At the end of the night last night, Joe did a
slide show of half of the photos from the trip he and Alice Nan just took to
Machu Pichu. The photos are wonderful and we thoroughly enjoyed them,
but we were all so worn out from our day at the beach that we decided to see
the other half today and everyone went to bed. I briefly thought about
writing this entry, as I do every night, to post for the following day, but
realized that I was so exhausted there was no way I could get it done.
I figured I would write it when I woke up in the middle of the night.
I didn't think "the middle of the night"
would only be an hour and a half later and at 1:30, I thought about getting
up and writing it, but decided to sleep just a bit longer. That was 2
hours ago and sleep never came, so since this is the one thing I can
control, here goes...
We had a quiet morning, with no frenzy
getting ready for the big BBQ. Joe and Tom have been doing this for so
many years now that it is down to a science. At noon, we all left for
the beach, with Walt and me taking a detour to Albertson's to pick up the
cake I had ordered.
I don't know who was more delighted with the
cake--me, or the cake decorator, who was just beside herself at having
designed a cake for a 49er fan.
I remember those cake decorator days and
being tickled at finding "just the right design" for a customer. She
explained that the grey blobs on the right are Raiders, whom the 49ers have
just defeated.
There was a small group at the meeting place,
a group that would swell to maybe 50 by the time dinner was served.
Tom and Joe got started cooking sausage and pork belly to have for
"starters." I've heard about pork belly on the Food Network for years,
but never had it. Fried fat. What could possibly be more
delicious? I sent a photo to Facebook saying I was "pigging out on
pork belly.
The girls got ready to go play in the water
Meanwhile Tom and Joe manned the BBQ and all
that meat: tri tip roasts, chicken drumsticks and thighs, shrimp,
several different kinds of sausage, ribs and the pork belly. The
amount of food was amazing. Dad was the overseer.
There was a young man there from Kenya.
He lives near where my sponsored child Wainaina lives and told me how to
pronounce "Wainaina." Joe's daughter is going to be working in Tanzania
for a month and he was giving her pointers. I wondered what he thought of
all that food.
By the time the food was ready, the crowd was
ready. This year, most people chose to sit under a tree, rather at the
tables, which were in the sun. It wasn't hot by Davis standards, but
definitely hot by Santa Barbara standards (in the low 80s)
When the meal was over, it was time for a
nap.
Eventually, Tom cut the cake, with lots of
help from his pint-sized onlookers.
Lacie gave it her seal of approval.
The cars were being packed up as the sun went
down and we went our separate ways. Another Tom-Joe triumph and when
Walt got into the car he exploded "I don't know about you, but I had a
great time!"
I think everyone did, especially the birthday
boy, who likes nothing better than to celebrate his birthday spending
hundreds of dollars on food to cook for all of his friends.
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| Day 5: How can you not be happy seeing this peanut butter face? |
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