IT IS FINALLY BBQ SEASON

Winter is finally gone...I think.  The spring season is heavily celebrated on Memorial Day Weekend with people going outdoors and cooking up a BBQ.  I looked in my Fairway Market weekly flyer for sales and went off to Douglaston to prepare.

I caught the attention of Stephen Fosdick, the General Manager to ask what they had to help me prepare.



First thing was to search for some of the important items such as what I needed for the grill.  It looks like Fairway Market has their own set of BBQ tools.

Next thing is the paper plate, plastic cups, non-stick aluminum foil (on sale), recycle garbage bags for the plastic cups, cans, etc. and freezer bags for the leftovers as well as portioning out the meats to freeze.

I figured that I'll most likely sweat doing all the work as well as needing a bottle of Aleve for the pain that I experience going up and down the stairs to my back yard.

Since Fairway has a bakery, why not grab a bag of the pretzel buns for sliders.   They have a pretty delicious ground sirloin on sale for $3.99 a pound.

Of course there are the condiments.  Fairway doesn't have their own brand of ketchup but I like an organic brand called Woodstock.  Fairway does have their own brand of Dijon mustard....really good...and potent!   Then there are several varieties of marinades.  I thought I'd try the Thai Chili mango

Being that it is the weekend, samples lurk about the store. Guacamole near the deli, tilapia at the seafood area, and both Korean style chicken thighs and kettle chips near the butcher area.

 

I also stopped by the cheeses to check out a  Jersey Cooperstown that I saw in the flyer...that was the sale feature.  I thought it would make a great topping for a cheeseburger.  That and a Manchango.

I personally don't care for their guacamole only because it's a bit too spicy for me.  I got the fixings.  Haas avocados, Vidalia onions, vine tomatoes, lime and cilantro.

While I'm over in the produce area, I see the ready made trays of fruit.

I certainly took advantage of the lobsters that were on sale.  I bought two that were already steamed and two that were alive. I could break the cooked ones into parts and freeze.

Trying out a few kabobs and doing my own marinading.   Got one of chicken and another of pork.  I did get one marinaded beef.  A package of  Murray's chicken wings, too.  Gotta have chicken wings and ribs, too.  Got a rack of babyback. You never know if the day you plan to have friends over for the BBQ turns to rain, so I'm prepared for indoors as well.   My NuWave oven and NuWave Precision Induction Cooktop should handle it all.

You gotta have refreshments.  Sodastream may be the source for drinks.  The machine carbonates water using a reusable CO2 cartridge that makes lots of bottles of carbonated water.   Bottles are made of plastic and one comes with the Sodastream "Source", which contains that machine, cartridge, bottle and samples of flavors to add.  They have a variety of "syrups" made with sugar that tastes exactly as they label it such as Cola.  You can also add some fresh lemon or lime if you don't want anything that is artificial.   One of the syrups is called Cosmopolitan.   Add to the carbonated water or vodka.  Once you have a bottle of carbonated water (using tap water, if you want), you can make separate drinks with that one bottle and then carbonate another bottle for other drinks.  Certainly saves on buying soda and dealing with the cost of each bottle that adds on the deposit money.  www.sodastream.com