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Today the pig was done.
The next step is to don the insulating gloves, followed by the plastic gloves and tear off the tender chunks of pork.
The is Debra Donahoo getting in close for a peek.
It wasn't just Tom and Michelle and the pig. There were also briskets and racks of ribs from Tim and Wendy Boucher of the Feeding Friendz barbeque team. Here's Tim (without the wave!).
And here's Wendy as the campground generated side dishes start to arrive. All those cupcakes with the American flags in the background are hers.
There were at least five dozen folks attending. Here's the line.
It is nice to see the campground full. And not just full, but full with the nicest bunch of congenial folks you are likely to meet. The camaraderie is spectacular. Today Durelle discovered a couple of strangers who had called a cab to run some errands, so she gave them our Jeep. That's typical of the neighborhood and the lifestyle. Here's a couple of shots of a full campground.
To end this story of the roast pig on the fourth of July here's a shot of Michelle holding the pig's tongue. She couldn't give it away.
Today was Day 1 of the pig roast. I've got a bunch of pictures even after discarding forty of them, so let's get started...chronologically. Tom and Michelle Perelka, who run a barbeque supply store in Lancaster, PA, provided the expertise and equipment to make it work. The fact that they are nationally recognized barbequers doesn't hurt.
The pig arrives.
That's Tom and Michelle in the first picture while Tom's brother, Bob, is helping in the second.
First, the feet are removed. Then the interior is trimmed and cleaned.
Then an electric saw makes short work of sectioning the ribs.
The pig is carefully positioned with the legs and head propped up and the whole thing wrapped up like a mummy with commercially sized aluminum foil. Here Tom is propping up the head.
After the trimming is done, the next step is to inject seasonings into the meat.
Before it is wrapped up, it gets a thorough dusting of the rub. Also the skinned portion and the ribs get covered with bacon (ironically).
The roaster has two complete bags of charcoal with an emphasis on each end of the cooker. The pig goes on the slow fire set to burn at just 250 degrees. There is a thermostatically controlled fan that supplies more or less Oxygen as required.
Here Tom dumps a chimney of hot charcoal onto the bed of charcoal in the roaster. The lid was closed at 3:00 and will be opened at 9;00 AM tomorrow. It will then get some final tweaks and rest over the spent fire until serving time.
As you can imagine, this has been a very pleasant place to be. It ought to be; we drove a couple of thousand miles just to be here. A couple of days ago I took some relaxing pictures of the bay as the sun was setting off to our right. In one of the shots you can see a very contemplative gentleman absorbing the scene.
That was earlier, today was busy with getting ready for the Frogmore Stew. In a traditional Frogmore Stew the participants are involved in adding the various ingredients at the appropriate time. Also the traditional stew is ladled out onto a newspaper-covered table. We had 24 people, so we had four tables of six. Two tables had newspaper and the other two, for the more fastidious, were covered with plastic table cloth and used bowls and plastic utensils. Most of the following Frogmore pictures were taken by Wendy Boucher while I was up to my armpits in being choreographer-in-chief. I avoid a lot of work that way.
Wendy Boucher made a 55th anniversary cake for us. You have to appreciate the talent it takes to bake a cake on a barbeque grill.
So the Frogmore Stew was a success. I have to recalculate so that I don't have as many leftovers each time, but the potatoes do make great hash browns.
All the while Cindy was back in Hanahan, SC where she caught a great picture of a storm rolling toward her. The light blue house in the center is ours.
Another weekend in a somewhat rainy paradise. This week was dominated by a four hour drive to Lynn, MA for the funeral of Durelle's cousin George Gardner. When we got back, Tim and Wendy were here with all their wood fired paraphernalia and grilling skills. They treated the Friday evening Happy Hour crowd to wood-fired pizza and decided to host a potluck supper for the following night. During the event we were treated to a pair of loons diving for fish just off the edge of the campground. It took a long telephoto, so the pictures are not classic, but they do confirm that it was a loon.
We arranged a number of picnic tables and brought a few side dishes. John and Theresa brought a huge, outstanding lasagna, and there were ribs, jalapeno poppers and assorted goodies from the grills. Of course there were several flavors of jello shots (Thanks Theresa) that were used sparingly. Given the minimum lead time and planning it was an excellent potluck...the sort of thing best pulled off by a bunch of RVers.
How's that look for a "paper plate meal"? This is not "beans and hotdogs" camping. Sunday looks like steady rain, and we are looking for a day to squeeze in a Frogmore Stew before the major league grilling for the fourth of July.
Does it get any better than this?
Although we have had moments of fine weather, most of the time after the summer solstice has been 55 degrees with rain, fog or mist. We have the heat on. The heat pumps are perfect for this weather. For those of you who are familiar with motorhomes, I have moved my computer up to the pull out tray in front of the passenger's seat. I did so at Durelle's suggestion because it was a better seat for my back. I mention all that because from this seat, when I look out the corner of my eye at the driver's side mirror I can see the activity at the hummingbird feeder. Today I decided to take a picture of the mirror. The guy always uses the "spigot" away from Durelle's chair, but with the mirror I can catch him from behind.
Today I got some pictures in emails from nephew Dan Taylor. My sister, Marian, lives in Royalston, MA in a rustic place with a LOT of wildlife. She does not have internet access so she carried some pictures to Dan who forwarded them to me. I think you will like them.
In the ursine world multiple births are common, but quads are certainly not.
Thanks to Dan (and his mother) for making those pictures available.
Just as I finished populating my blog with someone else's pictures, Cindy sent me some pictures she took in our back yard with her I-Phone. Hey, I'm not proud; I'll use someone else's material.
When I told her that we had our heat on, she was astonished. Charleston was 93...feels like 102.
Summer is here...well, it will be tomorrow. We define the first day of summer as the day we steam up the first batch of lobsters. At this time of year the lobsters are getting ready to molt. The old shells are left behind and the new, soft shell permits the next growth cycle. The old, hard shell lobsters have more meat per pound of lobster, but they are more difficult to eat. The soft shells with the new shells have a lot of room to grow, and they are much easier to break down. The debate continues as to which tastes better. I tell folks that it is like sex or homemade bread; it's all good, only some is better than others.
Dick Roth and I went down to pick up the lobsters. Good corn on the cob is not ready yet. We used his auto and cooler.
Here's a picture of the happy group enjoying lobster.
Before the blossoms faded, I took a picture of the beach plum roses.
Maine is scrambling its way into summer (three days away). Most mornings have been in the low 50s. Depending on the sunshine we have occasionally had to turn on some heat. Please do not interpret that as a complaint. My back still inhibits my mobility, but I am doing my PT and I walked Baxter up the hill to the dog walk area this morning.
As a part of Maine's climbing out of spring into summer, the lupine are in full bloom. There's a nice patch at a gift shop a mile or so south on route 1.
The blossoms don't last long, but they are lovely at their peak.
Today was a special day. Durelle and I have been married for 55 years! I suppose that should warrant some profound thoughts and/or advice to the next generation. Unfortunately I haven't had any profound thoughts in a long time, and I doubt that the millennials are inclined to want any advice from the folks that remember the Ed Sullivan Show. We, the Floods, the Roths, and Dick Brann went out for supper. On the way back we stopped at the top of the hill and asked another camper to take a group picture.
For those of you that don't remember, that's Penobscot Bay in the background. When we got back to the motorhome, we found an anniversary present on our doorstep from the campground manager...a cold bottle of Champagne and a couple of flutes. Thanks Jim.
