A Barbeque

Sue and Gordon are wonderful, kind people who have welcomed me into their home along with their dogs, gentle, lovable Tiger and scrappy, persistent Gus, and their older-than-dirt cat, Lucy who is held together by spider webs and a little bit of hope. I was excited when, on the way home from the Uni, Sue told me about the barbeque they were having on Sunday to celebrate Gordon's birthday.

After a cool, rainy Saturday spent catching up on my blog and offering to help with barbeque preparations, Sunday happened clear and quite warm.

Andria, being one of the few people I could contact before we all had our mobile and internet situations figured out, came over, and we met many of Sue and Gordon's friends as well as Sue's sister, mother, and best friend since primary school (not all the same people).

We enjoyed an afternoon of sitting outside and answering questions about American politics, grilled lamb, asking for an explanation of rugby, and general gaiety. The best part though, was trying paua (said pow-ah, and is, for all practical purposes, abalone) for the first time. It was served first to the "American Gehls" on a piece of buttered bread and looked green beneath the grill marks. With everyone watching for our reactions, we couldn't back out (not that we would have wanted to). We bit in and were not disappointed. It had almost the texture of a scallop, but was of a completely different flavor, not fishy at all, but still ocean-y. A wise desicion.

After all of the guests left and everything was cleaned up, we spent the evening watching "Little Miss Sunshine" on TV. It turns out that, in New Zealand, F-bombs are not edited out of movies. When I expressed a little bit of shock, I was told that nothing is edited and things can get quite vulgar and crass, but there doesn't seem to be much of a complaint.