Adventures of a Seattle Dad

Getting charcoal ready to grill is something that every guy should know how to do. I have one of those Weber charcoal chimneys that usually works very well. You put newspaper in the bottom and charcoal in the top. One match is usually all it takes to get everything going. Usually. Yesterday I tried to light the charcoal and I was glad that there were no Cub Scouts around to heckle me. Good grief. It started with the charcoal. I emptied out the last of a bag of briquettes, but it didn't quite reach the top of the chimney. I could have opened another bag, but I had a little bit of real, mesquite wood charcoal left in another bag so I had the brilliant idea to just use that bag up, too. This was a good idea in theory, but the problem with real charcoal is that it is, well, real. Instead of machine formed and pressed, identical briquettes, the real charcoal is in whatever shape the wood is in - and the bottom of the bag is mostly tiny pieces. These tiny pieces basically filled in all