I'm not much help for imaginative grillables ... I haven't been able to fire up the barbie yet this year. When I thought it was about time to clean it up and start the season, I went out with wire brush in hand and discovered that there was a hole in the soffit(?) above it and a starling had nested there - bird crap all over the place! That's when I found out that, in our newly renovated townhouse unit, no-one had looked at the backyard tap - a broken-off handle and, when we managed to turn it on with pliers, no water had been turned on either! Sheesh.

Anyhow, the point of all this is, my bbq repertoire seems to be mainly steaks or cedar planked salmon although I did once do a very successful leg of lamb! That last was a labour intensive thing! When I do ribs, the grill is usually the last, finishing step after a covered/steamy oven pan for the main cooking.

Sooooo .... sounds like 0/0 so far for our DH/SO's. Oh well, it's their loss for good food!

Looking forward to seeing you all next Wednesday.

Can I get RSVPs from everyone so I have a general idea of how many chairs etc. we'll need?

Karen has a recipe for grilled flank steak with cumin aioli which I could make if anyone's interested in sharing. Just made flank steak with chimichurri last night and it was delicious ! And also have lots of leftovers as flank steaks seem to be about a kilo.

I was thinking of bringing some lamb to grill....but if you have a good recipe for flank steak that sounds good too! I will pay you for it...

I will be coming alone...so just one chair for me!

hi Stephanie, that's great! Guess we'll see about the mains when other people reply. Might be fun to see what kind of variety there is. Lamb sounds good!

Flank steak is what I was thinking of bringing so that sounds wonderful to me too - especially with a cumin aioli!! There doesn't seem to have been a lot of enthusiasm from other DH/SO's, so I guess just one chair here too! Still haven't decided on a side, something green and steamed - I'll see what veggies look nice at Thrifty's this week!

Hiya! One chair for me, too. Even if dear R was enthused about joining us (which he frankly is not, and exhibits signs of fright ), that's his long-trip day, either Port Alberni or Courtenay or even Whistler...

Mmmmmmmmmmmmm, I'm liking the idea of flank with cumin aioli, me...I'll bring my super slicer if you like!

I've been eying a variety of really interesting salad recipes in Cook's Illustrated (or was it Eating Well? agh, my foodie mag fetish is catching up with me).

Anyway, I'm up for flank and aoilo, medium-ish Rare...and if not, it's easy to bring/choose another grillable at the last minuto...

Hugs, all!

Julie! Julie! Where are you?

OK--I'll buy a kilo flank steak and (attempt to) make aioli. Jude--super slicer sounds super! Is that the same as a mandoline (sp?)?

SOunds like we've got a salad from Jude and a dessert from Steph (and wine from GLenda ). Maybe I'll contribute vegetables.

Slicer as in meat knife , very sharp and intimidating in length! Can bring a mandoline, too, if you want to do some veggie slicing... ?

Julie likes veg, I think...

Unfortunately Julie can't make it.

Looking forward to a nice gathering with the three of you! See you around 5.

Did I PM everybody my address and phone #?

Don't think so, Anny... can you do it again, just in case? I'm not sure I have the address and phone in my home addy book...

Ta.

...I had the most wonderful time, food AND company included. Julie, you missed the best stuff. We shoulda taken pictures, the words just don't do justice!

Menu

• Veg and Creamy Cheese Plate beautifully and simply presented

• Chop of Rack of Lamb, medium

• Grilled Flank Steak, medium, with Cumin Aioli

• Gingered Asian Vegetable Slaw with PeaShoots & Tofu Shiritaki Noodles

• all with a nice glass of Merlot

• and finished (whew!) with fresh Berry blend (with Loganberries!) and Lemon Cream

Congratulations, ladies, you're the best.

OH, and the new thread for our next adventure...hopefully mid-August (maybe we'll have a visitor from the Yukon!) is here, so don't forget to subscribe to get all the bulletins :

Victoria August Get-Together

YEP! We sure suffered through some hardship last night!

***urrrrp!***

(NOT!)

I promise never to tell the story about the seagull, if you do, too!

Let's keep an eye out for Hollycat, that's my friend Carolyn, and I'm hoping she'll get the time to drop in and check out the August thread ... she's got a GREAT sense of humour! (and kids, but don't go there ).