Monday, May 22, 2006

Picnic!


Every May, our neighborhood group has a barbecue dinner and gathering of families. We all bring dessert and drinks and chairs, and congregate in a common area by the tennis and basketball courts. When we first moved here 24 years ago, it was owned and maintained by the builders of the subdivision (who still lived here then). After the builders moved on to greener pastures (literally....greener pastures*), the common area was bought by the people who lived next to it, and they are kind enough to let us use it whenever we want.

We have 71 homes here, and potentially these picnics could draw as many as 200-225 people, if all the adults and children attended. Yesterday, we had about 40-50 show up. The weather was glorious; one of those bright and sunny, blue sky days that NC is famous for. There was just enough breeze to make it pleasant, and 81 degrees.

The food is always ordered from Ellis Barbecue of Wilson, NC. You can read about NC barbecue here:

http://www.visitnc.com/experience/no3_nc_food/food_xp_nceats_bbq.asp

They bring pulled pork barbecue, fried chicken, Brunswick stew, cole slaw, boiled potatoes, hush puppies, corn sticks, and all the sweet iced tea you can drink. It is truly a feast for the eyes as well as the body. As soon as the buffet line is set, people start lining up. Once the aroma of all that food permeates the surroundings, you would be hard pressed to resist its lure!

Since I worked long and hard for the last three days, I didn't have time to prepare a desert, so after church I went to the Fresh Market to buy something.


http://www.thefreshmarket.com/


They have excellent cookies and pastries, so I knew whatever I brought would be a hit. You would have a hard time telling that they weren't homemade. After I ate, I made a bee-line for the cookies, and had one. About 20 minutes later, I went back for another and guess what? They were ALL gone! I was so disappointed; I guess I'll go back to the store today and buy another package.....LOL.
*Note: I will write about the greener pastures later. I have no idea why there is a color change in the blog post. It shows up on the draft as all one color.

26 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sounds like a fun time in the neighborhood. That's a neat thing to do.
And once again...your topic for today (food and BBQ) and mine has similaries. Too funny, but then....great minds do think alike...lol

bornfool said...

Sounds like a great time. Good neighbors, food, and weather. That's hard to beat.

Robin said...

ohhh that looks sooo good. Yum! Here from Michele's today, Judy!

srp said...

Maybe you do have a gremlin in your computer. LOL.
The barbecue sounds heavenly. We did our own yesterday. A pork roast slow cooked in the crock pot but still came out tasting like smoked barbecue. Tender and tasty.

I better get going. It's chemo day for the pooch in about an hour.

Peter said...

Hi Judy, not a very good roll up for such a great sounding Barbie, (do you use the word barbie in the States?)

sonia a. mascaro said...

Hi Judy, sounds you had a great time with your neighborhood group of friends. The food looks yummy! Love your picnic's basket,too!

Michelle Pessoa said...

Oh, this post made me so hungry. I'm gonna have some ribs right now!

Via Michele's!

OldLady Of The Hills said...

Sounds like a wonddrful gathering...And those cookies must have been scrumptious! What a lovely idea for all the neighbors to have a get-together.

About that Deli: No, the Deli around the corner from The Salisbury was teeny tiny....Both tThe Stage And Carbegie are HUGE in comparison and both of them have lots of places to come and sit and eat. This little place was strictly a Deli where you picked stuff up including all kinds of groveries---a fairly common type of food place in NYC. YES! I am familiar with Fountain ee Trevi...it was up the street from the Hotel, (I think it was up the street...??). As I recal it was quite nice and the food was quite good, too. Italian...I did not eat there very often, but I certainly have a vague memory of it.

srp said...

