced to grill on my tiny front porch in 40+ MPH winds and rain because there was no power in my house all month. That sucked. I think your newspaper is advising you to build a snowman with your dear wife on Saturday. Why else would that be the only day with a snowman icon?
LikeLike
McAllen, it’s 68 degrees… Take care my friend, and Happy Valentine’s Day ❤
LikeLike
No snow on the deck and above freezing. A meal out sounds lovely. Happy Valentine’s Day to you and your Dear Wife Karen 😀 Hope it’s great fun and ever so romantic.
Do you know these guys? They live not too far from me. https://patronsofthepit.wordpress.com/
LikeLike
My neighbor is always grilling outside in the winter and I think she is crazy for doing it, to me the winter is all about the oven. Frozen pizza? excuse to turn the oven on… LOL helps keep the house warm. heating your home is a killer financially. No one uses their broiler anymore…makes a great steak too, and you can stay out of the cold!
LikeLike
We’re supposed to get 1 to 2 feet of snow on Sunday. Snow Miser’s frigid Valentine…
LikeLike
I heard the forecast and started worrying about you already, Austin.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I “would” BBQ outside in the cold if I was so moved. Not opposed to it. Though we aren’t set up for it. I would find it fun. Our plans for Saturday are baby sitting. 🙂 And no to the game ! 🙂 Because…. well…..basketball is not calling me…….
LikeLike
Have fun with the grands, MDB Colleen. You love the outdoors so much, I’m surprised you don’t just kick a pig into a fire pit. 🙂
LikeLike
Ha! 🙂 One has a fever and the other one, I fear, would jump IN TO the fire pit! 🙂
LikeLike
No, no, no, stay out of the barbecue, please and thank you.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Good idea!
LikeLike
Your post made me chuckle Mark! My hubby has shoveled snow to clear a path to BBQ in the winter…lol
LikeLike
Good for hubby in Oregon, Victoria. I cannot do it. 😦
LikeLike
When we lived in Northern Newfoundland, think soooooooo cold, we rebelled and had barbeque. We had to break the ice on our boozy drinks for a wee nip. It was March. 🙂
LikeLike
Shelly, no wonder you guys are now in the southern hemisphere. Hearty and hardy you were. Bravo.
LikeLike
But the forecast you showed cheerfully says Saturday is “not as cold!” Better get some charcoal and take advantage of that 24 degree heatwave… 😉
LikeLike
Nah, the restaurant plans are made, Bill. Plus, thanks to my friend and blogger here Joe Lee, I have also scored his tickets to the Syracuse-Duke game at the Carrier Dome because HIS wife would rather grill out … or go to a restaurant or something more romantic. 🙂
LikeLike
I just delight in how the simplest of pleasures/evenings with your wife makes you happy. It comes through in your writing:). Love that. My grill is steps from my back door and I have been known to grill in the 20s or 30s. But not below! And not with the trek it looks like you have to make:). Good call on the reservations.
LikeLike
It does not take extravagance with my dear wife Karen to make my happy. You are right about that, Kay. Although she certainly does that well, too, at the opportune moments in life. 🙂
You are smart to have your grill that close. I can’t because of the big porch. And it is a hike where it is. Too far.
Have a good weekend, my friend.
LikeLike
Yup. I’m feeling you Mark. You probably don’t want to know that it’s sunny here and 11c/52f here and we’ll have more of the same tomorrow, right? If I had a BBQ on my balcony I might just grill up some steaks! Enjoy your Valentine’s Day date with Karen! ❤
Diana xo
LikeLike
I am glad at least one of us is enjoying warmish weather this weekend, Diana. You should get a balcony grill. Happy Valentine’s Day to you, my friend. ❤
LikeLike
Thanks Mark, and to you. 😀
LikeLike
Happy Valentine’s Day, Chum and Karen. Enjoy your weekend. Grab your jacket and grill it up…what’s a little snow. 🙂
LikeLike
Happy Valentine’s Day, Aud. 🙂 You’re right. But where do you see a little snow?
LikeLike
I was just being optimistic, Chum. 🙂
LikeLike
You are that way, my friend. 🙂
LikeLike
Our grill is gleaming in the sun, next to a sad, bare cottonwood tree. I would think that negative temps would make a person negative. Using “frigid” to describe weather means the weather is evil. It will be in the 70s manana, but I doubt anyone is willing to grill, especially in the wind. It sure is a nice smell, though. Spring will be here soon enough. Your plans sound like fun. I don’t like VDay; my hub’s bday was this week, and mine is next week. We’ve already had Olive Garden and Longhorn Steakhouse and chocolates and wine–can’t imagine what two more celebrations will do, other than turn us into hippos. What will you get at Carrabba’s? And don’t say taken.
LikeLike
Fleeced. Badda-bing. Oh, Kerbey, I am not looking at the online menu beforehand. I’ll look when we are seated and get what strikes my fancy at the moment. Eggplant parm? Lasagna? Steak? Chicken parm? All are in the running.
