Like most husbands, mine seems to try to avoid being in the kitchen. I know that many of you have Mr. Awesome living with you who not only likes to cook but is good at it. But the rest of us wives are the primary chefs in our families. Now I can say this about my husband, David: He is great about helping me clean up in the kitchen. From the very beginning of our marriage we divvied up the kitchen duties. I got the cooking and he got the cleaning up.

Then summer comes along and I begin cleaning up and preparing our grill for cooking. Just as soon as I get it cleaned up and the gas tanks filled, out pops my husband.

&uot;Here honey I’ll take care of this,&uot; or &uot;Hey, I’ll just throw some steaks on the grill,&uot; becomes the often heard refrain.

What is it with men, fire, and meat? Do they just like setting fire to something? Or does lighting up the grill just bring out the caveman in them?

I can just see them all gathered around a fire roasting pieces of meat on sticks, with the women in the background busily working on the hide of whatever the guys managed to bring home.

Unfortunately, at my house grilling has gotten in a rut – with the standard grilling menu usually consisting of burgers and the occasional steak seasoned with Dales steak sauce and a little garlic powder. And sometimes that is enough. I mean there are times when only a rare, perfectly cooked, lightly seasoned steak will do. But there are other times when you need to dress up your meal a little.

So get in the adventurous mood. I recently read a new cookbook titled &uot;The Barbecue Bible&uot; by Steven Raichlen and its sequel &uot;Barbecue Bible, Sauces and Marinades.&uot; They were both wonderful and full of great recipes and tips for grilling or barbecuing. In the first, &uot;The Barbecue Bible&uot; you will find wonderful tips for cooking on gas or charcoal and clear precise instructions in all the recipes.

Steak in garlic-lime marinade, North Carolina pulled pork, Jamaican jerk pork tenderloin and Latin quarter shrimp kebabs are just a few of the great sounding recipes I cannot wait to try.

And because man cannot live by meat alone there is a chapter devoted to desserts, some requiring the grill and some frozen.

As I flipped through this book I realized there was a chapter devoted to refreshments to keep you cool as you slave over the fire.

Maybe I’ll just continue to kick back in my lawn chair and try a smoky martini or a ginger pineapple punch and let my caveman keep up the good work.

Christina Hall is the lifestyle editor at the Democrat. She can be reached at 445-3549 or by e-mail at christina.hall@natchezdemocrat.com