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.