Burgers and booze

I love barbeques. Good food, friends, and drinks. And, what makes them even more awesome is when they take place on my balcony, with a lovely view of the Berkeley hills, and I only have to journey across the apartment barefoot in my barbeque pants (yes, I have barbeque pants--the pants I always wear when I barbeque, hence the name).

Sunday's barbeque had burgers galore. Hamburgers made with ground chuck and love for the meat-eaters. Grilled Portobello mushrooms topped with mozzarella and tomato pesto as well as Gardenburgers for the non-meat-eaters.

I went a bit overboard on the salads. First, there was the endamame, feta, and sun-dried tomato salad, that is always a winner. Then, there was the potato salad, two pot-fulls of it. And, I also made a "gazpacho" salad, with cucumbers, bell peppers, and tomatoes, tossed with a lemon vinaigrette. I've been eating salad for days (and am actually eating the bean salad as I type).

And, if all that food wasn't enough, my good friends were good enough to bring more. Not only did Susie and Zyde bring corn to be grilled, they also brought along a cheddar cheese platter. Eleanor brought along a beautiful cheese wheel thing that consisted of alternating wedges of queso fresca and some sort of jam / fruit preserve that I think was much to beautiful to have eaten but I ate the pieces off the cutting board and it was yummy. Adrian brought some fish that was pink like salmon but wasn't salmon and a bottle of sake. And, Jon brought along a carrot cake, pulled out of his shoulder sack thing, which was delicious for a carrot cake--nothing like the kind out of a box.

And, of course, there were drink and popsicles. And, still, so much of it left. I could only do so much to drink all the mojitos, beer and lemoncello, and eat all the fudge-cicles without getting terribly sick. I'm a good eater and drinker, but not that good. So, here's my invitation: if you want to stop by, hang out, play Scrabble while eating cheese, popsicles, and drinking beer, drop me a line.