Is this a new oven or a new problem with an old oven? In a gas oven all the heat comes from the bottom. It will balance out a little more as it becomes preheated. I would first have it checked new or old to see if it is working correctly. If a new oven, and it is working correctly, you might try insulating the bottom of your dish by either an aluminum cookie sheet directly underneath or on the shelf below. You might also make sure your oven is totally preheated when you put your food in. I would avoid pyrex or any type of glass as this will hold the heat. It is always a good idea to get an independent oven thermometer and check the temp in different areas of the oven.

I have the Weber Performer. It's an awesome grill. I used a Weber kettle for years with great success, but in a moment of weakness I retired it for a Weber Genesis gas grill. Gas grilling is convenient, but it's not the same. Last year I purchased the Weber Performer to get the convenience of gas starting, but the cooking flavor/performance of charcoal. First, the propane assist is just a charcoal starter. I stack the charcoal in a compact pile over the starter and ignite it. Of course the bottom vents are wide open and the lid is off at this point. After about 3 or 4 minutes, I can hear the charcoal snapping, popping, and smoking to indicate it's "lit." I turn off the propane and let the charcoal burn down until nearly all sides are covered with fine layer of ash. Then, I knock the pile down and spread it evenly across the bottom grate for cooking. Now, I put the top grate and the lid on and open the top vent wide open. I watch the temperature climb to >400 degrees, then open the lid and brush the top grate to clean it. Close the lid and use the upper and lower vents to control the airflow and thus the temperature. After some experience, I know just about how much to close them down to hit a temperature range I'm after. This assumes you're using good quality charcoal and not using too much of it. I prefer the hardwood "lump" charcoal. The old standard Kingston briquets don't seem as high quality as they once were. If, for instance, I'm cooking hamburgers, I'll have just enough charcoal to cover the bottom grate with the chunks spaced 1/2" to 1" apart. Hamburgers cook pretty quickly. Don't use the little half-round trays Weber includes to hold the charcoal for normal grilling. Those are for special circumstances when you want indirect heat. When I'm done cooking, I close all the upper and lower vent to extinguish the charcoal. I use the leftover charcoal from the previous grilling as the base of for the next cooking and add a little more from the bag to make the pile I want. If you aren't getting to the temperature you want, you may have crappy charcoal, inadequate airflow, or impatience.

We went to a couple of barbeque places today and ending up buying the extra large Big Green Egg, and I think we will be very happy with it. Kevin thinks it will be great for parties, and now it will be even easier for us to cook for a crowd. Since we now have three charcoal grills, we can use separate grills for separate dishes which will make it easier for us to make multiple dishes at once, even if they require different temperatures. We also have the electric smoker, and I have to say that we get a more intense smoke flavor from that than we do from the charcoal - or at least it permeates the meat more. For smoking chilies, only the charcoal will do the job the way I want it. The BGE that we bought also has a pizza stone and can be used for grilling pizza - something that I've been wanting to do since first visiting the pizza making forum. We bought some outdoor lights for our pergola, and I think they will provide way more light than we required, but at least we can lower the wattage when we want to. I haven't bought anything for lighting the fountain yet because I want to have that installed by an electrician on an exterior wall of the house. I'm hoping to light much of the back yard that way and have it on a dimmer. I don't really want underwater lights in my fountain at this point but will talk with the electrician about that. I'm thinking that I will get my yard lit in stages and start off with getting some outdoor outlets installed at strategic points so that lights could be hooked up later. We went out for dinner this evening because I wanted sushi! We haven't assembled the Big Green Egg yet. Lars

I've been grilling BF the past couple of days on his views about getting a grill. He says, "We don't need one, we won't use it." But I know he has been eyeing that little Weber one whenever we go to K-mart or the hardware store. I like the little front tray part on the marine one Tricia posted. I think the cheif plus for us about having a gas grill would be ease of use and the chance to have some outdoor cooking space to supplement our tiny kitchen. My stove area is claustrophobic to say the least. It would give BF a chance to cook without having me in the way making the salad or whatnot. As it is, cooking together is a study in patience in my "one butt" kitchen. We dream of having our own place someday, with room for a big garden too. I've had some rounds of illness that have made it hard just to keep up with what I have here. BF is my rock, G-d bless him! BF has a covered back patio at his house just off the kitchen back door so he can grill year round and he definately has used it as a kitchen extension since his kitchen is almost as small as mine, albeit maybe a little bit better laid out. I don't see us grilling in the winter when the patio is full of snow. We'll not be covering our tiny patio for a good long while, if ever. I do have an extra patio umbrella though, so maybe I could leave it set up over the grill in the winter, lol! BTW, anyone who doubts the benefits of vegetation for combating the heat island effect should hang out in my yard. It is probably 10 degrees cooler out there than it used to be when I just had a big ol' wooden deck on the back of my house. I never went out there in the summer, it was hot and I felt like I was on display for the whole row/neighborhood.