Sunday, July 4, 2010

The Inaugural Barbecue



Welcome to week 35, and Happy Independence Day! Which is always a curious time for those of us from the Old Country, especially since many of our children are American. As usual, we ex-pats gathered together to enjoy the great British pursuits of barbecue, swimming in the outdoor pool, and beer drinking. Well, I guess one out three isn't bad.

Anyway.

Today provided an excuse for the first use of the new outdoor kitchen. Next weekend we have the whole set of ex-pat friends over - that'll be 26 people in all - so we thought we'd have a good go today when there were only 11 of us. I bought Hubby a new grilling cookbook at William Sonoma ("Planet Barbecue" by Steven Raichlen) and selected a number of recipes for us to try, making sure that we used the rotisserie grill, of which our friend Richard had been very scornful...

The menu included:
- Santa Maria Tri-Tip (beef)= Californian recipe
- Ginger, Garlic and Honey Grilled Back Ribs (pork) = Cambodian recipe
- Grilled Tofu with Chile Peanut Sauce = Malaysian recipe
- Grilled Bananas = Colombian recipe
- Caramelized Grilled Pineapple = Brazilian recipe
- Rotisserie Onions = Brazilian recipe





We also had salads made by our friends, a summer pudding made by Deep Thought, cup cakes made by a friend's daughter, plain grilled chicken,
"British Bangers", and tofu burgers. (One family visiting us today is vegetarian.)


When the guys started, the grills were pristine and shiney. Now they look about 10 years old. What can I say: "Man, He Make Fire." Hubby will need to be out there tomorrow morning with a big, big bucket of soapy water to scrub it all down. One good thing is that we have a lot of leftover meat (intentionally), so we won't need to cook so much this week.

Here's a picture of Hubby reading the cook book. It seems to be upside down, which may account for some of the anxiety and high tension around the cooking process.

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