The following is a guest post from Alexis Bonari.
Since watching Ratatouille and discovering the wonders of having my own kitchen in post-grad life, I’vebecome obsessed with cooking. French, Italian, Japanese, Vietnamese—I’m always looking to expand my expertise. I don’t like to play into stereotypes as the baking wifey, but it helps that the significant other knows his way around the kitchen, too.
If there’s one part of the cooking world that remains inexplicably part of the boy’s club, however, it’s the part that’s not in the kitchen at all: the grill.
Help from Girls at the Grill
I admit that it wasn’t until very recently that I dared my first cook-out. It wasn’t at the urging of my father—an avid charcoal man—as I always thought it would be. Instead, it was a girl who inspired me to turn up the heat.
Elizabeth Karmel over at Girls at the Grill is teaching women that grilling is no longer just for boys.
“Not only will you have eaten your last piece of charred chicken or shoe-leather steak, but you’ll find out just how fun it is,” she quips. “Why do you think the boys have kept it to themselves all these years?”
Girls at the Grill is designed by women for women and covers everything from Grilling 101 to recipes. You can even get advice on what kind of grill to invest in, whether to go charcoal or gas, and entire menu ideas and tips for preparing a grilled meal.
Grilling with Kids
Perhaps most delightful to see is the KidzGrill2 section, where Karmel and the girls have supplied users with a Grilling Activity Book to get kids involved at the grill. “They can decorate a menu for mom to put at everyone’s place setting, build their own “paper” kabob and even make a few of their own grilled recipes including Mud Pie Bananas and Star and Moon Pizza.”
Girls Can Grill, Too
With help from Karmel (okay, from the significant other, too), the grill has successfully been demystified. Although I do still get nervous around open flames, I no longer look upon the grill as some Home Alone-esque, talking, iron monster. Grilling is a skill like any other—one Karmel and the girls have declared that girls can do, too.
Bio: Alexis Bonari is a freelance writer and researcher for College Scholarships, where recently she’s been researching Hispanic college grants as well as hispanic scholarships. Whenever she gets some free time, she enjoys watching a funny movie or curling up with a good book.
