Ok guys, I think it's safe to say my favorite season is finally in full swing - Grilling Season! I've loved grilling for a long time. Steaks, burgers, chickens, fish, corn, mushrooms - all great, but I'm ready to really start trying some new things.

Give me some ideas. Resources, websites, your favorite grilled dishes, whatever you've got. I'm a gas grill guy, so I'd love to stay in that world, I we can.

I'm a serious advocate of smoked meats. You can do a reasonable fascimile of smoke in a grill, even gas, but you really can't do the temperature control you need for the long smoking process. Get a big pork shoulder and smoke that bad boy with only a rub for 12+ hours and you'll feel like the heavens have opened and some cooking god has called out your name. It's super easy, requires very little attention in a real smoker and you get praise as if you invented water.

So, for a grill, I like corn, bundles of asparagus and bacon, squash, and the normal grilling aire, brats and burgers, mostly.

As I've said many times in the Food & Drink area, find a farmer and get a {pig, cow, chicken, lamb}. Local produce butchered by a skilled local processor tastes better, is cut to your liking and benefits local people directly. Grass-fed or pasture raised is best, but just being local and run through a custom butcher will show you a difference.

For instance, we know that the pig we will get our chops, brats and bacon from each winter will be a Tamworth breed. The Tamworth is a bacon-type, which is leaner than the lard-type hogs. That impacts how we cook it and how we get cuts. This year we had the chops cut 1" thick so that they can stay on a cool grill longer and half of our bacon unsmoked in slabs for doing some braised pork belly.

We have experience with the beef and chickens we get from our CSA. This makes for some very nice meals on a rather tight budget in the midst of summer travel.

Have you ever tried non-traditional meats on the grill? There's a wild game place not too far from us that I've always wanted to try am slightly intimated to venture into. Bear, ostrich, snake, gater, and the like is all available, but I have no idea where to even start?

We haven't. I did smoke some rabbits a couple months ago. I can't bring myself to eat what we kept for ourselves, though. They look too much like cats or rats to be appetizing. Almost like greyhounds. I've been told that it's best to cut them into pieces so they look more like chicken and then put them in stew.

We'll probably either throw them out or find someone who wants them. I might just make a stew out of them for a pot luck. If lots of people say they like it, I may give it a taste. I'm not usually that way, but these just had a strange look to them that rolls my stomach.

LOL at the rabbit story Ben. My wife had 4 rabbits now only 2. Those things live foreeeevvver!(If you don't eat them...) I don't think I'll ever be able to bring rabbit meat into the house with out serious repercussions. This also reminds me of the episode of Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations when he was in Ecuador eating grilled guinea pig. If you look past the little burnt up face it looks kinda good. MMM MMM

I like to keep it simple when grilling. Steaks, chops, brats or burgers are the standard. Maybe some asparagus rafts or sweet corn husk and all. Occasionally I like to grill bacon wrapped corn on the cob and rainbow trout stuffed with a little herbage and lemon slices wrapped in, you guessed it, bacon. Cut up some red potatoes a little onion and more bacon put it in a foil pouch and throw it on the grill too. I've smoked a few small pork shoulders on my Weber. It always works out OK but it's just too time consuming. I need an actual smoker. Maybe a bullet style electric model for easy temp control. Does anyone else use one of those?

One thing I'd like to do soon that Bob reminded me of is a bacon lattice wrapped pork loin. The Time recipe wraps a sausage roll, but I think a loin would be better, in many ways. I'd like to put it in a smoker, but I could see just grilling it.

I've thought of going the lazy way and just picking a pre made bacon explosion up since I live near the Kansas City Barbecue Store but they want $30 for it. I don't see how it would cost anywhere near that much to make myself. I'm thinking less than $10. This instant artery clogger is well worth it I'm sure. I bet it would be great with a loin though. I've heard that it can be difficult to cook without total combustion. I think that was mostly in the oven and kettle grills where the heat is too close to the meat.

I grill multiple times a week: fish, pork tenderloin, fajitas, burgers and steaks are favorites.

Our holiday weekend grill special was a variety of sliders:

Asian Turkey Burgers -- ground turkey with a peanut/soy sauce, topped with cucumbers and cilantro pickled in rice vinegar

Black Pepper Burgers -- fresh cracked pepper

Bacon and Cheeseburgers -- chopped, mixed in

Plain Cheeseburgers -- for the kids

I love these little guys. Overdid a little last night, I have to admit.

I had a smoker, but didn't really have the patience for it. I eventually sold mine. Makes me feel like less of a real man, but sometimes I just don't have the time to me a one of those.

I like to take some large Rock Shrimp, add a small piece of goat cheese, wrap in a green chili and bacon and grill em up.