« Fish in a barrel | Main | Happy landing »
September 09, 2007
Damn the flies
So Friday I decide to throw a couple things into the fridge to thaw out so we can do the weekend cookout deal. Nothing major, just a couple steaks that we wanted to get rid of and a bag of scallops, plus a stack of frozen burgers, which we also want to get rid of. (No, that's not as nasty as it sounds. The hubby got some steaks from a different source than usual and they're not as good as the ones we usually get. It's not like they were all old and funky, just mediocre.) I've been on this strange day schedule the past couple of days (which I need to stay on for travel purposes, but that's a whole other story...) and waking up pre-dawn. We were both active before the sun even got up in the sky, and the hubby up and decides, out of nowhere, to invite a friend from Lubbock to come over for a cookout.
Little did I realize where this was going...
One invite turned into two, which turned into three, which turned into pretty much anybody we knew in the area. Now I like to have party time, but I don't care for spontaneous, put this shit together in a couple of hours, party time. But that's how it was gonna be.
Fortunately I already had some food prepped. Now I just had to throw shrimp into a bag to marinate, put another stack of burgers to thaw along with pork chops and a few more steaks. Plus we now had to make the house a bit more presentable - get some gnarly shit off the bomb shelter, mow, clean off the table, find chairs for outside and inside. Plus I had to make a second go 'round at the grocery store, because I didn't expect we would need anything on Friday except for a few staples. Basically this was a lightning round version of what we usually do for July 4th.
I wasn't exactly expecting everyone we invited to show up, but somehow the majority of them did. Interesting mix of folks, and everyone seems to have had a great time. Now they all think I'm a miracle worker for pulling a big dinner party out of my ass at a moment's notice. It was kinda funny when I'd come out of the house with yet another pile of meat and they'd ask "What are you cooking now?" Little did they realize that I was planning to cook an entire zoo's worth of critters. Everyone stuffed themselves silly, then had a nice long visit around the table. Surprisingly, everyone even stayed late, not leaving til about eleven.
The only bad thing was the damn flies. They were rampant because of the wet weather, and even more so because the field had just had a nice coating of manure. I'd originally planned a bunch of nice nibbly bits to put out so everyone could snack while I cooked, but the flies were so bad that we couldn't leave any food out on the table. Stupid insects. And of course they finally buzzed off just as it was getting dark and I finished up the last of the sausage on the grill. So instead of having nice picnic style snackies outside we ended up just piling it all on the table inside. There was so much food left over that I don't think I'll have to cook until... well, I get home from California.
P.S. (from da hubby, since he's reading this over my shoulder as I type) -
He did a fantastic job, he pulled it off super fantastic, and I love him with all my heart. What a varied group it was, and it came together so good.
Posted by damyano at September 9, 2007 03:22 PM