GENEVA - At this point, all that's left of summer cookout memories are burnt-out briquette embers and ashes.

In other words, grilling season is over for most of us. Not so for the members of the Pathetic Suburban Males Grill Club.

Jeff Hale of Geneva heads the online club that club shares recipes, tips and other grilling techniques. The Web site and group were started by Jeff Hale, who got the idea after he and his wife moved a few years ago from Chicago to Geneva.

"I discovered how enjoyable it was to sit and sip a beer slowly, smoke a good cigar and listen to the music coming from my garage, especially on a cool, quiet Geneva night with the stars out after a day of hearing sirens go off in the city outside my office window. I started finding pleasure in just sitting in front of a grill and nursing food on low heat, relaxing and taking it easy," Hale said.

Jeff Long gets it. The Naperville resident joined the group recently, after reading about it. Like a lot of the members, the die-hard tailgater is not easily deterred from outdoor cooking by winter's harsh gales.

"Our types have known (about) grilling in the wintertime," said Long, who's an especially ardent fan of smoking meats. "It's no secret to us. It's a way of sustenance."

Being a smoked-meat connoisseur, Long understands that it's useless to be in a hurry. "That's the nice thing about smoking," he said. "We always make the joke that you put your food on about kickoff of the first game and then you go back out and get your food at halftime of the second game."

Hale concurs that anything worth eating is worth taking a little time.

"One of the things you'll see routinely mentioned on the site is that high heat and impatience makes for very bad food," he said. "If you want to make something like a good rack of ribs … it takes some time."

For Christmas 2006, Hale's in-laws bought him a copy of Weber's Real Grilling by Jamie Purviance and Tim Turner, which he read on the train ride into work. Then in early 2007, disappointed that he couldn't find a Web site "that detailed the adventures of everyday guys like me on the grill," he launched the Pathetic Suburban Males Grill Club. Hale said the name came to him during a discussion with a younger co-worker at Chicago Title Insurance Co.

"I told him, 'You know you've really become a pathetic suburban male when you're excited that Ace has just left you a message that your lawn mower blade has been sharpened and is ready for pickup,"' Hale said.

"I tell the group that I bring the southern flavor to the group - and by southern I mean south of I-55. I live in Homewood, and during the grilling season, I will cook out five to six nights a week," said Brad Mulay, a co-worker of Hale's.

"I love to grill, and the Web site is not only educational for the recipes within, but is also comical," said Steve Hartschuh of Hinsdale, who also works with Hale.

"In one situation, they had a running clock for me as to when I would come into the office and say I grilled something other than hamburgers, hot dogs or bratwurst. I believe it was up to five weeks, four days, 12 hours and 32 minutes."

A diehard griller, Hartschuh grills three to four times a week, whatever the season.

"Even in the winter, my dog and I go outside, and I open up the grill and have a beer while Buddy eats a rawhide. … My neighbors are constantly coming into my backyard, asking what I'm grilling and sticking around for beers," he said.