SC - OT - Drake's Aussie BBQ

[HICKS, MELISSA]

Morning boys and girls,

My lord Drake (well his mundane persona anyway) was born in England and
therefore has not had what I grew up with "an Aussie Barbie" for
celebrations.  So for his 30th Birthday I arranged one for him.

BBQs in Australia have many regional variations (just like any form of
cookout I guess).  With the help of my mum and my sister, I gave Craig/Drake
the style of food, entertainment, and ambiance I grew up with.

The BBQ itself is an openair grill (I think the one we used was gas).  I did
the time-honored tradition of moving the uncooked food to the BBQ and looked
helpless.  A number of men jumped forward and claimed the implements and
proceeded to cook the meats for me (thus leaving me free to work on the
salads inside).  I say time-honored because it is a cultural thing at any
Aussie BBQ that the men are outside playing with the fire and the women are
inside preparing the nutritious portion of the meal.  Very sexist, but also
accepted practice for some reason.  Even high-paid male executives will
stand around a BBQ with a cold beer in hand,  discussing the game (pick a
sport) on the weekend with the guy next to him, while the University-trained
female is inside checking the salads taste fine and trying to wheedle the
secret of delicious brownies from her grandmother.

On the BBQ we had gluten-free beef sausages (less fillers and more meat),
veal minute steak (basically the meat inside a Veal schnitzel) and chicken
kebabs (pieces of cubed chicken thigh and breast skewered with various
pieces of capsicum, onion, whole button mushrooms etc.) onto skewers and
then grilled.

As a concession to Drake we also had marinated baby octopus which was
threaded onto skewers and grilled.  As I grew up in country NSW, seafood was
not a normal part of my childhood diet.

The salads we put with this were My Grandmother's potato salad (cold cooked
chunks of potato and egg, with thin slices of raw onion and garlic chives in
a creamy dressing). My Mother's Coleslaw (thinly sliced raw cabbages - white
and red, grated carrot and green peas in a piquant creamy dressing) and a
green salad (various lettuces shredded, sliced of cucumber, tomato and three
different types of capsicum all tossed together with a vinaigrette on the
side and Bulgarian feta crumbled over the top).

Earlier in the afternoon we had a selection of Turkish dips and breads with
potato crisps, lollies etc. for the kids.

Dessert (a couple of hours after the BBQ) was three birthday cakes: White
Chocolate Mud Cake, Caramello Cheesecake and Lemon Meringue pie (all
commercially bought from "the Cheesecake Factory").

We also had a selection of cheeses for later in the evening but I had
slightly overcatered and we were too full.

The entertainment in the afternoon was planned to include water fights
(water pistols and balloons) Frisbees and the ubiquitous game of backyard
cricket (which would need another message all by itself) but it was just too
hot!  

Overall, people stood or sat, chatted with friends ate lots of food and
mingled.  We had around 50-60 guests and most people ate standing up with a
paperplate full of food in one hand, a fork in the other looking for a place
to sit down the beer where the children/cats couldn't get at it.

Overall a very relaxing time for all (well except the cleanup staff - i.e.
me) and we did manage to catch-up with lots of friends.

Mel - who is now off to do some work for the day - and think about the dire
retributions she shall wreak on her lord and her Sith-Twin.  How many times
have you pair been told NOT to pick on the Americans <sigh>.


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