The River Green

Despite my good friend and her family bailing on us at the very last minute, Marieke and I went ahead with plans to host a Memorial Day cookout. It was the first time we would see our friend from Canada, Jenny Jesty, since she came back to Pittsburgh. We also extended an invitation to Suzy, who made Marieke’s coin bracelet and Kara’s Irish coin necklace. Suzy has a friend, Anita, who is in the same field as Marieke and brought her along as well. My mother rounded out the guest list and I was noticeably the only guy present.

Our menu was, as usual, quite robust. Even though our good friend was supposed to bring the meats that we were then going to grill, forcing Marieke into the den of the grocery store the morning of the shindig- which we scheduled for Sunday before Memorial Day, it all turned out very nice. Perhaps even better than originally planned, since we treated ourselves and our guests to the finest in grillable meats. Our beverages included a gallon jug of iced tea and a case of Yeungling Bock Beer. Also, anything our guests bring to drink for themselves is also often shared. Suzy and Anita brought some Straub beer and Jenny brought ice.

Just before we came inside for dinner, there was a National Geographic moment brought to us by the lovely orange cat that gave me my wounds and his grey long-haired mistress. In the middle of the street. No doubt, breeding more kittens to become territorial over.

The dinner-time conversation was sporadic, which has become endemic of the exquisite fare our guests have become accustomed to at our house. So, most of the conversation took place afterward, on the porch, as we took part in Marieke’s Southern-Style Banana Pudding.

It was such a beautiful evening to spend outside and in the company of new and old friends and family. I didn’t want it to end. But soon enough, everyone departed for their own homes and we were left with not much cleanup at all, since we opted for disposable dishes and flatware.

We were expecting a much larger crowd, so we had so many leftovers and it was hard to fit it all back into our fridge. Luckily, we were smart and only made half as much of all the salads that we planned, even before we found out that our friends were bailing on us. On the menu were deviled eggs, macaroni salad, coleslaw, chips, baked beans, Mom’s tomato-onion-lemon salad, watermelon and an assortment of condiments. It was all very delicious.

The day before, we were invited to our across the street neighbor’s house for a cookout and live music. It’s always fun and the previous occupants of the house- whom we hadn’t seen in a while- were there as well, along with our new neighbor and a couple other people we knew from their large New Year’s bash.

Labels: friends , holidays