Cooking Outdoors In Small Yards

If, like me, you live in a small apartment or condominium, there are certain foods that you avoid cooking, not because you don't like them, but because the smell of cooked food lingers for days after the meal has ended. We all know those foods - fish has to be the number one on my list of smelly foods, but Chinese and anything you saute that splashes fat in every direction, is up at the top of the list as well. I do cook these foods, but after scrubbing the kitchen from top to bottom afterwards, opening every window, turning on all the extractors and spraying air freshener, it kind of puts me off the next fish meal. So I was really excited by my recent purchase which means I can cook everything outside on my patio.

Like most people, we own a barbecue, and as I live in San Diego, you can cook outside almost all year round. The barbecue is fine for grilled food, but doesn't reach the high temperatures needed for meals such as stir-fries. Also, as my condo is small, my outside area is also small, so one of the super grills and stove-top combinations that you find in Sears and Barbecues Galore is simply too big. We did buy an outdoor wok at Lowe's but returned it because when we set it up on its tripod legs, it was enormous, resembling something out of War or the Worlds, and certainly not my idea of a garden feature! So after searching various barbecue stores with no luck, we finally thought that perhaps something used for camping would work, and went off to our local REI store. Sure enough we found this amazing 2-burner stove which is actually for tailgating and camping trips, but we could visualize how it would make cooking gourmet meals a snap on our patio.

The stove is Coleman's Fold N Go, 2 burner stove which cost $72.00 from REI, but I have seen it for less at Costco since then. All you need is a sturdy table to stand it on, and it has two burners that fold out flat and are fuelled by a small propane gas bottle, and you can cook any number of dishes in the same way that you would indoors. I am not sure about its simmering ability, but the heat is certainly there as it has two 20,000 BTUs in its two high performance burners and is very stable while you are cooking. When you have finished, you can simply wipe it down, fold it up and store it in a cupboard for next time. So look out neighbors, here come my curries!