Good Eats

A few years ago, a colleague and I bonded over our shared love of cooking. He's mostly a grill man, and he knows I'll appreciate his tales of brining, rubbing, searing, smoking, and saucing. It tickles him when he brings me a taste of something, and I can identify most of the ingredients. He also enjoys baking, and he and his wife regularly try out new cookie recipes.

It only made sense to us to organize a couple of staff events at school based on our mutual interest, and so we do a holiday cookie exchange and an end-of-the-year potluck barbecue for anyone interested. For the barbecue, he always does the main, and over the years we've been lucky enough to sample ribs, smoked brisket, pulled pork, and pulled chicken. I always make Heidi's mom's potato salad, a classic mayo, mustard, and relish-dressed dish with celery and boiled eggs. I also bring lemon squares, which are a favorite of that crowd.

Even though I retired, our tradition lives on, and tomorrow is the big day. He's bringing chicken and jambalaya this year, and in addition to potato salad and lemon squares, we also have brownies, corn salad, pasta salad, beer bread, baked beans, fruit, chips, watermelon, and chocolate chip cookies on the menu.

You can bet I intend to savor every bite!