About Max: We're back. He does this half "woof" have "whoot" sound all the way there. I have to keep rubbing his head. He is the only dog that is excited to be there. Then the girl comes out and loves on him and he eats that up. He goes in the back and gets his chemo pill in a wad of food, several treats and more loving. In general, I think he likes it. They call him a "character" and laugh, so he must entertain them. I can always hear him coming back. He had a couple of hard nodules come up on the side of his face but these are not the lymphoma, but sebaceous adenomas. So he eats like a horse and runs and plays and has the "drama guilt trip" ploy to sleep in the sunroom, down pat. All in all he still has a good life. My main concern now is that he can't have any vaccine with live virus. He can have the rabies but nothing else. The other vet requires Bordetella vaccine for grooming. So I will have to talk to them. He can no longer get the distemper booster either.
And on the way home he was perfectly quiet. Just sat and looked out the window. Now he's talking to his girlfriend (fat black pug) across the back fence and then he'll gather his basketball and take a nap.

kenju said...

If he were mine, he wouldn't need to pull a guilt trip in order to sleep in the sunroom. I'd have a very hard time making him go out!

I love the way you describe him; he really is a member of the family, isn't he? I hope I get to meet him sometime (and his mom too)

Carolyn said...

That sounds nice! Stuff like that would be great to have going on where we live. I hope my new neighborhood is a friendly one too.

Thanks for your comment earlier. I corrected my sentence on the McCoy. It is a collectible and I am trying to sell it, but the way my sentence read did indeed seem as if I were giving it away. I'll proofread better next time ;)

Anonymous said...

ohhh yummm. There is nothing on earth like bonafide pulled pork from a North Carolina BBQ. I have no doubt y'all had a great meal!

goldenlucyd said...

Hi Kenju,
Your description of the neighborhood get-together and the scrumptious food sounded almost too good to be true---a slice of America most folks only dream about. I'm so happy it's still alive and well!

Your life seems to have a lovely balance that I enjoy vicariously sharing. Thanks! Have a wonderful week.
lucyd

Kristi said...

mmm... BBQ. I love BBQ. What a nice neighborhood tradition. I've lived in my neighborhood for six years, and while we're friends with our neighbors on one side, we've spoken to others in our neighborhood a grand total of...never. Very "keep to yourself" community. Maybe I should try NC!

Anonymous said...

Sounds like a super day, Judge. But tell me, what is "pulled" pork? Sort of like taffy?

Jamie Dawn said...

Pulled pork and hush puppies. I would have been in HOG heaven!!

Eddie said...

I love NC bbq!
We have one joint here that has it. I try to get my fix about once a month.

Anonymous said...

Yea for the people who are kind enough to let the neighbors use the common area. Food sounds delicious, and what a wonderful way to spend a day.

Judy, what do you think of a tussy mussy? Is it worth buying one?

kenju said...

Tussy mussies are very old-fashioned, but enjoying a return to popularity for about 4 years now. I think they are pretty, but what do you do with it after the wedding? If you buy the type that has a stand you can fit it into, then it is versatile, to use as a vase afterward. Good luck!

Canadian Mark said...

Sounds like a good time. I'm so glad summer is here to allow for such outdoor gatherings. Yay summer!

Oh yes, and Michele sent me today.

Beverly said...

Oh, my, that sounds SO good.

Duke_of_Earle said...

Well, Kenju, you succeeded in making me hungry even though I finally got around to reading this post about one hour AFTER a big supper! Sure sounds like it was fun.

John

Chancy said...

Yum Yum I love pulled pig BBQ. The picnic sounds like such fun.

Anonymous said...

That sounds like a wonderful day. Of course, pretty much any day that includes Q from Bill Ellis is a good day in my book.

Wilmington has been my home for 25 years, but I'm still a Piedmont girl at heart.

Anonymous said...

NC bbq is the best; what a lovely sub-division you live in! I miss visiting NC; I used to have friends in Liberty.

Hi, Michele sent me :-)

Anonymous said...

How right you are - you can never go wrong with Fresh Market. We use Sutton's for our BBQ catering needs and stuff at work. Their homemade from scratch banana pudding is to.die.for. Yummmmmm.