The BBQ is Out Again.

At last our first BBQ of the season. We have eaten outside a couple of times this year, but we hadn’t dared light the BBQ in case we had to dash in because of yet more rain. But Friday night, for the first time in 2012, it was lovely and warm and we declared the BBQ season open. We are BBQ addicts, if there is the slight possibility that we can light up those coals, we are away, chicken tikka, sheekh kebabs, saté of different meats, burgers - with or without meat, sausages - all sorts, pork chops, spare ribs, kebabs – many different types, meat marinated in every possible combination of herbs and spices and even andouillette - once.

I am not a big believer in letting the guy do the cooking though. If I have prepared the meal, marinated the meats, made the burgers, I am not letting someone incinerate my wonderful offerings. I can’t count the number of times I have seen meat cremated by a bloke on his fancy Weber or whatever they are called, and watched the tears in his poor wife’s eyes. I am a BBQ fiend and a real purist. None of this “sausages burnt on the outside and raw in the middle”, “serving one person at a time with cremated offerings”, no when I do a BBQ all the meal is prepared in the correct order, to the correct level of cooking and everyone is served together.

Cees goes on about the state of our old BBQ, falling apart, rusty, wobbly, the lid almost off, wouldn’t I like a new one? Maybe a Weber? No thanks, it works for me and until the legs actually do drop off, it will stay working. You don’t need a fancy, expensive piece of equipment, all that you need are some hot coals and patience and it is the patience that the worst cremators lack - a BBQ takes time. You light the coals and then you wait, possibly for about an hour, until the coals are just right, then you cook, gently.

Anyway, back to why this was a special event. Normally we BBQ from mid-April onwards, every night (unless we have a dinner engagement elsewhere) until the winter arrives. We have even been known to BBQ in March, but that was when the building works were going on and outside, even at 9 degrees, was preferable to sitting inside, amongst the rubble. But this year the weather has been so atrocious, that Friday night, at almost the end of May, was the first evening where we could sit out and enjoy ourselves for hours, listen to the birds, have a BBQ and generally think about how good life is.

It is about time, but it looks like summer is here at last.


The website for our hoiday accommodation La Tuilerie de Chazelle.