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Showing posts with the label bbq

Birthday Barbeque

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W e had a really nice birthday barbeque celebration in the backyard this past weekend.  Although it was a bit smoky from the Canadian wildfires, the weather was actually quite nice for a change! The company was good.  The food was good.  The drinks were cold.  There were plenty of games to play.  The rain stopped just long enough for us to set up the yard on Friday, have a great time together on Saturday and then clean up before it started raining again.   Looking at these photos, it seems to me that everyone had a good time! As always, the kids congregated on the sailboat most of the day.  At one point, four of the grandchildren were on the sailboat at the same time (photo above).  I have no idea how they all fit in that rather small cockpit!  In hindsight, when I saw that the four of them were on the sailboat together, I should have had Liza place 10 day old Sophia into Lukey or Kenzie's arms too so I could get a photo of all the grandchildren on the sailboat at the same time.  

Getting Ready for Barbeque

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W e always have our first barbeque of the season on the weekend that falls around July 1st which happens to be my birthday.  This year, we had this barbeque on July 1st.  If anyone is wondering, I turned 61 years old this year.  Unfortunately, most days, I feel like I'm 81 and I have difficulty and a lot of pain trying to get around and I even look the part due to being hunched over and having difficulty standing.  Contrary to how I feel on these days, my birth certificate claims I am 61 years old this year.   We had a very dry spring to the point where everything in the yard was dying and turning brown but the past two weeks were filled with day after day of solid rain until the day before our scheduled barbeque.  The rain stopped just in time for me to mow the lawn, do some much needed landscaping and set up the backyard for our barbeque.  It was sunny, hot and humid with a bit of smoke from Canadian wildfires hanging in the air.  My health didn't fare so well and I ended up

First Dinner Guests Post-Vaccination

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T oday, we will be having our first dinner guests since getting vaccinated.  I was finally fully vaccinated this past Wednesday which was two weeks after my second dose of the vaccine.  Sheila was fully vaccinated a week before I was fully vaccinated so she was already good to go.  So, today, we'll be having Sheila's parents over for dinner. Yesterday evening, Liza and the kids stopped by for maskless hugs.  They stayed long enough for Lukey and I to play a few rounds of golf in the backyard.  Afterward, the kids played with the walkie-talkies learning a bit more about aviation/military radio etiquette and terminology.  They even chose callsigns for each other...  Lukey is "Hockey Puck" and Kenzie is "Skater" and the playhouse is "Playhouse Ops".   Back to tonight's dinner... our dinner will be barbequed shish-ka-bob consisting of tender steak, potatoes, red onions, green peppers, cherry tomatoes, fresh mushrooms and a couple of skewers of fres

Pulled Pork on the Grill

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W e had pulled pork for dinner last night and it was pretty good.  I made my own maple cole slaw and some hand-cut fries to go with it.  It was a really nice meal but it was an all day affair making it! One thing is certain... Having an outdoor kitchen under a roof makes something like this far easier and more pleasant to accomplish.   I did something a bit differently this time around.  Usually we take the quick and easy route by slow cooking the pork in the oven for about four hours.  That always turns out well but this time I went with a much slower cook on the grill.  I did it on the grill this time around for two reasons.  First, any meat tastes better on the grill.  And two, if I used the grill, then I could actually smoke the pork for even more flavor.   I applied my homemade dry rub on Friday and let the pork sit in the fridge overnight.  Then I started the grill at around 9:45am with a combination of Cherry wood chips and Apple wood chips (all pre-soaked overnight) in the smok

Another Saturday Barbeque

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We invited Will and Sue as well as Liza and the kids over this past weekend for another barbeque in the backyard.  It was a beautiful day and everyone enjoyed themselves.   I have to mention that it has become very clear to Sheila and me that the best home improvement project we have ever done was to build our outdoor kitchen and grill.  This improvement has made things so much easier even in the dead of winter.  That outdoor kitchen and grill is under cover away from rain, hail and snow.  In the summertime when inside the house is ridiculously hot and sticky, it is awesome having everything available outdoors.  We could still use a few small improvements in this convenient outdoor kitchen but it is already our most useful home improvement.  This kitchen worked out very well on this day too. When the kids arrived, they were pretty hot so we started off the day with fresh strawberry popsicles.  Because of the pandemic, we don't see the kids all that often anymore so I try to get