Ninth of July Barbecue

July 4, 2016

A typhoon is heading this way; it could be here in four days, by Friday. Right now, the sky is beautiful. I was planning to take a bike ride with Mr. Moe on Friday morning and we were planning to have a barbecue on the patio Saturday, July 9.

 July 6, 2016 

     The skies are clear with a milky lilt over the eastern mountain range. The wind is gentle. The humidity is low. The sun is hot. The coconut palm tree I see west of the patio has its leaves bunched upward like it is praying in anticipation. This can mean only one thing: a typhoon is coming. This may be the last peaceful day until it passes Saturday, hopefully in time for our July 9th barbecue.

July 8, 2016

      I was awakened at 4 am this morning, not by the typhoon, but by Leona talking in her sleep. When I looked out the window, there was no rain or a smidgen of wind. Now, three and a half hours later, there is hardly any wind but a little spotty drizzle. The sky has tightened up to a solid gray from its spotty dark and white mix at dawn. The typhoon is imminent, but slowing down. Yesterday, we took the car out for a drive thinking the typhoon, which was moving at 20 kph (12 mph) would bring rain, but it slowed to 10 kph (6 mph) as it approached the east coast. It was the third time in a week we took the car out.

July 11, 2016 

 

We had a very successful barbecue on Saturday evening with 21 guests over; Mrs. Shu with husband and son, Leona’s female cousin with her son, daughter, and mom, Leona’s brother with his wife and three children, Jenny and son, Huai-Ya with her husband and son, “Big Cow,” Julian, a married couple of Leona’s college friends, and Jack without his wife. I made deviled eggs, potato latkes, and stuffed portabella mushroom caps, took out the bottled chow-chow, beet-eggs, and pickled beets from Lancaster, sour cream dip with three kinds of chips, Joya halvah, French caviar with thin sliced Finga’s sourdough and rye, fried Italian prosciutto, Costco-bought barbecue chicken and frozen pork ribs, while Ken barbecued beef tongue and pork from the hibachi place he works at, along with the traditional Taiwan-style barbecue pork on white bread, smoked Brats, and asparagus and water cress. Huai-Ya’s husband brought more beef along with Pu-er tea, and other guests brought soda, kiwi, dragon fruit, wine, bread, and beer; the guests (mostly Jack) drank 48 cans. Leona and I also had a great time. She made avocado salad and I put out some European cheeses. I played Nora Jones on the patio and Shih-Dong’s family watched TV in the living room. 

Julian played guitar and there was a karaoke around the dining area table. I sang “Hotel California” with him as he played and then took out my blues harp to play “Roadhouse Blues,” though he couldn’t quite get the blues progression. I showed Mrs. Shu’s son how to play Battleship with Jia-Huai, and Huai-Ya’s son fiddled with his smart phone including showing me how to join Instagram. The party lasted from 6 pm until past 11 pm. Leona and I cleaned up and didn’t get to bed until past 1 am.