Hello and welcome

Hello, my name is Paul Sinclair and welcome to Gardens and Grills the site that will bring you simple but tasty recipes for the grilling season and beyond.

Now why “Gardens and Grills” you might ask?  The idea came from the days when my wife and I would spend all day outdoors. Her gardening—- me grilling. Now “grilling” to me is more than a hobby which is evidenced by the fact that at one time I had FOUR BBQ’s and ONE CHARCOAL GRILL/SMOKER.  Regrettably those particular grilling days are gone and I’m down to One Propane BBQ and my Charcoal Grill/Smoker but that has not diminished my enthusiasm, passion, or whatever you wish to call it when it comes to cooking or grilling and I still spend as much time with the BBQ’s as is possible.

Now I started cooking a little later in life, early 40’s to be precise, and to be quite honest when I started I didn’t know a food mill from a grocery bag but with five kids to feed and a wife sick with Cancer I had to learn in a real hurry and somewhere over the last 16 years I found I really enjoyed cooking. In fact the kitchen has become my Fortress of Solitude and if my wife is looking for me she usually looks there first.

The recipes I will be sharing are not all my own creations but they definitely are time proven, tasty and simple and if you are like me you will take these recipes and add your own little twists and tweaks until they are yours. You may notice when going through the ingredients list of the recipes I will post that I try to use as much non pre- packaged food as is possible. That is due to my close proximity to a Farmers Market which makes it easier to get fresh ingredients  and besides, it gets me out of the house and my grandson loves the outing and the “cookies”.

When I’m not in the kitchen I may be found on a golf course or in a pool hall playing in one of two pool leagues that I and my daughter belong to. I guess that’s one of the benefits of being semi- retired and having time on my hands. Oh and…. some day I hope to cross a few items off my “bucket list” and they are to enjoy a culinary tour of Tuscany, or do a CIA Boot Camp (that’s Culinary Institute of America—- not the “other” CIA) in Napa Valley or the East Coast of Canada.

With all that has been said above my goal for this blog, time permitting, is to post one or two recipes a week along with a photo of the finished product and I hope that someone, somewhere, will find their inner foodie and begin their own culinary journey.

I would also like to point out that the awesome header picture for this blog was found in a Homes and Gardens magazine and is not my garden or grill so kudos to Homes and Gardens for such a great shot.

Thank you for visiting and I hope to see you in the future.

Bon Appetite