summer BBQ
Auckland, New Zealand
For our readers abroad (and now that we are back we should use the kiwi-ism and call you/them “overseas readers”…..we don’t tend to say “abroad” here – probably because in order to go abroad we have to go overseas. Besides, it sounds posh!)…..anyway, the point is we are back in the swing of quintessential kiwi life: we were invited out for a BBQ. Tomorrow we’ll be invited to another. The formula is simple: we take some homemade bread, the lady of the house makes a salad and the men bond as they char the meat over the grill. It’s a recipe that speaks of summer.
The only thing is, it doesn’t really *feel* like summer to us.
Well, of course it is much much warmer than we were a month ago in Romania.
The sun is shining and it hasn’t rained yet, which is actually pretty good for an Auckland summer <wink> That sun sets after nine….which is later than the European winter-is-approaching and so the sun disappears far-too-early-for-our-liking that we were experiencing just a week ago….but it is also much earlier than the long lazy evenings of Italian summer that had preceded the autumn…..*then* the sun was still making shadows at 11pm!!
And the evenings get nippy. We know that; we’ve lived here for most of our lives. But today when we went to our friends’ place we did not think to take sweatshirts. Brrrr.
(But the cockles of our hearts were warmed as we watched their cat give birth to kittens….yes, even Mrs Don’t Like Cats was interested).
For the past few years SUMMER has meant begging, borrowing and eventually buying camping gear and going away with friends to the beach. This year the tent is still gathering cobwebs under the roof. It will not be coming down. We are still emptying boxes. It feels more like we’re moving house than taking a holiday.
Probably because that’s exactly what we *are* doing! And going to BBQs too.
insert pics if our host sends them to us –
we forgot to take our own camera
and one pic from our backyard to remind us it IS summer
Tags: 2008/09, food, postcard: New Zealand, recreation, tradition
rayres
Y’know, if you guys aren’t ready for summer yet we could always switch places. Been snowing here nonstop since Sunday at least so there’s several inches and I’d be happy to lend your kids the old sleds once the drive is shoveled. 😉 Wouldn’t say no to Kiwi summer with BBQ either!