Do you grill at all? It makes so much sense I should do it more. It’s easy, there’s little cleanup, and when you don’t load down food with cooking oils and stuff, it can be a lot healthier. When you work at home, that’s like the trifecta. Summer is great for roasting vegetables, too — take an onion, a tomato, and a pepper from your garden (if, you know, you’re lucky), add some chunks of meat, and you’ve got kebabs. You don’t even need a jerk sauce or anything — just a little salt and olive oil and you’re set.

I made the most amazing discovery last year: Grilled corn-on-the-cob. Sweet mother of vegetables, I had no idea it could be so good. My family called corn-on-the-cob “roasting ears” so I don’t know why it never occurred to me to actually roast them (back in the early days, people would put immature corn in coals to cook, and that’s where the name came from).

Grilling roasting ears makes so much sense in the summer instead of boiling them — who wants a hot steamy pot of boiling water in the kitchen when it’s 85 degrees? You can use a charcoal or gas grill for your roasting ears — a gas grill will cook them faster, so keep an eye on them.

Take your roasting ears and carefully peel down the outer husks. Take out as much of the silk and inner husks you can. Use the inner husks to tie the outer husks closed. Soak the roasting ears in water for 10 or 15 minutes. Put on the grill for 10-20 minutes. The outer husks will char, but that’s OK. Butter liberally and enjoy.

Here is a Web site with pictures for instructions. If you are camping, just bring foil and wrap the ears and put them in the coals to cook. But don’t wait to camp to try it. Working at home gives you the flexibility to try new things when you’re cooking — take advantage of it!