Saturday
12 September
Tonight our friends Susan and Mike
had planned an end-of-summer backyard barbeque, inviting us and their friend
Debby to welcome our dear retired head librarian, Jean, back from Florida. But fate was less than co-operative. The skies grew grey; it drizzled, then poured. The temperature plummeted. To top it off, Jean got sick and couldn't
come. But when we drove up that evening,
they had the grill set up, fire blazing, and just moved dinner indoors.
Our part for the potluck was our
Garden of Eden pole beans (plus a few purple Carminats), done the old fashioned
way: melted a batch of bacon grease in a deep pot, sizzled a whole chopped
onion and 2-3 garlic cloves in it, then piled in a couple of pounds of these
heavy green beans, sliced into short sections. Added water to almost
cover and salt to taste, and simmered them for two hours until they were
meltingly tender. At last, added pepper and salt, and let them cool down
for transport (also, you want to eat them warm, not hot).
While Mike went out and grilled a
couple of salmon fillets seasoned with rosemary, Debby produced a variety of
vegetables from Fresh Table at Findlay Market: beet and goat cheese, mushrooms
and celery in mayonnaise, and some delicious crispy chickpeas with grape
tomatoes and olives. So when the fish was done, we filled our plates to
capacity, and then ourselves.
For dessert, Susan had made a
batch of her famous lemon bars (she knows how Barbara feels about lemon) and
little cups of cheesecake on red velvet crusts. By that time, the rain
had passed, so we could sit outside, watch Mike feed wood to the blaze in the
fire-pit, and pet the dogs and chat and sip scotch, as so inclined.
Thanks,
Mike and Susan; you took an unpromising day and turned it into a perfect
backyard barbeque in the end.
