Barbecue summer

I decided that we ought to barbecue this evening, we don’t do it very often because of the thatch and the fact that we need to light it some way away from the house which makes transporting the cooking arduous.  I bought marinated lamb from Sky Park Farm and made a big dish of marinated peppers and a garlic sauce. 

Then we remembered that the barbecue fell apart last year and we had had to buy a new one with the John Lewis vouchers so quite a lot of time was spent setting it up and trying to light some rather ancient charcoal.  All the while V was on a zoom to his elderly aunt in Washington who said ‘I didn’t realise English people had barbecues’

But it worked, the garlic sauce was too runny, the lamb a bit overcooked but the peppers were perfect and it was glorious to eat in the golden light.  We felt too full for the gooseberry sorbet I made early this morning but its time will come. 

V spent most of the day inside, like a good Californian/Indian he stays out of the sun but he also needed to do taxes.  I walked first thing and then did some gardening in the shadier parts of the garden.  Mainly the Hampton Hack which I read is the later iteration of the Chelsea Chop timed for the Hampton Court Garden Show. 

I was  jealous when I heard that Rachel had gone for a swim at her secret place, a nature reserve which is too shingly to be a useful beach but where the twitchers gather.