No Assembly Required!!

They lie .... that's all there is to it!!  If you remember, I purchased this little Weber barbecue awhile back and never could get it to work.  It wasn't the one everyone recommended (my first mistake) but it was small and compact.  Unfortunately, it required assembly.  I'm sure I followed the instructions to the letter, but I never could get it to light.  Plus, in the "old" days, it came with a nice lightweight grill that was easy to clean.  THIS one had a huge heavy piece of metal for a rack.

So I returned the one above and purchased the Q1000 that everyone recommended.  It's lightweight and there's NO assembly required.  At least that's what the advertisement said.  I struggled to get it from the UPS office to my truck.  It came in a huge box and was VERY heavy.

As I pulled it out of the box .... wow .... it's so light!!  I LOVE it!!  After setting it on the table, I opened the top, which promptly fell off on the floor!!!  Good thing I was wearing my cowboy boots!!  Why in the world didn't they attached the lid?  It was then that I saw the huge bag of parts and pieces!!  As it turned out, I only needed to install the lid and handle and fix the big ding in my floor.  YAY!!  I'm ready to go!!

Except when I opened the lid the second time, it dawned on me there was no grate.  What???  I scrounged through the box to find the two-piece VERY HEAVY grate in the bottom.  So heavy, I had to use two hands to get it OUT of the box.  So much for my lightweight grill!  Now to test it with some ugly steaks and find a place in the motorhome where I can store it!  Good luck with that, right?

Having had some success, I decided to whip up some corned beef hash for dinner.  Now here's something I've never made before.  It can't be too hard, right?  Onions, potatoes and corned beef chopped up and fried.   I got out my cast iron skillet and went to work.  So far, so good, but it wasn't browning like I wanted, so I turned up the heat (I'm pretty sure I just saw you cringe!!).

Next thing I know I hear POP POP ... and corned beef is flying in the air all over the kitchen!!  When that little bit of fat gets too hot, it explodes in a shower of little bits like fireworks.  I lowered the heat a little and tried to be patient, letting it get crispy brown.  BOY WAS IT GOOD!!  In spite of the mess of cleanup, this was the best corned beef hash EVER!!!  I can't believe I cooked something so delicious!!  I can tell you right now, all the leftover beef I put in the freezer will become hash!!

Two successes in one day ... you can't beat that, so taking no chances, I sat on the couch for the rest of the night!!  Tonight is Magic Kingdom night and tomorrow I have a 90 minute drive to my accountant for tax preparation.  Somewhere along the line I want to try a couple of steaks on the grill.  For now however, I'm having corned beef hash for breakfast!!