Friday's post may have been a little heavy, so I'm going to keep it lighter today. I got a new grill this year. My old grill died due in part to bad weather and neglect. I decided that it would be better to replace the grill than to put new guts in the old one, so that's what I did. For me grilling is key to eating well. Grilling really helps get a lot of flavor into food without adding sugar. I've aways loved tossing meat and vegetables on a crazy hot grill for a good sear and some charring and this year is no exception. I've always cooked on a gas grill. Last year I was swayed to the idea that I might be missing out by not using charcoal. When I got my new grill this year, I went for the combo. A gas grill with a charcoal smoker on the side. Yesterday I finally added the charcoal smoker to the grill and last night was the first night I used the smoker. I cooked pork chops with apple wood smoke. For spice I just used garlic, onion, salt and pepper. I kept it simple, so I could get a good feel for the smoke flavor. I learned a couple of things. First natural charcoal lights better and tastes better than the highly processed bricketts I have used in the past. In fact my main aversion to charcoal has always been childhood memories of the bricks taking a long time to light and heat. I was shocked at how fast the coals heated up and how long they burned. They also didn't have that funny taste I have noticed from match light charcoal. The second thing I learned was that adding smoke to the mix really brings out the flavor. I'm going to try adding smoke to the gas burner next time I grill to see how that works out. While I really like the charcoal, it felt a little wasteful because I had a lot of heat left in the coals long after my meal was cooked. I like that I can just shut the gas off and not waste anything, but guilt aside, the flavor was worth it. Good food of course comes with the same traps as bad food and eating too much is even easier when the food in front of you is so delicious. Despite the challenges, it's nice to know that there are ways to cook good meals without adding sugar and I'm lucky to have the resources to do that. I'm not sure what dinner will be tonight, but with a little creative and a willingness to try new things, I'm sure it will be both satisfying and support my health choices. On another note, I'm happy to report that I am up to 30 minutes of continuous swimming. I am reporting this because in an earlier post I mentioned that I used to be able to swim from Leddy Beach to North Beach and that I hoped to get back to that some day. I am happy to report I got back to that very quickly. I cannot wait for my swim tonight. until then...