We're finally getting some nice sunny warm weather in Norway. That meant it was time to get the balcony ready for the summer season and also to have our first barbecue of the year. I love barbecuing and would do it every day of the year if I could. There's something grand about standing in front of the grill with a beer in hand and watching meat burn.
I spent most of my afternoon yesterday cleaning up the balcony and getting our furniture up. We don't have a huge space but it's just enough for the two of us and a couple of guests if that should happen. We're a little dissatisfied that it's a little windy out there but we've gotten used to it.
The grill itself has been standing outside all winter and needed some maintenance. I forgot to take in the loose parts before the winter hit so there was a little bit of rust on those but nothing to big. The burners and all the important parts were wholly intact. I gave it a good wash and it was good as new, aside from the few spots of rust.
We've also planted some seeds and leeks a couple of months ago and they're finally starting to sprout. We have no idea what's coming up as we just planted a lot of rundam stuff. It's gonna be a mystery for sure.
The food
Let's get to the food. The reason we're all here.
We have a couple of favorites when it comes to barbecue food. The chorizos sausages are our absolute favorites. They're extremely juicy and tasty. I don't think we've has a barbecue without them since we first discovered them two years ago. Last year the general store here didn't sell them so we had them order a couple of packages for us. This year they were back in stock so we didn't have to go through the trouble.
Our second favorites are the red sweet peppers. We slice them in two and fill them with feta cheese and chili. I'm using sambal oelek for anything that needs chili and extra spice these days. This is another mainstay for our barbecues. No barbecue is complete without them.
For the rest we went with some pre-marinated meat and sausages. I normally marinate my own meat but this all happened pretty spontaneous so I didn't get the time. The meat wasn't to bad but it could have been better. It was just a standard barbecue marinade. I normally go with a mix of garlic and ginger marinade that is really awesome. I didn't time the meat to well this time so it ended up a little dry.
The sausages were pretty awesome. The general store closest to us has a focus on local producers and these are from a farm not far from here. The top ones are made from chicken and duck and the bottom ones are pretty standard chili dogs.
And of course, no barbecue is complete without a decent salad and a side of potato salad.
My girlfriend found a wine that's a perfect fit for barbecue food. My favorite beverage these days is Juicy IPA from Frydenlund Bryggerier so I had taht. It's really tasty and easy to drink.
Unstable weather
The fact we were able to do this came as quite the shock. We had a full week of snow just a week ago and it's been icy cold. All of a sudden the weather gods decided to turn it all around and bless us with this.
We still have some rocky weather on the horizon though, but apparently it's the last hurdle before summer hits properly. The meteorologists are predicting a sunny and warm summer this year which is great. My town is renowned for its rain so it's a welcome change. It's not many years ago that we set a new record for most rainy days in a row. I think we had close to 280 days of rain through all of 2015. In 2018 we had 80 days straight of rain.
The last picture below is 10 days old.
Here's to a sunny summer with lots of barbecues!