Family barbecue lunch
Smile, it’s another family get-together! This time, a barbecue. Friends of my parents were over from Malaysia and we all got together for Sunday lunch.
I don’t even have to ask my niece Zoe to smile any more! She “smiles” as soon as I point my camera at her!
My nephew Caleb is growing fast and has a healthy appetite like his sisters. He had homemade pumpkin puree and his mum’s milk for lunch that day.
Mum and Dad’s friend (we call her Auntie) KK roasted peppers on the barbecue. She also roasted whole eggplants on the barbie, wrapped in foil.
Jac put on an apron and cooked the meat on the barbecue. There were two kinds of sausages and marinated lamb chops. I love the smell of meat cooking on the barbie. It can be sausages, chops, steak, bacon…
Jac had also prepared a special dish to cook on the barbie – kidneys, bacon and onions marinated in marsala wine.
I had my eye on one of those juicy pork and apple sausages, of course!
And a meaty lamb chop. It all smelled amazing as I took these photos.
The kidney, bacon and onion dish also looked and smelled great, but I can’t stand the taste of kidneys so I didn’t have any. But everyone who tried it really liked it. Jac was chuffed to have other people to share her kidney dish with. She rarely cooks offal at home as I won’t eat it. Jac is a wonderful cook, but even she can’t disguise the “offalness” of offal!
I’d marinated chicken wings with soy sauce, black pepper, garlic, sweet chilli sauce, honey and fresh orange juice, which we cooked in our oven at home just before driving over to my parent’s house. My brother (whom we used to call “Chicken Boy” as a kid) and his daughter, my niece Ruby love these chicken wings. I think Ruby ate as many of them as I did. We cooked up three kilos of chicken wings, which meant plenty for everyone at lunch AND leftovers for my brother and his girls to share later. :)
The barbecued peppers were tender and delicious!
The barbecued eggplant was fantastic! Auntie KK seasoned the soft eggplant flesh with salt and pepper, a little olive oil and possibly one or two other magic ingredients I can’t remember. I could’ve walked off with the bowl and eaten it all by myself.
My younger sister Juji roasted a juicy slab of pork and sliced it just before serving.
It was very tempting to “steal” a piece of pork while no one was watching!
To go with the barbecue meats and vegetables, we had a couple of salads made by my eldest sister CW and her hubby M. First, mixed bean salad.
Second, potato salad with a creamy wholegrain mustard dressing.
The kids couldn’t wait to start eating! Ruby went straight for the sausages and chicken wings.
Ruby always has to have the Dora the Explorer plate and cutlery; Zoe has the Winnie the Pooh plate and cutlery. If you mix them up, the girls will always correct you or swap them over! :)
My only regret was that I didn’t grab more of that gorgeous barbecued eggplant. By the time I went back for seconds, it was all gone!
After all the dishes were cleared, it was time for dessert. Ruby and Zoe’s mum Angela had been busy baking. First, burnt butter macadamia marmalade biscuits. EDIT: The recipe is from Maggie Beer.
And then, a family favourite – Angela’s delicious brownies. They are soft and moist and extremely moreish.
In these chocolatey brownies, a secret ingredient that we all love: sultanas!
Ruby demolished her first brownie and asked for “another one, please.”
After all that eating, some of us were ready for a nap!