Three days of long weekend? That'll be three days of rain, then. Even by Blighty's standards this was a shitty Bank Holiday break. I'm astonished they managed to fit in enough cricket in Leeds to see off the Windies, what with the bad light, the torrential downpours and the hailstorms and everything. Apparently it was the coldest conditions for test cricket for over 40 years. Perfect weather for a barbecue then...
Yes: buoyed by the balminess of the start of last week I decided to round up a few chums for a bit of outdoor cooking. This meant a very long day on Saturday, kicking off with visits to the extreme reaches of the culinary retail spectrum (Borough Market and Asda on the Old Kent Road), followed by a cursory effort with the hoover and the lawn mower and a finally few hours of therapeutic chopping and marinating in the kitchen, all the while casting nervous glances at the heavens.
On the menu were asparagus from Secretts Farm (apparently nearly the last of the season); some stupidly tasty Jersey Royals; an all-too-small salad of quickly cooked peas and broad beans; a bigger affair of tomato, olive and feta; chorizo and haloumi kebabs, sticky blackened (OK slightly burnt!) ribs; a leg of Herdwick mutton (above) carefully butterflied by Farmer Sharp himself; and a monkfish tail smothered in yoghurty tandoori goodness. All tucked away with a certain aplomb by the assembled masses. Later Trig and Howard raided the cupboard for vanilla to add to the cream they were whipping up to go with a big bowl of strawberries.
Did we get wet? Of course we did. Did we care? What do you think?
Incidentally, on a night of slightly retro music (you don't get much else in my house), someone saw fit to jumble up my ultimate retro toy. Two days later, however, after much head scratching and dredging of long forgotten memories, it's back to its former glory:
The squares on that cube have definitely been peeled at some point. It looks loose from being taken apart too :-)
Posted by: Alastair Vaan | 30/05/2007 at 12:07 AM
Oh ye of little faith. The peeling is a result of 25 years of wear and tear. The blistering (not easy to see in this photo) is the result of being left on the parcel shelf of dad's car on a drive to the South of France. The looseness... Well I confess it may have been taken apart at some point, but not this time. You'll have to take my word for that as I'm not going to mess it up again!
Posted by: Ben Bush | 30/05/2007 at 09:54 AM
I'm only jealous as my only puzzle solving only got as far as the one trick pony Rubik's Magic, and solving the dragon lock... :-)
Posted by: Alastair Vaan | 30/05/2007 at 05:26 PM
Cheers for the great bbq, Ben. The monkfish in particular was fantastic! You've got some great friends too.
Btw I took a hilarious photo of you after you drunkenly crashed out on the sofa. Although I'm sure your readers would love to see it, you'll be glad to know I'll spare your dignity! ;-)
Thanks again for the party
Posted by: Trig | 30/05/2007 at 07:17 PM
Thanks Trig. Pictures of the Bush menfolk crashed out on sofas are never going to draw huge sums at auction: they're hardly rare. But thanks for keeping it to yourself. Feel free to email it. I might find a use for it in a future post...
Posted by: Ben Bush | 31/05/2007 at 09:18 AM