Garden Party

We had our annual Garden party this past weekend! Living in Belgium a lot of our friends – mostly expats – leave for the summer and Brussels empties out. So for the last 4 years we have been hosting a summer BBQ for one last chance of hanging out with friends. And it is lovely, this year we were around 50 people and it was so lovely to see all our friends. Thanks to all for joining us, for helping out and for having fun

The Prep

Of course preparing for this takes a bit of time – but to be honest not too much. I believe this year was our best prep yet (but you would think we get better every year). We did the shopping on Wednesday and Thursday (of course on the day itself we have to run down and get the stuff we have forgotten – burger buns and we always wonder if we have enough beer, wine, meat- so need to get more). On the day itself we prep the food (this year it was bulgur salad, green salad, BBQ sauce, Hummus, Salsa, baked potatoes, chocolate mousse and then meat for the BBQ – burgers, sausages, chicken and Bacon). Others brought desserts as well – loads of lovely cakes, strawberries and chocolate – I have learned to say Yes if people offer to bring anything (I really do not want anybody to feel obliged – but the last couple of years the dessert buffet has been donations from some of the guests) Drinks are Alpha Males domain – he now know exactly how much to buy – we always buy extra – but it is certainly nice to have for the coming weeks. This year we drank something like 100 Beers, 30 bottles of wine, vodka, whiskey and of course loads of soft drinks. The set up is a couple of small awnings and all the tables and chairs we can fit underneath – after doing this many times we know where the different tables goes so it does not take too long.

The practicalities

This year we opted for paper plates and forks and knives, as well as plastic beerglasses (wine glasses of Glass) which was a great help – the previous years I have been too busy in the kitchen cleaning forks, knives and plates – so going forward we will continue the paper/plastic variety . One of our good friends do the BBQ (really not something for Alpha- Male) so we spend most of our time making sure everybody has drinks and hope to be able to sit down a chat with everybody.

The Fun

And it is fun – to see all our friends (and funny what a small world we live in – many know each other but we never realized) get a bit (or a lot) tipsy with everybody and the party is just so enjoyable that we always think we should do it more often …………. But then on Sunday comes the cleaning up.

Graduation

Last month I graduated from the International Management Program I have been doing the last year at Vlerick. I really enjoyed the program and met a bunch of great people – and I am happy to say many Belgians – most of our friends are ex-pats. We had a great evening – maybe a bit too much wine ….