July 6th Casual Barbecue Celebration

Sumptuous buffet with Sandi Premselaar, Susan Taylor,
Jan Rogers, Sue Raschella

Yesterday, husband Ken and I arrived promptly on time for the 4:00 pm start of the casual July 6th Barbecue party at Sandi & Tim Premselaar's beautiful home in Redmond.  We had arrived late the previous two times we had been invited to their home, so I was determined to be on time.  We were definitely the first guests to arrive!

Dave Syferd and Ken Hatch

Their home is situated on 2-1/2 acres of spectacular groomed and terraced landscaping, ferns and forest.  It was a lovely warm evening where we could sit outside without jackets!  While Sandi and Tim planned the party and provided the hamburgers and hotdogs and all the fixings, margaritas, mojitos, and wine for the party, each guest was asked to bring a side dish to complement the barbecue theme.  Our contribution was Baked Beans, using the old Restaurants Unlimited recipe that was served at lunch for years at the now extinct Horatios's and Clinkerdagger, Bickerstaff & Pett's Public House restaurants.  They still tasted just the way I remember them, full of bacon, sauteed onions and sweet with brown sugar.

Penny & Mick Thackery, Kathie Price

In addition to the baked beans, the food was all fantastic including three different kinds of potato salad, pasta salad, a huge fruit salad, marinated herbed prawns, tortilla chips with fresh salsas and guacamole, pigs-in-a-blanket, homemade chile, chicken drummettes with spicy-sweet barbecue glaze, pate, assorted imported cheeses, devilled eggs and then the desserts included homemade carrot cake with cream cheese frosting, Diane's famous chocolate chip cookie mousse pie, and Sandi's Challah bread pudding with vanilla cream.  Yum!!

Toni & Rod Hoffman, Dave Syferd

During the cocktail part of the evening, it was fun to catch up with those guests that we didn't get to sit with at dinner, Toni & Rod Hoffman, Jan Rogers, Joyce & Doug McCallum, Kathie Price, Peggy & Michael Swistak, Penny & Mick Thackery, Trudi & Dave Syferd, Karen & Adron Coldiron, and Sue & Tom Raschella.

We separated into four tables for dinner and Ken and I sat with Diane & Gordon Kuenster, Susan & Gary Neumann, Susan Taylor, and Suzy & Moe Krabbe. We decided we were the group from "Table One" and threw down the gauntlet to the other tables to join us in rhyme.  They didn't seem to quite get the rules of the competition, so we awarded ourselves the prize for best table chant with the following:

Party On!

Susan Taylor, Diane Kuenster, Penny Thackery

We are the group from Table One!
Clearly, we are having much more fun!
Obviously, our rhyming is the best
So this competition is now at rest.