Post-Festival report

Lotsa food. Lotsa people. A few homesick Americans (including one, from Baltimore, who was thrilled with the sweet potatoes roasted with an ersatz Old Bay spice mixture), and a ton of Aussies who either remembered barbecue from the first Festival or were meeting it for the first time last night. EVERYONE loves barbecue -- once they understand it. (Provided they're not vegetarians; I made sure there was plenty of vegetarian and vegan food available.)

I must say that, despite some traumatic moments during the smoking process (I guess last year's smoking, which went off pretty much without a hitch, was beginner's luck), the actual smoked meat turned out just right. The sauces were great, too, if I do say it myself (even the experimental mango sauce). The only disaster was the pumpkin tarts, which annealed to the bottom of the muffin pans. Phooey. (Still, that gives Houston, Margaret, and me two muffin-pans' worth of pumpkin tarts to attack with spoons....)

Despite how stressed I got, I really love making tons of good food and feeding it to tons of good people. The Greater Meaning of yesterday is how blessed my family and I are with good people in our lives, and with the the fact that we can offer them hospitality.