Why no pictures SParky? We thought you were going to live stream the party cook?
Yeah….these were supposed to happen but life gets in the way. The Party did happen, the cook happened but no pics, no live stream, I disappointed myself but there are reasons.
Let’s start with the build up.
Food was purchased well in advance, the date was planned as well, 2 days after my wife’s birthday, on a weekend so more people can come and I’ve got all day to cook, up at a reasonable time to prep and start cooking after getting back from our short break…..
We were due to go away on the Tuesday (31st October) so I had everything out of the freezer and into the fridge to defrost. I would be back in time to get the pork belly out to dry overnight and finish defrosting if needed. And we did go away the Tuesday.
This lead to a very early start on Wednesday (left our hotel at 4am to catch the Eurotunnel train) and us arriving safely, in Disneyland Paris, at 10:15am so not to bad a time to get into the parks and enjoy the day. And we had a lovely 3 days, cold and windy but relaxed.
We left the park when planned, a small delay in getting back to our car but nothing major and set off, Friday afternoon, back to Calais. We were delayed but would arrive within our check-in window so no issues, would be home when planned, a good 8 hours sleep and up to start the last part of the pork belly prep.
At least that was the plan until we got a message to say there were delays at the tunnel. Boy were there delays. We finally got to the check-in desk as our window was due to close, everyone was being manually checked-in and told we were looking at a 4 hour delay. That would mean getting home at 3am.
Phone calls to home happened to help with what needed to be done, all was well but still gonna be a short nights sleep.
We were overall delayed by 2 hours 45mins so home before 2am. I set my alarm and crashed.
I had given up on the live stream at that point. I didn’t have the time to get set up and so no go on that.
I was on time with my prep on the pork belly and the day kinda flowed nicely from there. Pork went on, meatballs were prepped, had time to nip out for lunch but as things started to finish cooking, they needed to be finished and put in the cool box fairly quick due to cold weather so didn’t get a chance to take photo’s and by the time food was served it was dark out so photo’s would not have looked great.
All this said. Food was amazing, I got crackling on the pork, the meatballs tasted incredible (a tweak next time, bigger balls) and wings went down a treat as always.
Hot dogs were forgotten about completely.
My wife had an amazing party with lots friends and fireworks, we gave out food to those who were due to come and then couldn’t make it, we had a meal the following day with leftovers and that was it, all gone.
I’m sorry there were no pictures, have one of Mickey Mouse to make up for it.
So, you usually stop around now, any plans?
Why yes, I do usually stop but I’m on a bit of a roll so I’m keeping going.
18th Nov – Ribs & Wings
25th Nov – Pizza’s on the Weber
2nd Dec – Meatloaf
16th Dec – Chicken Kebab
24th Dec – Christmas Gammon
But it doesn’t stop there!
I already have a couple of cooks planned (with no date yet)
Turkey Legs – Caveman Style
Leg of Lamb (on offer right now)
Porcetta
I also really want to do a brisket next year year and I’ve got my eye on some Brisket Deviled eggs.
I want to expand a bit cook things I don’t do currently, or in different forms for a more rounded cook than just the meat. I may have a cooking partner for some of those as well.