Abundance of family with HG/BSK on Prince Edward Island. SJ, Exquisite Maiko, Adorable Teru, Handsome Haru. Gifted daughter Lesley R. is here and husband Massimo plus daughter Sofia arrive next week. HG”s daughter Victoria, the prominent New York restaurateur, arrives tomorrow. As expected, everyone is pitching in to create festive dinners. BSK made a spectacular platter of linguine with freshly picked garlic (pungent magnificence). Lesley R. took a culinary trip down memory lane and created a wonderful pot of a family favorite from their New Jersey days: Stretch’s Chicken savoy as served at the Belmont Tavern in Belleville. EM collaborated with HG shucking Malpeque oysters. (Like everything EM does in the kitchen, EM’s shucked oysters please the eye as well as the palate). EM and SJ collaborated on a fish fry of three pounds of hake. Wondrous. As HG writes, SJ is slow cooking racks of pork ribs (from a healthy pig raised on PEI by BSK’s sister, Noel, and husband Yossi). A few nights ago, Noel and Yossi served the HG/BSK family many slices of a savory barbecued pork roast (Once more, from a N. and Y. raised pig). Yossi assured HG that his pigs have a unique distinction: They are Kosher.
The norm in the cycle of life is that as we get older, there is less extended family around. They scatter. They move to separate rhythms. They drift. But at this rather late stage of your life, HG, the opposite has happened. Ever grander family assemblies occur on your enchanted PEI shore.
Truly, ultimately, wonderful!
You are right, Peter. And, best of all, everyone can cook. Super fun.