Europe 2019 : Day 31 A Quiet Australian Barbeque

Sunday 8th September

Continuing our theme of "lazy days at the end of a French summer", Sunday had nothing planned other than a barbeque in the Harveys' backyard in the late afternoon.

Again everyone was up late-ish so it was decided that a brief walk around the village was in order. Steve, John and Mike took off to visit a local car-boot market while the rest of us only got going in the late morning.

The gang assembles

The village of Nieul-sur-l'Autise is not exactly big, which suited all of us that day. The Royal Abbeye was explored along with the village square and the famous bagette vending machine, but after about an hour it was back home for a bite of lunch and a snooze before the main activities of the day.

John's main grilling bbq is a small weber kettle which I hoped would be big enough for the job at hand. We'd purchased some charcoal the day before but once I had the kettle set up I figured that wood coals were going to work better. 

Julian scavenged in the garden for some herbs for the pork and I got the rest of the meat ready and had the fire going in good time for Steve and Liz to arrive. Everyone found a spot around the table for drinks, cheese, pate, bread and whatever else Robyn and Lucy had found the previous day. People always ask if they can help on occasions like this, and while I appreciate the gesture, I tend to want to do it myself. The fire was going to take some watching, not because the process was difficult but because I was using a equipment I hadn't used before and needed to ensure I didn't stuff it up. I did ask to be kept well supplied with drinks.

Wood burned, coals formed and the bbq went pretty well, though, as I found out later, one chicken skewer didn't cook all that well. And I would have done things a little differently next time to get a better result, but that wouldn't be happening.

I had also been a bit worried that we might not have enough to eat but the extra salads helped round out the fare and I suspect a few people had got stuck into the cheese a bit earlier.

Robyn was aiming to work on a pavlova for dessert and had all the makings but working in someone else's kitchen with some unfamiliar ingredients can make for frustrating work. Success was achieved, however, and the pav put an excellent final touch on the day.

The sun went down rather quickly and the day turned cool, so we retired indoors for some drinks of higher alcoholic content. And to top it all Steve and John treated us to an organ and guitar version of "Waltzing Matilda" for which we were very grateful.