Monday, August 13, 2012

Firing up the grill 'just because'

Oh my... I looked at the date of my last post and almost passed out. I honestly cannot believe it's been over a year since my last post.

Life has been quite different since I left the states and I guess re-assimilation combined with less readily available ingredients, I just haven't experimented that much. I did however keep blogging - just not about food (check out naijacopa.blogspot.com).

Anyhoo... in all this time, one thing that I have gotten round to do, on the cooking tip is barbequing. I've loved to bbq since my mom bought our first outdoor grill some 15 or so years ago. Back then, I'd beg her to let me experiment with meats and bless her heart, even though my efforts were not exactly always successful, it gave me the confidence I needed to keep at it.

Fast forward to today. I won't call myself the next Bobby Flay and claim grill master (madame) status, but I do, do pretty ok. I got courageous a few months back and attempted to whip up my own BBQ sauce out of ingredients I already had at home, and charred up some chicken. Both were quite successful if I say so myself :-)

Titus fish - which is quite popular out here in Nigeria, is another frequent choice for me on the 'barbie'. I try to experiment with my spice mixture each time - one of my favs is a dried cumin/thyme mix which has this earthy and aromatic kick to it.

More recently - I went for a slightly bolder choice and skewered up some juicy chicken gizzards marinated in a mixture of dried spices and garlic & chilli sauce - something about the garlic & chilli sauce and gizzards, just works for me.

Below are some pictures (I apologize... forgot to take pictures most times). Hope you enjoy them, and they inspire you to light up your grill, experiment with spices, marinades and flavors; and just get lost for a few minutes in the delightful flavors of charcoal, smoke, spices and meat.



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