Our family has prime rib for our Christmas dinner.  We put it on the barbecue, cooking it slowly, after marinating it for at least 36 hours in liquid smoke and seasonings.  Each year I say it gets better, but this year is a different story!

I put the roast on the barbecue and set the timer for 30 minutes to check it — in the midst of having champagne and visting I didn’t want to forget about it.  Good thing!

The timer went off and I got up to go check our prime rib — hubby, saying “let me know if you need any help.” 

As I opened the back door onto our porch, I immediately noticed smoke and then saw the flames shooting out of the barbecue!  I ran back into the house and yelled “I need help.”  I heard my family chuckle remembering my husband’s last comment.  “NO, I REALLY NEED HELP!”

I didn’t realize as I ran back out on the porch that my house was also on fire!  The flames were so big coming out of the back of the grill that they were hitting the house…my log house!

As the men came running — they started emptying their beer onto the flames, as my husband got the hose! 

Me — I was yelliing — MY PRIME RIB!!!  PLEASE SAVE MY PRIME RIB!  My house is on fire, the flames are so big they are having a hard time getting to the grill and all I can think is “what am I going to serve all these people for dinner!”

The flames were put out and there lay my once beautiful prime rib covered in about an inch of charcoal.  The men in my family are awesome — they cut off the black stuff — we rinse off the meat with beer, put it in a roasting pan, poured in some beer, and finished cooking it!

It was fabulous!  My grandson said it was the best “Log Cabin” meat he had ever eated!

Moral of the story — Yell FIRE, when there is fire, not help — people tend to come to the rescue faster!

Lessons Learned — beer has many uses: puts out fire, marinates, rinses, and can be consumed as a social beverage!

Oh, and my house — just needs about a 3 x 4 foot area replaced — could have been worse, so this really is no big deal!

I hope your Christmas was as enjoyable and as eventful as ours!