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Yes, I know yesterday was Canada Day (I believe it is “observed” today), but I believe that July 1st may now become the official day of FOOD FEST.
Some have called it Eat Fest, and yesterday I first thought it could be called GlutFest (as in “gluttonous”) but I think I have settled on FOOD FEST.
And, just like the Superbowl, I think we’ll keep track of this (hopefully) annual event with a roman numeral. Thus, yesterday’s soirée was FOOD FEST I.
I can’t believe I am actually eating anything today… 🙂
Our first guests arrived around 11:30 or so, and we planned to eat lunch at 1ish (once the other guests arrived). So… as my mom was always good at doing, I had some goodies ready to snack on sitting on the table when they got there – and snack we did. There was fresh watermelon, cantaloupe and strawberries. We had sweet tea, unsweetened tea. We had celery and blue cheese, and added some baby carrots. And all this was just to munch on before lunch!
I fired up the grill at about five till one, and cooked up about 20 hamburgers for 6 adults and 9 children. (Two of those being one-year-olds). Add to that the potato salad, some fantastic apple salad with a hint of lime, a variety of chips, and of course the selection of about a dozen things you could put on your burger… including bacon! Whoohoo!
But… as if that were not enough…
We moved the propane tank from the grill to the fryer once the burgers were done, and I started heating up the oil for CHICKEN WINGS. Now, I don’t like to toot my own horn, but I used to think that I made the best wing sauce in Buffalo… and I’m still pretty good at cookin’ up a batch of wings. In fact, our friend Scott said they were the best I’ve ever made and I think he’s eaten at least 500 of my wings. (Plus, he makes some great wings himself!) 🙂
So, we cooked up about 6 pounds of those (leaving 2 more pounds for fresh wings later) and had those after a couple hamburgers each (and all the other goodies!) … it was a food fest alright!
BUT WE WEREN’T DONE.
Chicken wings were the “specialty” of the day… until we found out it was National ICe Cream Month! So, we decided to make some home made ice cream! Having recently attended a class on making ice cream… I put my newly acquired skills to good use and made the most AMAZING homemade ice cream I have ever made! Maybe the best I’ve ever tasted! It turned out perfect! So we sampled a bit, then threw it in the freezer to “ripen”. (That’s the step where the ice cream hardens.)
We did go for a swim with the kids (at least, me and Dave did…) so we stopped eating for just about an hour, but then it was back to the house for the ice cream, more wings, and general nibbling of all the food that was STILL left.
We ate from around noon till 7:30 or so… with almost no break. Non stop FOOD FEST. Awesome. 🙂
There was quite a bit of food left over. We had some for lunch today. And will for dinner. And might tomorrow. 🙂 But we certainly had our share of food at the innaugural FOOD FEST I.
Check back in a year for the report from FOOD FEST II! 🙂