Terry
and I enjoyed our first meal off of the grill of the year today.
That’s
a bit weird for us. Usually we keep a path to the grill clear
throughout the winter. Heading outside to cook something is typically
a year-round possibility for us. Not at all uncommon to have steaks
or chicken cooking under the hood while we shiver on a deck with
a foot of snow covering most of it. But, for some reason, it’s
been a few months.
Funny
thing about our grill. When we moved, overall it was in amazing
shape. A great piece from a solid company, and we had a few propane
tanks around to keep it fired up. Only problem was the grates.
They were falling apart and needed to be replaced.
We
decided on official parts. It’s a Weber… again, grill in good
shape from a good company… and we figured we’d be using it for
a few more years (which we have). This is where the story takes
a bit of a twist…
For
reasons I cannot recall, the grates weren’t immediately available.
I found them easily enough on the internet. But every possible
source claimed it was going to be a few weeks before they arrived.
I mentioned this earlier, Terry and I use our grill fairly often.
So, I ordered the Weber grates and then off to the nearby home
improvement store I trudged, hoping to find some replacement grates
that wouldn’t be too expensive and could serve us for roughly
a month.
What
I found was mind-boggling then, and seems even more farfetched
now. Three grates, on clearance special, for less than five-bucks
each. (Sold!) I got home, did the new-purchase-cleaning and placed
them on the grill. Perfect fit.
Those
low-cost replacement hold-on-until-the-delivery grates are now
headed into their fourth summer of service, and show absolutely
no signs of needing to be pulled from use. In fact, I really like
them. To the point that I’m kind of ticked that there weren’t
more when I picked these up. (In my retrospect thought process,
I tend to ignore the idea that I only needed three for our grill
and likely wouldn’t have purchased more if there were more to
purchase.)
Tonight,
I made some steak kabobs. Nice marinade. Some rice and veggies
on the side. Although cool, a beautiful sunny late afternoon for
grilling. Great food. Great meal. And while cooking, I stared
at the grates for a few moments.
They
weren’t exactly an amazing steal. After all, we’re not considering
something where the result was thousands of dollars saved. Heck,
I still have the Weber grates in a box in the garage, which means
if I never break those out, I actually overspent tremendously
for these replacements. Still… I think of it as a good buy.
How
often does that happen?
Good
buys. Things where we not only are happy with what we’ve purchased,
but incredibly happy with the price we paid and get a ton of use
from the item involved.
More
often than not, I suppose the key word involved is clearance.
I said it for these grates. They were being offered as limited-supply,
get-it-while-they-last, we-won’t-be-stocking-more-and-you-can’t-order-any,
take them off the shelves because other things need the space
grill grates.
Ever
wander into a clothing store and make a beeline for the clearance
racks? I have never—and I mean NEVER—had anyone look
at a new jacket and tell me it was from last year’s line. Found
quite a few fantastic bargains over the years.
Wife
and I were in New Hampshire a while ago. Factory outlets were
involved on one of the days, and Timberland had a store that was
closing. I picked up a pair of heavy-duty winter boots that day,
and those things have been amazing. In fact, we were so stunned
by the things that we scored on that visit, we discussed it over
lunch… still couldn’t believe the boots and shirts and more everyone
in our group picked up… and we went back to the Timberland
store that afternoon to buy more.
There’s
something memorable and satisfying about unexpected bonus buys.
I find myself recalling where I was when I stumbled across a mega
buy. Seriously… I could be heading out to the garage to grab some
gloves and fire up the snowblower, and as I put on my boots I’m
thinking about that great trip to New Hampshire fifteen years
ago. (And kicking myself for not buying a second pair, even though
these are lasting incredibly well and I just might never need
a second pair.)
Tonight
I was flipping kabobs on the grill, enjoying a pretty terrific
evening at the end of a great day. And things seemed right. It’s
hard to explain… perhaps, hard to believe… why the grates on the
grill could be involved in such a feeling. But they were.
I
wonder where and what my next great find will be.