Bento’s Bone
Saturday. Warm and sunny all day, clear blue skies — perfect weather for a barbecue. This was convenient because that was precisely what we planned to do. We have three reasons for a family gathering this weekend: it’s Dash’s 16th birthday next week, Raff has just completed the first year of his degree course at Canterbury Christ Church University, and with all the family coming to visit, it’s the perfect send-off for Kenadee and Bentley, who fly back to the States in a couple of weeks. We spent the morning getting ready, making salads and desserts, and marinating meats. Vanessa raided the butcher’s in Preston yesterday, and we must have a whole farm animal’s worth of meat in the fridge — enough to feed an Army, or even my family. Ed, Tara, Gail and Luca arrived in the afternoon, and I got the barbecue fired up.
It was a wonderful afternoon, with great company and the best steaks ever. For a birthday treat, Dash had an enormous tomahawk steak all to himself — it looked like half a dinosaur. In addition to the steaks, we had sausages, burgers, Piri Piri chicken, sweetcorn, Greek salad and new potatoes. For dessert, Vanessa’s amazing chocolate and raspberry pavlova with ice cream, and several rounds of Jumbo Jenga on the lawn. Milo was off to a friend’s 21st birthday around seven, so I gave him a lift to Herne Bay before settling in for a relaxing evening.
