Gemma's Barbecue Party!

Gemma, one of the girls I work with, very kindly invited all her work colleagues to a barbecue at her house in Ely this afternoon. Her partner Mike did an excellent job of being barbecue king. The weather was glorious, but a little too hot for me really. All the girls I work with are hot chicks as you will see from the picture below – doesn't help me look any younger, when they are all half my age!!!

It was great to see Cilla and baby Theo, Caraline, Katherine with her husband and baby girl, Suzy, Karl and baby Matthew and Anne-Marie, Rhys and... well I was going to say baby Gregor, but he is much too tall to be called a baby anymore! Also Hilary, Andrea, Kelly and Ben, Kelly, Alison, Emily, Sarah, Chloe, Keri and James and Alice.

Far too much food was consumed! I made some garlic bread – a recipe I followed from Ainsley Harriott's Barbecue Bible which was published in 1997. I made two and a half times the receipe below – I was pleased, it turned out well, everyone loves garlic bread, well most people anyway.

Garlic Butter Bread

1 long fat french stick
3 garlic cloves
75g slightly slighted butter
3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
salt and fresh ground black pepper

1. Cut the bread diagonally, without cutting right through.
2. Crush the garlic and mix with salt.
3. Mix the butter with garlic, parsley and black pepper.
4. Spread both sides of each slice of bread with a thin layer of the garlic butter and place on extra thick foil.
5. Pleat the edges of the foil together well (wrap in two layers of foil)
6. Cook on barbecue for 10-12 minutes or longer, turning regularly, until crisp and hot.

Gemma had bought me some spicy bean burgers and made some vegetable kebabs. Lovely salads and the finale was all the desserts...... Andrea's Tiramasu, Sarah's Millionaire's Cheesecake and Banana Cake, a gorgeous Lemon Tart made by Mike who also coated strawberries with milk chocolate and white chocolate!!! The list goes on! Needless to say, the diet has completely gone to pot today!

The only birding today, consisted of seeing a Blackbird, House Sparrow and Goldfinches in Gemma's garden. I pinched one of Gemma's blackberries at the bottom of the garden as did Gregor, although he had four to be precise!

Me with Kelly, Keri and Chloe

Posted this picture straight from iphone, which means it looks completely out of focus on here until you click to view it!

The barbecue had started at 2pm, so by 7pm quite alot of people had left. I helped to clear up a little and left the hard core party animals at around 7.30pm. My little sister Vivien only lives a couple of streets away from Gemma, so I went to visit her for little while before heading back to King's Lynn, arriving home at 10.15pm.

MORE PICTURES TO BE ADDED