Serenity Now...

After purchasing Steven Raichlen's BBQ Bible, I was excited to try out some of the recipe's. The first attempt was Australian Beer Battered BBQ wings. I sent the wife out for the specific ingredients and was all set to go yesterday. I made up the marinade and threw the wings in for the suggested 4 hours. When the time came to cook, that's when the fun began.

My Mother was over for a visit and the wife was putting our youngest to bed. My older daughter was running between helping me and playing with my Mom. For those of you who do not know me or my family, chaos is the standard when things even go slightly out of whack and yesterday was no exception. I prepared the coals on the BBQ and threw the wings on the fire. Literally five minutes later, my Mother comes out to see how it's going and some of the wings are getting burned. Panic ensues. Since the wife is bathing our youngest, the water on the stove was boiling for Gaby's mac & cheese. I send my Mother in to throw in the pasta and start freaking out about the fire. I'm trying to move the wings around in an attempt to not burn them, but the coals have now heated up to 10,000 degrees. I'm yelling for some water to douse some of the coals - my Mother has caught one of the dish towels on fire from the gas stove because she couldn't find a potholder for the boiling water and Gaby is knocking on the glass window to get my Mom's attention. Serenity now... My Mother then declares, "What's wrong with you people!" Line of the night. I'm telling Gaby to stop tapping on the window and asking my Mom to bring out the BBQ sauce. My Mom is running back and forth and freaking out. I throw on the sauce and there is even more burning. I think the wings are done, but my Mom insists that they need more time. She was right, of course, so we threw them back on for a few more minutes. Overall, the wings were great tasting, but there were some that were still red inside - I hope I don't get sick from that stuff.

Lessons learned: don't use so many freaking coals (an issue I've had before, but still haven't learned), have all my stuff outside BEFORE starting, and don't have my Mother over to help.

Serenity now...