BBQing During A Blizzard

The other night I enjoyed making a nice BBQed dinner. I tossed on the grill a chicken breast, and a hot Italian sausage.

All around me, it the winds were howling and the snow was falling.

I was BBQing in a blizzard!

I enjoy high-rise living, and with my westerly facing covered balcony, I rarely get the elements on my balcony. Instead, as I was grilling up a storm, I was watching Mother Nature’s storm unfold.

It was an interesting experience. I have BBQed while it was raining out, again, protected from the elements on my balcony. But this was different. Usually from my balcony, I can see the whole city. But with this heavy snowfall, I couldn’t see anything around me.

It was as if I was BBQing in the middle of a haze of nothing but white.

I could see the lights from the highway and cars below, but that was about it. It was a very peaceful evening, even though a winter storm was blowing up all around.

As I grilled my food, I heard the occasional honking of horns, the scraping of snow blows, and the constant hiss of the wind.

But other than those few sounds, all was quiet.

Snow is a natural insulator, dampening out sounds. It is usually quieter when it snows, because the snow falling from the sky is cancelling out the noise from the ground below. And the freshly fallen snow is insulating the sound from the ground, making the whole world around the snow vastly silent.

Still, the thrill for me wasn’t the quiet, the occasional muffled sounds, or even the snow. It was being able to BBQ in the midst of it all – that’s the real key.

BBQing is typically associated with summer-time activities, not winter ones. But thanks to my lofty high-rise, hidden from Mother Nature, I get to BBQ all year around.

Maybe next time I’ll BBQ during a lightening storm, and see if the sparks really fly?