This is something that my sons will all appreciate for three reasons. First, we all share a love for really good onion rings. Second, we have tried to make them in the past but found that they were hard to do at home because it is hard to keep the oil hot. Third, they are all engineers.

When we were picking out the grill for my birthday present, Ginny said that I didn't need a side burner. I thought I did. After begging for some time, she finally allowed me to get a side burner. When you are arguing with a PhD type person, you have to be very careful with your facts. When you are, additiionally, arguing with a female, you are really screwed unless you can come up with an argument that holds water from the feminine perspective. I finally found the argument that worked. It was a two part argument. First, the weakest part from a feminine perspective but the strongest by far from the engineering perspective, the side burner is rated at 12000 BTU/hr. I hear you thinking "so what?" Well, our deep fat fryer is a paltry 300 watts. That is the reason that making onion rings is not very good. When you translate 12000 BTU/hr to watts, you get over 3000 watts. That is serious heat. The engineering conclusion is that now you are going to have enough heat to really cook onion rings. Like I said, this is something that Dr. Ginny fully understands but does not appreciate because she is a girl. The second argument is what put it over the top. I told her that I would be making onion rings outside on the patio and that I would not be covering her kitchen with spattered oil. That did it. End of argument. QED

So this evening I cooked onion rings. They were delicious. Pat came over (what a surprise) and helped us eat them. She brought some breaded fish which we also deep fried (Friday in Lent, remember). A good time was had by all, especially me.