salade de Jours d'été (Salad days of summer)

A couple of weeks ago while the Guads sans Nice were in town we hosted a Saturday night barbeque. For as long as I can remember, every Saturday night my parents would have steak-night. When I was younger, before my palette was refined, I decided I didn't like steak so my mother would let me accompany her to Dan's for grocery shopping. I would be allowed to choose what I wanted for dinner on Saturday - I would choose really fancy meals like spaghetti-o-s or a T.V. dinner. Eventually I learned to appreciate a finely barbequed steak and was included in on the festivities. Even my friends want to be a part of steak night. My dad would allow them to join us for steak night if they completed their assigned chores. Everyone worked for steak night.
Steak night is not just about the steak, you see - it is the side dishes that make the magic happen. The sour dough garlic toast grilled on the barbie, the fresh salad (not from a bag) complete with avocado and then there is the piece de résistance, the sautéed mushrooms made with a recipe so secret not even me, his own daughter knows…. (not really, he will share the recipe it’s just so much better when he makes them).
This is not a meal for the faint of heart – literally – if your cholesterol is over 180 you are not invited. Remarkably, after all of these years enjoying the spoils of steak night, my cholesterol remains steady at 138.
Here is a picture of the masterpiece. It was impossible to finish this in one sitting. It took a couple of days to enjoy. As we had special guest, grilled shrimp was also on the menu.













Here is a picture of the gang at dinner.

The kids went to the basement to look for the tennis racquets or horse shoes to play in the back yard and came up with my clubs:

The Faces of Summer!