England is not renowned for it's good weather. The last several months (prior to the Olympics) we've been bombarded with rain, rain and more rain. In fact when God made in rain for 40 days and 40 nights for Noah, it was probably just the build up to what he had in store for England in 2012.
Several weekends ago we had the pleasure of organising the food for the Cookham Dean Annual Croquet and Tennis Charity event. Talking through the ideas with the organiser, we discussed on several items namely what wines would be severed and how many people to expect..
Of course when the topic of having BBQ food came up, there was a slight pause in conversation. They wanted a meal in the OPEN air, cooked over an OPEN grill. At this point I distinctly remember looking outside the shop window seeing the torrential rain coming down and thinking about how useful a rubber dingy would be for getting me home. Regardless we agreed to the terms, though we had to stress the point that there would be very little to change in the event of a monsoon.
Fortunately mother nature can be kind when it matters most. Come the day of the event not one grey cloud in the sky, making it a nice change and aside from having a long queue for the food everyone had a pleasant experience and enjoyed the food & wine so much, they are looking forward to seeing us at next years charity event.
Such a nice day I just had to snap some photos.
Dad slaving away on the BBQ. Mind you he wont let any else near his pride and joy, and its probably best not to argue with man holding ALL the sharp utensils.
BBQ's are all well and good, but there's nothing wrong with adding a little bit of green on the side. Freshly home-made pasta salad and potato salad is a meal in itself. Suffice to say, its a good thing we made extra as I'm pretty sure I served several people more than once.
Had to stock up on a few different variety's of wine and some soft drinks for the kids. The Temps des Fleurs rose and Sparkling Champalou we're flying off the bar, leaving the reds on the side lines. Had the weather decided to go go grey and wet, no doubt it would be the other way round.
Sun is setting but the atmosphere hasn't slowed down one bit, and why would it when surrounded by good people, good wine, good food and of course a good game of croquet.
Best of all after, a nice treat of home grown strawberry s & blueberry s topped off with some cream and a meringue. Its nice to get such sweet rewards for a job well done ^_^
