Just rounded out the season with a bean pot and beach boil out on a sandbar island, since we had friends from out of town. We bought lobsters, butter, lemons, and eggs at the store, and the rest of the veg and shellfish came from the garden or were foraged on the spot. No pictures - it's illegal to build fires out on the island - but it was nice to set aside the documentary impulse and just enjoy good food in good company.
We did have the cops show up - not sure if someone called them on us or if they just spotted the fire as the evening fell - but because my spouse is extremely charming, we weren't hit with a citation. They ended up staying for a bite to eat and telling us to give them a quick heads-up if we plan something like this again.
We'll definitely be planning something like this again.
Also, I've gotten a couple of questions about my parents cooking with wood, so I thought I'd show a picture of the kind of cookstove I grew up with:
My parents' house is pretty old. The kitchen is a later addition that was originally semi-detatched but now connects to the rest of the house via a doorway and pass-through. In the summer, my parents either open all the kitchen windows and set up several box fans to blow the hot air out of the house, or if it is sunny enough, they use a solar oven out in the yard. In the winter, they turn the fans around to blow the heat into the house. It's an efficient setup.
Because I am not always an idiot, this is not a picture of my parents' actual kitchen, but it is pretty similar and the stove itself is identical. Just imagine white cabinets and a sensible bluestone floor. If my dad were left to deal with a room like the one in the picture, he'd start working quietly after everyone else went to bed, and that poorly leveled brick cinder-and-crumb trap would be torn up and out the door by morning.
