British BBQ

I have now officially attended my first BBQ of the summer and my first in Britain.  For those of you who think American's eat a lot of meat, you haven't seen the British.  They even beat the Texan's, and that's saying something.  

Even for normal meals here there is always meat and lots of it.  But it's not one big whatever, it's lots of different meat, but in generous portions.  For Example the traditional British breakfast is eggs, ham, bacon and possibly sausage thrown in for good measure.  I've had dinners that had turkey with a pig in a blanket (sausage wrapped in bacon).  

So for a BBQ all the stops are pulled.  Cooked on the grill we had pork steaks with the most delectable coating of seasonings.... I wish I knew exactly what...., hamburger patties, sausage, and lamb kofta (shish kabob), as well as grilled corn on the cob.  Then cooked in the oven was a spatchcocked chicken, BBQ pork spare ribs  and roasted veg.  There was potato salad, green salad, buns, cheese, crisps (chips) salsa and hummus.  For pudding (dessert) there were  marshmallows for roasting plus a marshmallow meringue stack.  -all for just for 8 people. Pretty sure we could have fed about 20.... Did I over eat?  You better believe it! 

The weather actually cooperated and it was the perfect temperature, light breeze and sunshine.  Rarity in the UK. It was a nice celebration for me for turning in all my assignments and finishing the taught part of my program.  I survived! The celebration was actually for a friend's birthday, but hey, it was fitting for all of the stress, worry and headache of the past 8 months.  I could actually just enjoy the day.  My favorite part was helping in the kitchen doing the washing up and the clean up while my friends could enjoy time with  family.  It was extremely therapeutic for me and made it so that they didn't have to face the "aftermath" when everyone left.  I think that is always the worst part about having a huge food bash.  So it gave me something productive to do that was physical which was a needed change from constantly typing at my computer.  

So now after long weeks of inactivity and too much food, it's time to get serious about exercise again.  But since we are headed into summer, that should be a little easier to accomplish and to stay on track for maintaining a healthy lifestyle.  I just need less stress, more sunshine and exercise.... and a British BBQ every now and again because, well it's just fabulous food!