Eating Outdoors

My first costly home upgrade, now some 35 years ago when my son was a toddler, was to create a deck accessible through the back door.  It required little maintenance, though a minor restoration of the wood a few years ago.  Yet it never really fulfilled what I had imagined, a place with the sky above me to hang out and entertain.  Our sukkah stands there each fall, so we have a few dinners on a folding teak table and chairs, sometimes bringing out kitchen chairs or a card table.  But it's not been the dining area, seated or buffet, that I envisioned.  I bought an antigravity chair, which I use a few times a year, and have had a couple of umbrellas over the years which usually have their mechanisms fail before they are put to regular use.  When I had the carpenter do the restoration, it was again my vision to make this into an outdoor living space.  I planted flowers with good results the first year, less subsequent years.  But this summer I am going to upgrade its utility, primarily with dining.  The small round teak table failed after last Sukkot, so time for new dining.  I found four suitable chairs on sale at Target.  They fit in the back seat of my Camry and needed no assembly.  Then a table.  Since I won't be using it a lot, a low-priced one would suffice.  With some effort, I secured one at Boscov's, a square surface suitable for the four chairs from Target.  It has a hole in the middle for an umbrella, which I already have.  And with a flat box, it fit in the car.

Though difficult to get out of the back seat and transport to the deck, really a two-person job, I managed.  Made in China.  People who guided the machines that stamp out the parts and package them probably aren't paid very much.  The engineers who designed this were not likely MIT Alumni.  Parts all there.  Instructions a long way from obvious.  Wrench they provided was no help.  And my own tool box was missing the socket wrench that I needed, but my wife found another.  Not easy to assemble, but done and stable.  

Still need to install the umbrella, another two person effort.  And for fleishig meals I will need a tablecloth, a specialty item with a hole in the middle to accommodate the umbrella pole, and hopefully with a zipper so I don't have to keep removing and reinstalling the umbrella to clean the tablecloth.

And then we have grills.  I've basically given up on gas grills in favor of simpler charcoal.   I have one, rarely used.  It's fleishig.  I wanted a tabletop one, selecting something suitable from a Shop-Rite ad.  Unfortunately, this destination of the Kosher consumer has swooned in customer service.  The grill that would satisfy my needs only appears in the weekly circular.  It's not really available in the stores for people to purchase.  I had to go to the Walmart, ostensibly to replace my milchig mini-chopper with one that their online site indicated was in aisle G2 at my store.  Baited and switched.  They had a different model for $10 more.  But while there, I looked at patio dining tables.  Not displayed.  But the department had tabletop grills.  For $14.99 I could not go wrong, so I got one.  I could either designate it milchig for my patio or fleishig to make dinner in a park.  Decide on first use, but it still needs assembly.  And I can always get a second one, either for milchig on my deck or fleishig by transport.  But I think for now, grilled tuna and eared corn at home on my deck would be the better choice.  I have an insulated cooler and a wooden picnic basket, so preparing home food to eat in a park then transporting it in a container would be more suitable for as often as we might do this.

So my option for outdoor dining approaches reality.  Then actually eat outdoors.