Cookout Fun!

There is a small grassy area behind our apartment building that we have now claimed as "our backyard." True, it is interspersed with these strange metal posts, but overlooking that, it's a fun place to go and play! We have had many a badminton game out there, and now in the past few months, several cookouts as well. Daddy and Clara Anne. I was trying out my camera on the "A" setting--can you tell? Notice that lovely bokeh!

We purchased this small grill last summer, and only cooked on it once. That one time was a bit of a fiasco--the fire was way too hot and burned the sausages to a crisp, melted some paint off the lid, and all of this happened in the rain! This year we ventured to get out the grill again and give it another try with some friends. We had some precious imported Johnsonville brats (hand-carried in from the capital city!) on the menu, as well as these lovely skewers:

The men manned the fire, of course. Look at them in action!

Meanwhile the girls relaxed on the blanket and waited patiently.

I had made potato salad as well and had some cold watermelon available. A yummy meal was enjoyed by all! Can you believe it? We had a cookout! A real, American cookout in a place which is definitely NOT America! It was truly lovely and relaxing to be out in the sunny weather--it almost made me think that we actually had our own backyard. Almost. Then people going by stopped to stare and I remembered where I was.

Perhaps the highlight of the meal, though, was a lemon granita that I made using a recipe from smittenkitchen.com. It was simply lemon juice and pulp, water, and sugar that was frozen in stages. I froze the empty lemon cups as well and we ate the slushy out of the cups . . . until we all got too impatient and just scooped it up directly from the pan. It was delicious--icy, tart, glittery, refreshing! Perfect for the end of a picnic!

Since these pictures were taken in June, we've had several more cookouts including a huge one on the fourth of July! It's been a really fun family activity, and we don't even have to take a taxi to get there! The only bummer is having to clean and pack everything up at the end and haul it back upstairs (somehow taking it down isn't so hard...packing it up is not as fun!). I think we've found a new family summer tradition!