It was the weekend before Halloween and it was so gorgeous out that we had an impromptu barbeque lunch in the mountain on the edge of the Nigawa River. Suki’s family organized it and brought all the food. She has three children, two of who are older than ten, and they brought friends.
The Nigawa river was cool and as deep as my knees. It flowed over sand and rocks some which were big enough to sit on. Eleanor climbed on one and basked in the sun pretending to be a mermaid.
The kids went off to find and collect little crabs in their container. Tim helped get the fire going in a pit made in a dried up stream bed and Suki and I set up necessary items on the plank bridge across the banks. It made a perfect serving table.
After wading upstream towards the waterfall while playing brave knights and princesses and getting good and wet, the children were hungry. Our neighbours arrived with their children and everyone was ready for lunch.
We had strips of steak marinated in Coke, molasses and sugar that we wrapped in Shiso leaf (like a giant mint but less sharp in flavour) to hold and eat. We also enjoyed chicken wings, mashed potato salad, pasta salad full of broccoli and a real pumpkin pie (purchased at Costco). Cold tea and beer quenched our thirst.
Then the kids went on an adventure down river and ended up playing capture the flag on the field down the way from the little rapids. They were having so much fun we could hear a lot of laughter above the murmurs of the river. It was so nice to have the older kids be in charge of the little ones so we adults could just relax and chat. It was really something to have such a comfortable outdoor lunch in the end of October. It felt like a cool summer day and we had smiles on our faces.
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