Eating Outdoors

Many days this summer it rained hard for about 10-20 minutes, and then it went back to being beautiful out again.  We've been eating outside as much as we can, to take full advantage of the nice weather.

Recently we had Christopher's brother's family over for dinner.

Snacks first!

I prepped the meal during the day, and then Christopher did the grilling when our guests arrived.  We had Greek ribs, homemade bread, dill pickle pasta salad, bourbon bacon coleslaw, and baked beans.

Dessert was berries on a cloud:

It was wonderful to spend time with Mel, Steve, and our precious niece Charlotte.  She is the sweetest little girl, and she loved helping auntie and uncle.  She's excited to come back to our house soon to play the drums, while uncle plays guitar.  He can't wait to jam with her!  She's only four, but she's a natural on the drums.

Another day we had a really simple meal outside.  We hadn't got groceries yet for the week, so we were eating up random stuff from the fridge/freezer, and it ended up being delicious.

The bell pepper was stuffed with halloumi cheese, which was really good!  We had to dump some water from the pepper a couple times while grilling, as it accumulated in the bottom of the pepper, but other than that, it was great.  We'll make these again for sure.

I made my burger taste like a Whopper Junior.  I used to love Burger King when I was a teenager, but I got brutal food poisoning from there twice (the only two times I've ever had it), back-to-back, although years apart.  I will never eat there again, but this replication hit the spot (lettuce, tomato, mayo, ketchup, pickles, white onion).

On the weekend we had breakfast outside, which was a lovely way to start the day.

On Sunday my aunt and uncle had all the family in town over for a BBQ.  My cousin Janine and her family were in from Toronto, so we got to visit with them, as well as cousins, and second cousins, and another aunt and uncle that we don't get to see too often.  The little kids all got to meet and play together, and us big kids got to catch up.  The rain held out for a while, but then we got a few raindrops, although no one minded.

The food was really good, and I think Christopher ate his weight in chicken:

And check out this dessert spread!

Wow!

I think everyone really enjoyed getting together with so many extended family members.  We used to all get together at Christmas when I was little, and those are some of my fondest memories.  There haven't been any family weddings in a while, and no major milestone birthdays (my great grandma's 100th birthday was a fabulous family occasion), so it was such a nice surprise when my auntie and uncle invited us over.

We stayed out past our bedtime, but it was worth it.

On Monday we ate dinner outside again.

Potatoes with sesame oil, garlic, and ginger, and chicken thighs with a Korean marinade that Christopher made:

We also made a kimchi coleslaw to round out this meal.

Last night we had plans to cook and eat outside, but it started pouring just as we were about to head out back.  We cooked inside instead, which wasn't ideal for the shrimp and pineapple skewers, but it still worked.

On the side we had mushrooms cooked with herbs, garlic, butter, and shallot, and an easy baked rice.  You can find the recipe for the skewers here, and the rice recipe here.

Tonight's dinner will be in the park, as we're heading out later to celebrate our nephew's second birthday.  Happy birthday Kingsley!  We love you so, so much 💜

How was your weekend?  How's your week going so far?  Have you been eating outside at all?  How often do you get together with extended family?