Rodeo

I spent yesterday at a rodeo – yep, a real, old fashioned rodeo, except the contestants were age 16 and under. One of those contestants was my great-niece, Chrissy, a natural born rider who seems to have been destined for this sport. She rides with amazing grace and is totally in her element when she’s on horseback.

Since this rodeo was held in our neck of the woods (of the Intermountain West, that is), many family members were in attendance and we decided to do a little tailgating. What you have to know is that when the family gets together and food is involved, we don’t do things by half. We have two professional caterers among the extended family, and most of us have worked for one or both of them from time to time. We all love to cook, to prepare good food, and to eat good food together. And we have a grand time doing it.

So, while others were gnawing on fried hamburgers from the concessionaires, we were feasting.

We had exactly one gas grill to work with, but no matter. We rotated preparing the food and cooking it, using chafing dishes to keep everything hot as it came off the grill. In effect, we had our own little kitchen area set up, with three long tables and the grill placed so as to make a square area inside of which we could work.

Our meal consisted of grilled shrimp skewers (with chipotle mustard or spicy raspberry glaze – your choice), grilled corn and vegetables (oh, those mushrooms!), sausages, hot dogs, and yes, a few hamburgers (we did have kids with us, after all). Dessert was one of my sister-in-law’s fabulous chocolate cakes with cream cheese frosting, followed by some drop-dead wonderful cookies baked by one of my nieces.

I didn’t need dinner last night.

In truth, I shouldn’t need to eat until tomorrow morning.

But…there’s another BBQ this afternoon.

- Catherine