my new best friend

And another summer party over.

We had entirely improbable luck concerning the weather, sitting outside with friends and family until half past three in the morning.

(bigger version here)

It was a small party compared to other years, but this only made all the preparations much more relaxed. With the relentless help of my lovely wife, all food turned out lovely, the roast crisp and juicy, the salmon spicy but not salty, the hot potato wedges hot enough and best of all, by sunday noon, the house was clean again. We're a bit footsore but feeling very accomplished now.

I'll post a few of the recipes later, but first one tiny thing that really made my day.

Remember last year's gravlax? The one I didn't manage to get a single decent picture of?

Well, this year's salmon was much more cooperative - and here's the proof:



First the spices, then the prepared salmon inside it's tight glass coffin of clingwrap.



And finally, my new best friend, sliced and decorated just moments before we called in the guests -



And as you can guess, it was gone minutes later.