Our second surprise party in two weekends happened yesterday, this time cunningly arranged by Jen and Tyler for Cara’s birthday. She was lured to our house under the pretense of a greeting card discussion and looked a little stunned when she walked out onto our deck to cries of “Surprise!”.
We were joined by:
- Eddie, Manon, Raphael and Gabriel.
- Shawn and Ellen.
- Kevin, Helen and Benjamin.
- Mike.
- Chris and Pierre.
Large amounts of bbq food were consumed, including:
- Baked beans - navy beans soaked overnight, mixed with fried bacon, chopped onions, chopped apples, whizzed tomatoes, brown sugar, maple syrup, salt, pepper and cayenne pepper and baked in a covered pot for 6-8 hours, uncovering for the last hour or so.
- Chicken pieces marinated in a mixture of lemon juice, lime juice, beer, mustard, rosemary, salt and pepper.
- Potatoes and onions drizzled with oil and tossed with rosemary, salt and pepper and grilled in a foil pouch.
- Potato salad dressed with mayo, lemon juice, lime juice, mustard, oregano, pepper and a splash of maple syrup.
- Cherry tomatoes, halved and mixed with sliced vidalia onions, oil and balsamic vinegar.
- Hot dogs. From a package.
There was also much drink, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic, and an ice cream cake with a sheep and quite a few candles (discretion prevents me mentioning exactly how many) on it.
We even managed to squeeze in a few Magic games at the end of the day. Which was nice.
Oh, and we met a married gay couple for the first time. They were very nice and did not destroy our marriage.