You and hubby have happy birthday wishes from my dear wife Karen and I, my friend. Olive Garden is good. We just got a Longhorn and have yet to investigate. I, too, must watch the hippo factor, though I do think you embellish your state of affairs.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hey, cousin, your temps are pretty much what is here and that snow, I am with you, I wouldn’t dig out my grill either. No thank you. My plans for Saturday? KEEP WARM. I had wanted to bring my cam with macro outside today while the sun is shining to get some dramatic shots of things I had in mind, but I don’t think my camera can take the frigid temps nor can I. I still say Spring is around the corner, dangnammit! I saw geese flying NORTH the other day. Now if that is not a sign I don’t know what is, either that, or they are just as confused as the humanoids are. Stay warm, couz! (((HUGS))) cousin to the west
LikeLike
We’re confusing the geese. Bad sign, cousin. Very bad sign about spring. Happy weekend, Amy Rose. ❤
LikeLiked by 1 person
Happy weekend, Mark!!! ❤
LikeLike
And I was going to rush out and air mail you a cow so you could have steaks all winter! With that weather you wouldn’t have to put them inside a fridge or freezer, just stick the butchered cow in the shed and cut off a slab when you want a steak or a roast. That would be incentive to keep your grill cleared of snow every day. I think I’ll slap a burger on something and burn it for a bit.
LikeLike
Yes, old-school cold-locker shed meat-hanging. That would be grill-clearing motiviation, for sure!
LikeLike
I’ll hire a cowboy to rustle an Angus and send them your way tomorrow then. My grandson, Noah, can get anything he wants from my ex, so that shouldn’t be a problem. He’ll probably be using a 4-wheeler cause he’s too young to drive a cattle truck.
LikeLike
Perfect steak solution, Angie.
LikeLike
Have fun, we’ll be in a cozy place for our dinner as well.
LikeLike
Enjoy your Valentine’s Day dinner with hubby, Dora. 🙂
LikeLike
A very sensible proposition. Wouldn’t the steaks refreeze on the way back into the house? To everything, turn, turn, turn……
LikeLike
Ha! Steakcicles! I didn’t even think of that half of the equation, Barbara, but of course your fine mind came up with it. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Just being practical, my dear. Surely spring is coming soon and we can all celebrate around the barbie!
LikeLike
Surely but slowly, I fear. 🙂
LikeLike
Oh yes, that grill looks like a scary prospect to me. I’d just as soon eat out or, worse yet, cook my steaks in the broiler!!
LikeLike
I am a broiler guy for my steaks, too, Marissa. Best way to cook a steak other than the grill.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh, Mr. B! NO ME GUSTA. That’s what indoor stove-top grills are for, right? No 50 Shades movie with your lovely Mrs. B? LOL. I am going to miss my Mr. B very much on this VD. The nice thing is that he is spending it with my daughter in NYC – so he won’t be so alone. I will be here with my mama and her husband, definitely NOT going to the movies with them to see 50 Shades. My devout Catholic Puerto Rican mother would just die! 🙂
LikeLike
Happy Valentine’s Day, Mrs. B. My dear wife Karen and I’s plans do not need to include that movie, no thank you. Let the rest of the world get tied up with ’50 Shades’ in the theaters,’ is what I say. 🙂 You and mom have some nice Puerto Rican traditional dinner and sunshine, OK? ❤ Mr. B and your daughter can share som Big Apple vibes. Nice all around.
LikeLiked by 1 person
May all the B’s be happy! 🙂
LikeLike
I dunno Mr B. Anyone who’s a Mets fan should have the Kahunas to go out in sub-zero temps, shovel off then fire up the grill….just sayin.
LikeLike
Just sayin’ my Mets are as cold as Syracuse in February is what you’re sayin’ my friend. Thanks, DJ. See you for golf in a couple months, I hope. 🙂
LikeLike
It was funny to read your post and see the pictures followed by a commercial ad showing two guys surfing
LikeLike
Thank you, WordAds. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
So maybe I need an edit on my last paragraph now, Joe! I just repeated your so-kind offer to Karen, and yes, thank you. I sent over an email to discuss logistics. Yesssssirrrrrrr.
LikeLiked by 2 people
My grill looks the same- buried under 2 feet of snow. My wife isn’t terribly interested in going to the game so our tix are available if you want them
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m taking owen to our first hockey game tomorrow, then laser tag Saturday! We are having dinner at a place called “the flippin sweet!” I would totally watch a game on a movie theater screen, how fun! Happy VD to you and your dear wife Karen!
LikeLike
Enjoy that hockey game, Hollie and Owen! I have a feeling there will be a lot more hockey games in your future after tonight after Owen gets his first look at the power and speed and grace rolled into one. Not bad for mom, either. Happy Valentine’s Day out there in Kansas, my friend. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m hoping sitting in the front row on Friday the 13th I won’t get hit by a puck!
LikeLike
Front row usually is the safest spot because of the plexiglass, if the level of hockey is high enough that it’s a rink that knows what it’s doing. And it is, I’m sure. It’s the rows above the glass that you have to keep your eyes open, especially on Friday the 13th, Hollie. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person