cooking outdoors at sixteen below

by some fluke or miscalculation, my propane tank still has some gas in it after a summer of hamburgers and so last night i decided to spark it up and cook some steaks. now for the record, my family does not eat a lot of meat. one person is a vegetarian, one person is more-or-less vegetarian but will eat chicken that is disguised as whatever it takes, and two others are omnivores. so the steak was a bit unusual for us.

so out i went into the biting wind and blowing snow crystals to render these steaks for the omnivores. did i mention it was cold? sixteen below (celsius) with the windchill! my first task was to hammer on the lid to break the icy seal that closed it shut. this took a few mighty wacks to each of the three sides that i could reach and i discovered that (being hollow) the barbeque gives off a lovely bell-like quality when treated with such disrespect . . . . i turned the dial to get the propane flowing and failed to hear the usual obligatory hiss . . . . so i chucked a match in and messed with the dials until whoompf!!!(and you really do have to see a barbeque in the dead of night - a cold cold night to really appreciate just how widespread and pretty that "whoompf" actually is.) there was a nice orange, red, yellow and eventually blue glow.
i lowered the formerly-attached-to-four-hooves product down onto the grimy grill which mercifully i couldn't really see because it was pitch black but for the blue glow of the flickering propane. then i realized i'd forgotten to get the tools - found them frozen onto the barbeque. a little more hammering and i loosened up some tongs and a spatula.
the food was good - i made up a nice batch of fried herbed potatoes and a gravy that included the heel of a bottle of chilean red.

my boy and i were delighted!!!