OK we will get the family pics over quickly and move onto the food. In the spa we have my grandchildren, Noah, 2, and Danny, 8. The pretty little girl in the white dress is Noah and Danny s aunty. I am not sure what I am to her in that she is the daughter of my ex husband and his new wife. Whatever, we are one big family and during winter we have chick lunches where I do a call out on facebook for a ‘Chick Lunch’. All chicks know who they are and it is an amorphous group of about 20 depending on who is available. It gives me the greatest reason to do three roasts, a corn fed organic chicken which gives me stock for the week. I tell Ben my youngest step son that it has been going for years and he is utterly disgusted (but still eats). I also like to do a fore-rib of beef, my favourite, and a belly pork so that Tony and Becky can eat the crackling. Nothing is wasted, it all goes into Tony’s sandwiches for work so lots of food and no guilt. In summer the Chick Lunches are a bit more hit and miss because of the weather and festivals etc but they still happen. Family and friends and friends of friends are welcome and it is a great time to make new friends and new memories. Sad not to see Joe, Rachel and Becky as then we could have got guitars, accordion etc out and done some singing but maybe the neighbours were grateful.
Grandchildren in spa
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Hubby and youngest stepson Ben, just behind is a friend of the kids, we call him the shower breaker. In the next pic is Rick, my ex, in his familiar place at the bbq doing his amazing chicken wings.
So much of my stuff comes from Aden, like the wooden bowl I used before and this big bread basket. You can see the belly pork has bee stripped of its crackling and people are diving into the meat which was slowroasted with herbs, cider, star anise etc. On the right is my version of spare ribs. Pork strips, marinated in hoisin and bbq sauce and cooked in the oven slowly to stop the sugar from burning then turned into kebabs.
My star, the lamb which worked this time and was delicious. I marinated it in yoghourt with fresh garlic, ginger, seasoning and mint. It was a leg of lamb that I boned then char grilled and sliced. Also on the table was red onion and beef tomato salad with basil, olive oil and balsamic vinegar, another salad, new potatoes, rice and flat bread for the lamb. The lamb came from Two Cocks Farm as did the pork. Excellent meat.
More summer days please. Oh and can someone build me a pizza oven please or buy me a Kamado or a Big Green Egg:-). This will be a theme of my blog until someone generously offers to make me very very happy.
Leila's Local Larder 