Stomachs on legs are proud to present

Last week my sister, Greg, Tui and I made like the locals and tried out one of those disposable picnic BBQs in the park around the corner, under the TV Tower. I had thought that these were a German speciality, but when looking for a web page about them saw 6 packs advertised at Woolworths in the UK, so clearly I was wrong.

To use anything disposable seems so '80s, but wow, so handy.

Disposable grills are not the only method around here - the Germans are enthusiastic grillers and have all manner of contraptions. Still not sure whether it's entirely legal to grill out in public like that, but it's not stopping anyone. The grassy slope near the large pond known as the Aachener Weier is literally a cloud of BBQ (and pot) smoke on summery evenings, while it's still light. Oftentimes I have gone for a walk around there and been amused at old guys sitting on park benches with a little aluminium foil BBQ tray at their feet, sizzling away, right next to the dusty track around the pond. A takeaway BBQ seems to be pretty handy when you are young and German and can just bicycle past a supermarket, grab a few wurstchen and a grill and away you go.

I'm not sure if we lit ours correctly. We took out the cardboard that seperated charcoal and the wire grill. Rachel thought that it might have been a specially flammable cardboard designed to help the flame spread evenly in those crucial first minutes.

Still, the charcoal burned long and hot (at least in places) and we managed to get our tofu weiners satisfactorily blistered on the outside. The red onion was not so successful, but it always takes an outrageous amount of time to cook it to the point where I like it.

The salad was the best thing, made at home.
-Feldsalat
a.k.a lamb's lettuce or mache
-red cabbage
-a tin of a brand of tuna that has only recently been labelled as 'not certified bio' at the local biomarkt (there was no sustainably farmed tuna available to buy... please accept my apologies)
-mixed sprouts (mung beans and so forth)
- a small amount of crumbled feta
- a couple of cooked beetroot chopped
- couple of tomatoes chopped
- 2 small carrots grated
- a couple spring onions finely chopped
- some parsely
- a sweet potato chopped then roasted with chilli flakes and a little sesame oil & butter
- dressing of a little Japanese mayo, red wine vinegar, olive oil and seasoning

We drank red wine from the bottle, and finished with watermelon.