Last night, for dinner #1 of our Vermont family bash, we had hot dogs and hamburgers, with potato salad, spaghetti salad with brie and tomatoes, Those Things, and a bunch of other goodies. My sister ran the show, ran being the operative term -- she never stopped moving. She'd dart into the house for some stuff, then scurry back out to the grill, then cruise over to the buffet, then...
When she was asked to stop cooking the burgers and dogs that she had so efficiently set up on two grills, because the throng was still grazing on appetizers, she nearly lost it.
And sadly, we had to eat inside, because the weather was not cooperating and some late showers foiled the plan for al fresco dining.
But despite all that, dinner was lovely. For dessert, sis made a fruit crisp that harnessed her considerable pastry-chef skills and had everyone oohing and aahing. Adirondack bear paw ice cream didn't hurt. On the "dessert of the people" end of the spectrum, she gamely stood by the grill for a few more sizzling minutes to lead the kids among us in a round of s'mores. She can do it all, that one.
Tonight we had a few more people for dinner (around 30, up from around 22 last night), but the atmosphere was more relaxed and we were able to eat outside. Two primo eight-pound pork tenderloins were eased into the oven along with a big dish of my mom's famous sausage stuffing and a tray of roasted vegetables brought by my dad's cousin. When everything was ready, the pork was sliced and a buffet was set up, and we dug in. The pork was amazing -- tender, juicy, full of flavor -- but the stuffing was the first thing to vanish.
With all the great food that was flying around, it's hard to say what was my favorite (hint: Those Things), but I must say that some of the most memorable items of the weekend were the utensils my mom found at Costco. See that silverware? It's plastic!
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