Fun, Food, and Fellowship

In African-American culture when the weather is warm and a celebration is at hand, you can be sure that someone is pulling out their grill. That's right, it's COOKOUT TIME. Just like any bbq, cookouts are a time when we get together with our families for fun, food, and fellowship. This weekend my sister-in-law is having a huge cookout to celebrate her two sons graduating. Her oldest, just graduated from Bridgewater State College and her youngest is graduating next week from Randolph High School. (Yay boys!) I for one, am ecstatic about tomorrow. Not just because I get to hang-out with my new family, but also because of the food that will be adorning every table. Now, I don't know how other cultures bbq, but us...we get down. It's like Christmas and Thanksgiving combined and held outdoors. There's usually a combination of barrel grills and standard size charcoal grills cooking every type of meat imaginable...some people even roast an entire pig. For dessert I'm sure you would find some of these family favorites: banana pudding, peach cobbler, apple pie, german chocolate cake, sweet potato pie, and red velvet cake.

In my previous blog I discussed my love for sweets, so you probably would think that the desserts would be my food highlight. EHH...wrong answer. The one thing that I absolutely love at a cookout is a hot dog. It's something about the smokey flavor of the charcoal cooked through the hot dog that drives me wild. A gas grilled hot dog doesn't have the same effect, so I don't eat them as much. Give me a hot dog with a side of baked beans and a little mac and cheese, and I'm golden. I don't even have to eat them with a bun, in fact I prefer them without a bun (only at a cookout).

Well, there you have it...my weekend plans - fun, food, and fellowship. And while I'm enjoying myself spending time with family, I won't forget that thousands of other men and women won't have that privilege. So, to every man and woman serving in the military or whoever served in the military - God Bless you and Happy Memorial Day.