I am feeling the need and desire to express and preserve what happens in my heart when I am inside of Butters ACE Hardware store. Sometimes, when I have a bit of time left over to do whatever I want, I stop by Butters on the way home from somewhere else. Because I feel right when I am in that hardware store. It’s a place that is comfortable to me.
The first thing I see when I walk in the store is about 8 different ceramic Big Green Eggs, of many sizes, carefully displayed with all of the options. They are the color of fresh green grass in spring and shaped like a large hinged hollow egg. They have dimpled surfaces like a golf ball. A Green Egg is a high-performance charcoal smoker and grill. I have one and it’s a highly prized thing among all of the grill gear on my back porch. It is an extravagant grill that was given to us at a time when we did not have much discretionary income to spend on fine grilling equipment. The Big Green Egg gift was a life upgrade.
I associate that Big Green Egg with the generosity of a very kind man. And it was this great big wonderful outdoor cooker that has since made hundreds of great grilled or smoked meals. The food from the Egg has started many fine conversations. When I cook on it, I am often sipping red wine out of a plastic Kool-Aid cup. Lots of our friend and family connections have included smokey food from The Egg.
So when I see a whole bunch of brand-new Big Green Eggs lined up at Butters ACE Hardware for me to enjoy, I am delighted. I dream. I imagine smoke billowing out of the top vent. I smell beef fat dripping onto the coals as it sizzles. I can taste the burger: Crispy on the outside and moist on the inside, served on a butter-toasted bun. It is a mighty delightful thing.
I can hear the laughter as we all eat our big fat juicy burgers with a generous pile of Cajun fries. The Big Green Egg collection at Butters pings a certain harmonic deep in my soul. When I stroll into the store and see all those Big Green Eggs side by side, I usually say something out loud, like, “Oh Yeah!!!” Then I look at each one, opening and closing the lids, peering inside, and reading the tempting marketing brochures.
The manufacturer publishes a bright colorful glossy heavy-paper Big Green Egg magazine that is free and full of recipes and stories about the famous chefs that cook on Green Eggs. In those pages is where I found my favorite recipe for beef birria, made from smoked beef ribs and all kinds of rich flavorful peppers, and which is the most tasty, interesting, and richly spiced thing that I can make. When I see the tempting magazine, I consider the possibility that I will discover the secret to making something new and wonderful to share with people I love.
There are several good places that a man can go to get lost in his thoughts for a while.
My current favorite is the outdoor cooking area at Butters ACE Hardware.