Teriyaki Apartment [txt]
I played chef yesterday. I cooked supper for Daniel, Nathan, Carlos, Dempsey, Jessie, and Aimee (and Kim by proxy). The menu was Teriyaki chicken, oriental rice, green beans, and French rolls. I started marinating the chicken in Teriyaki sauce during my lunch break.

When I got home from work at 5, I was ready to rock 'n roll. I cleaned the grill, placed charcoal in it, and poured on a healthy dose of lighter fluid. I went looking for matches in the apartment and could not find any, so I improvised.

I picked up a broken stick from underneath the tree right outside our apartment. I held the stick over one of the burners on the stove and turned the knob to light the burner. I held the stick up to the burner until a nice little flame  was burning on the tip of the stick.

I slowly carried the burning stick outside to the grill. As soon as I walked out the door, the flame went out. I went through the whole proces of lighting the stick again, and as soon as I went outside, the flame went out. I acted out this charade several more times with the result always being that the flame goes out the instant I go outside.

At this point I was fed up, so I decided to drag the grill into the apartment and place it right beside the stove. Then I only had a distance of a couple of feet to move the burning stick. The charcoal successfully caught on fire. Boy, did it catch on fire!

Tall flames lept from the grill. The flames kept getting taller. I realized there was a smoke alarm in the apartment, and I really needed to get the grill outside. I grabbed onto the handles to drag it outside, but the heat the grill was producing was too much for me, and I only got it a few inches.

I tried again. Still too hot. I was desperate to get the grill outside at this point. I put two oven mits on my hands, extended my arms out to keep the grill as far from my body as possible, and grabbed onto the handles. I turned my head, so my cheek took the brunt of the heat. I picked up the grill and ran for the door as fast as possible.

It took about fifteen minutes for the flames to settle down, so I could start grilling the chicken. In my opinion, the evening was a success. A "formal" dinner and an adventure involving flames just form another episode in <em>The Adventures of Matthew Miller</em>.