An End of Summer Gathering - written at the beginning of the following Summer
Its been a shamefully long time since our last entry. One of our good friends last weekend asked when we were getting back into writing here. We probably haven’t been as sociable over the Winter months. Our kitchen and dining area gets very steamy very quickly with a mass of bodies sitting around the dining table. Also Winter lighting makes even the tastiest of dishes look quite shit.
This weekend or maybe last marks the proper entry back into our warmer months. It’s a late Sunday morning and I am sitting with every window open and with baskets of clean laundry sitting around my feet. It is excellent laundry weather. The Winter duvet inner is officially airing out on the line ready for its Summer hibernation. This weather mixed with all of our friends coming round last weekend reminds me fondly of the gathering we had the first weekend of March. We invited everyone from all our different circles to come together for one last hurrah. We brought our dining table outside to create one long table with our outdoor table. It was kind of reminiscent of a long Italian family lunch setting or perhaps that Coca Cola ad from a few years ago.
We invested in a charcoal barbecue for this occasion because Dylan wanted to try his hands at making Matty Metheson’s back alley ribs. Next level dedication to a recipe? I had dreams of charcoal brisket but last minute (well the day before which in the world of slow cooking is pretty last minute) I chickened out and slow cooked it in the oven rather than on the flame. In the end, both worked out exceptionally well.
It was only fitting we themed the sides around Southern barbecue. I made a slab of brown butter cornbread which had every single buttery crumb licked off the eater’s fingers. Our Le Creuset spent the day bubbling away with bomb vegan chilli served up with coconut yoghurt and avocado. Of course, there was dirty slaw, corn on the cob, and warm buns. We finished with one of my favourite desserts, brown sugar pie.
The ice buckets were full as were the glasses and we feasted until late, eventually migrating indoors to escape the mosquitos.
We held a similar feast last weekend to celebrate the visit of one friend and the departure of two others. There is something special about hosting our friends to mark the ebb and flow of the group. There is always an open invitation to everyone who is in town. It will be a while before the gang is fully pinned down in the same place but we desperately look forward to the next congregation.
