Country Barbecue

I spent today in High Bridge NJ at a barbecue hosted by my fellow chorus member Dina and her husband David.

It was a very interesting time to say the least. Conversations ran the gamut from raising livestock, gardening, immigration law and conjugal visits. It was the type of day where I wasn't quite sure what I was doing there - but had such an interesting experience I would not have wanted to miss it.



Here's Dina and David's barn and yard. In the winter they make their own skating rink in this space.

We all pitched in and brought things for the party. Dina and David provided the hot dogs, hamburgers and portobello burgers.

Here's the spread. I had a few crackers and dip some grapes and cheese as well.





My plate:



A hamburger w/lettuce and red onion, a few veggies and ranch dip, some potato salad (made by me!) and some pasta salad w/crab and sundried tomatoes



And dessert:



These brownies were kick ass - if I do say so myself.

After lunch we went for a walk to a waterfall.




The area Dina lives in dates back to the Revolutionary War. This is Lake Solitude, right next to the house where the Patriots held two Loyalists captive.



I did A LOT of walking today. I walked downtown to catch a ride to the barbecue. Then our after lunch hike to the waterfall and then at the end of the day my friend dropped me off in the middle of Chinatown and I got lost walking home. I did a side trip through the LES and Alphabet City. I am sure people on 1st Avenue (when I finally found it) wondered why I was running home hopping on one leg because I desperately had to pee.

Seriously. I can't make this stuff up.

Anyway - here's where I ended up mileage wise:



I came home and had some leftover tuna. I knew I was out of any type of bread here at home so at her urging I snagged some of the leftover hamburger buns from Dina.



And a root beer:




It's really neat to see people outside of the context you know them best. And it was such an eclectic group of people. All ages, all walks of life. For example today I met two foreign exchange students and a professor of agriculture who now owns a non-profit organization. I learned a lot about farming and US history. Not your average Saturday to say the very least.

Hope your day was half as interesting as mine was!