Real Texas manspace

July 4th in Texas

July 4th has come and gone along with the fireworks and the heartburn, sunburn, and hangovers that sometimes accompany this great holiday.  I rank it right up there with Texas Independence Day in importance on my calendar.  Yep, Texas Independence Day is March 2 every year and I have to celebrate that one just like I do July 4th.  In fact, sometimes I celebrate March 2 so much that my wife accuses me of being “a little too Texan” on that day……if that’s possible.  Yes, I know what all that might imply.

But this July 4th, I had to try out my ‘outside manspace.’

I have an inside ‘manspace’ which is my office, but I’ll save that for another post sometime.

My outside 'manspace' down by the creek

Let’s talk about outside.  We didn’t have any visitors this year, we’re really pushing several internet projects and we hardly slow down for much right now.  We used to have some pretty big family reunions at the lake on July 4th weekend, and will probably start that up again next year.

July 4th came on a Saturday, and I took most of the day off.  Ramona had two chickens she wanted roasted on the rotisserie and I volunteered.  I have had this super duty stainless steel grill in my manspace picnic area down by the creek in my backyard for about 4 years.  Visitors would see it and really brag about how clean it was.

It was clean because I had never used it.

The thing is 12 feet long and has a lot of storage underneath with a fridge and room for a propane tank and dishes.  It has a big six burner Jenn-Aire stainless steel grill with all the bells and whistles. It took four of us to unload it from the truck and I had to crawl under my deck to reinforce the bottom.

I started early and got the power washer out to clean out the dirt dobber nests from the inside part underneath the grill and got it spiffied-up.  I thought the rotisserie was broken at first then noticed it just turned r-e-a-l slow.

If you notice there are some custom made Texas Star bar stools with cowhide seat covers on them.  I paid for those in Llano at that place just past the bridge.  She bought them…I was totally against it because they cost so much.  But I have since been resigned to the ill advised actions of a spendthrift wife and will sit in them now….and lean up against the bar.  They are pretty durn nice if I do say so.

So, I go get the chickens and put ’em on the long skewer rod that turns inside the grill.  She had already put seasoning on them.  I put them in the grill and fired up the six burners.  I was not paying too good attention because when I turned back around, I had a full fledged chicken fire going.  I had my water hose and I dowsed it down some and turned off the burners.  Lesson #1  learned was:  Those big grills put out a lot of heat.

I did some investigation.  As a last resort, I find and read the instructions.

I see a button that says rotisserie.  I turn that one on and a back burner lights up.  I turned off the bottom burners and used that one.  So, I now have a turning rotisserie with two semi blackened chickens on it ready to cook.  I call up and ask Ramona how long do these things have to cook and at what temperature.  She says 350 for around three hours or less.

Cool.

That meant I would have to sit out there in my manspace, by the dock, by the water, and cook those chickens.  I nailed the temp and was able to keep it at 350 and went about the business of refreshing myself.  You can see the fridge just to the right of the grill.

The chairs have the Great Seal of Texas on the back. Can you see the creek in the background? It's a pretty good spot.

At one point I decided the dog was too hot and I threw him off the dock into the water.  I went in after him, but he beat me back to the shade. Me and ‘Bowie’ the dog did several important things like that during the course of the day.

Like singing “The Road goes On Forever, And The Party Never Ends.”    Old Bowie sang along with me.  We tried to think of some Michael Jackson songs, but they escaped me at the moment.

It was a good day.  I named the chicken dish ‘carmelized chicken.’  It got carmelized after I started basting some really good sauce on it.  But, I don’t think Ramona will feature it in any Real Texas Recipes.

It took me all of the three hours to cook that chicken, but by the time it was finished I was totally refreshed.

I think we had chicken for supper.

My Real Texas manspace by the creek:  I do love it so.

I’m David

Almost recovered.

Tagged as: david werst, July 4 barbecue, Ramona Werst, Real Texas, Real Texas Blog, Real Texas Recipes, Texas, Texas barbecue, Texas Humor, Texas Lifestyle