What a beautiful weekend it has been here in Blighty. Blue skies and 20 degrees Centigrade. Cold by aussie standards of course, but with virtually no wind, a big plus for us still in the UK.
So, having had a lovely day out with the teenagers and dogs at the Point to Point, it had to be a Barbie! No shrimps available alas, but lots of sausages and chicken marinated in some spicy stuff, with jacket potatoes, coleslaw and salad washed down with a lovely spanish white Rioja. Perfik. (typically, the local supermarket had run out of all meat and rolls/buns!)
How glad am I that I cleaned the BBQ after its last use in the autumn?!!
What did everyone else do to enjoy the blue sky April weekend?
Oh, and a quick update, the lawn is looking much better after lots of top soil trodden down in the uneven bits with some see just starting to come through in the bare bits!
Boadicea's Chariot 
Hiya Cuprum – The Cave is blessed with two barbies. One is a brick jobbie with a fancy Portuguese chimney, marble worktops and a sink that I use for spatchcocked chickens, steaks, ribs and suchlike small stuff. The other is a 45 gallon drum sawn in half lengthways and set on a waist-height stand courtesy of the village blacksmith. This is for grilling baby goats, piglets and whole salmon. There is also a mumu pit on the hillside for the really big stuff.
At 09.40 hrs it is a cloudless 23º in the shade here and I think the barbies may just get a hammering come lunchtime.
OZ
OZ – I wish I could match that! Fresher here this morning, but still blue skies.
Mine is a proper cheating BBQ with and attached gas cannister! Still, there’s nothing like cooking and eating outside!
Cuprum – I am disappointed. Shame on you for the gas-fuelled barbie. Still, if you must, sniff, cooking and eating outside is better than anything. Enjoy!
OZ
I know, I do feel the shame. Fortunately the neighbours also have a cheating one so I don’t feel too inadequate!
I succumbed to the ‘dark side’ for a while, it was too easy.
Back with the good ol’ kettle weber now though.
Sorry OZ but I still use briquettes instead of lumpwood. Easier to clean and I can cook for longer. Specially for indirect stuff. I bought a briquette lighting chimney at the weekend, now I’m itching to try it out. 🙂
We ate out at lunch time on the patio, but the nearest we came to a BBQ was lighting a fire in the veg plot. So still that the plume of smoke went straight up for once, and didn’t drift back up to the house.
Yesterdays forecast said this weather wouldn’t last, but so far it is a beautiful morning here.
Raining here Nym. 😦
At least you are all cooking and eating outside. That is the main thing. We can argue the toss on methods later. (Briquettes being the fuel of Satan, for example.)
Care to share any favourite recipes?
OZ
It’s amazing how different the weather can be from North to South… where are you Ferret? How long have I in Oxfordshire before my weather deteriorates?
I know chum, but when I do chicken whole, the lumpwood doesn’t burn for long enough. Briquettes are more stable and burn far longer.
I seem to remember we swapped loadsa recipes last year, including ‘Beer Can Chicken’.
Noocassle Nym,
Remember, its grim oop norf.
I used to live in Carterton (near Witney and RAF Brize Norton) for 7.5 years, that place was like a dustbowl in the summer. Wayyyyy too ‘ot fer me.
😀
OZ
Sunday is a busy day for me. Musical duties in the morning. A meal at a Pakistani restuarant mid-day. A visit to a friends house mid afternoon. She a young DJ showing me how to mix two songs on the deck (Knowing when to “drop” one song onto the other.) My friend serving me a couscous meal with chicken later on, the girl in question being from Sierra Leone. Oh yes, watched the final of the School Choir of the year on BBC 1 ….and then the golf, US Masters back at home. NO BBQ but a real sense of adventure and a sunny day all round!
Jeez, Ferret. For a small furry mustelid, you have the memory of a Heffalump. Beer Can chicken is only one way.
OZ
PapaG – Live the life! Go for it!
OZ
Yup OZ,
We agree on our spatchcock method too.
If I really want to impress I spend an hour de-boning the whole chicken and rolling it with a sage, apricot and chestnut stuffing. Tie it up wiff string and slow roast like a pork joint.
Lamb can only go one way in our house. Off the bone, spread out flat and marinated in yoghurt and tandoori spices with fresh garlic, ginger and chilli for at least a day in a bag in the fridge.
I have been up on the Wirral, returned Saturday. We had lot of rain on Thursday while it was dry here, but the Wirral often has better weather than here, Ferret. Noocassle… long time since I’ve been there
Ferret – You are a man after my own heart. And you are coming to The Cave when?
OZ
We’ll sort that out chum. In May, I have a new kitchen to deal with financially and Christopher has ordered more pens than I make in a year (only joshing but it is a goodly size order) on the spare time front.
Defo this year p’raps late May/June time? We will have see when our diaries are free. 🙂
Cuprum: I made a simple soup and drank tea while eating Japanese sweets. It was cool, so there was not much point to going outside but I did take a few walks which was nice. Went cheese tasting and bought a bottle of locally-produced moscato.