We finally found the camera (it was in the shed, for some reason) so I can post this with photos of our Fourth of July cookout. Or Fifth of July barbecue, if you will, because it was held on the 5th (because it was a Saturday) and because I had to amend my invitations to call it a "barbecue" rather than a "cookout" because that's what English people call it when you cook and eat outdoors. I found this a little silly because, to me "barbecue" suggests that you will be eating barbecue, with sticky sauce, ribs, etc, but whatever. (Also, I was annoyed that no one could work out the very simple etymology that "cookout" means cooking outside, but again, whatever.)
After a couple of weeks of warmth and light, the weather has been pretty unpredictable lately and it was actually raining when we woke up on Saturday. I remained optimistic (or pig-headed), though, and just kept thinking, it will clear up, it will clear up. My sister had sent some gorgeous pictures of my niece in their neighbourhood parade (riding in her Radio Flyer wagon festooned with bunting and a balloon) so that kept me positive. And, eventually, it did clear up! Which was good, because even though only a fraction of the invitees made it, we had over 30 people and I don't think they would have all fit in the house. And it wouldn't have worked to put the grill in the conservatory... We kept it simple with the food. I asked people to bring salad, buns, sausages and drinks and we provided burgers and desserts, as well as some drinks, condiments, and desserts.
For decoration, I made a garland by cutting stars out of red, white and blue paper and sewing them together on my machine. The cutting was a bit tedious (thank you, Matthew, for helping me!) but the sewing was a breeze. I draped it over and around the conservatory door and around our Jamie Reid print. Matthew said, "See, the Queen loves the 4th of July, too!" Our friend Colleen, who just came back from Texas, brought little flags, which graced the mantle. You can just see them in the photo.
The other big thing I did was make cupcakes and a cake. I know - I'm awesome!
For the cupcakes I used the same Hershey's recipe as for Matthew's birthday cake, with a cream cheese frosting. I used low fat cream cheese and low fat margarine from a tub because I can't find stick margarine around here. That affected the consistency of the frosting; it was a lot runnier than I'd anticipated. This was fine for the cupcakes, as it "flowed" nicely. I baked them in silver liners and sprinkled with red and blue sugar sprinkles - on the early ones I was a bit heavy-handed, but I got the hang of it eventually. Then I stuck a tiny American flag in every other one (to avoid flag fatigue). Too cute! Matthew's friend Kim brought beautiful, Sex in the City style cupcakes from a fancy shop. They were genuinely gorgeous (and I've just realised, really expensive), but I thought the cake on mine was better. And mine were definitely more patriotic.
The cake was more of a challenge, and not one that I met with total triumph. I made two butter cakes (from Martha Stewart's recipe) and put them together to make roughly the right size and shape. From my experience making Easter bunny cakes, I figured the seam would be hidden under frosting. However, the runny cream cheese frosting had other ideas. It hid the seam okay, but it was not prepared to stick to the sides, so I just poured it on and let it dribble. Fortunately, English people are used to that look; they regularly spoon runny custard over cake (and other desserts) and just thought it was supposed to look like that. The real problem was that the bottom line of strawberries kept sliding off the cake! In the end, I had to cut toothpicks in half and use them to spear the strawberries to the cake. Fortunately, I cut the first slices, so I was able to remove the picks and thus avoid any injury to guests. The blueberries were much less problematic. They stuck just fine.
Other than the frosting drama, things went really well. We aren't big barbecuers and the first batch of sausages were pretty severely burnt because Matthew kept going off and talking to people. Fortunately, his cousins Kathy and Tone took over, resulting in much more edible food. Also, we put the grill on the wrong side of the patio and initially a lot of smoke went into the living room, but no one seemed to notice except me. Most people left around 9pm, but a handful stayed until midnight, hanging around and (sort of) helping clean up. As after our housewarming party, I was struck by the realisation that we must really be grown-up now - people had put all their dirty dishes in the kitchen, our recycling bin was full to overflowing, and nothing was broken. In all, it was lots of fun...and we've been eating sausages and cupcakes non-stop for the past 5 days now! 
2 comments:
You're a Yankee Doodle Dandy! Did you entertain by singing "We the People" from Schoolhouse Rock? I know you could have! Down at the corner which was the designated starting spot of the parade, we said the pledge of allegiance and sang "God Bless America" and were led in prayer by the mayor. Guess which two family members cried during the pledge and the song. The whole parade thing was just adorable.
You really are a grown-up! Last night a friend who had not yet seen the new house came over and her consensus was, "Wow, this is a great big grown up house!". My response was, "Dude, I know, I totally feel like a grown up now.".
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