christmas tradition. . .

:Nicki, this is directly in response to your post about Christmas traditions, although I bet you're not going to get very many of your readers to post something like this!:

I got to work this morning and JB walks in with his camera. . . 

"We did it this morning. . . "

Cue video. (I watched in both disbelief and fascination)

End result: 

It's been two years in a row now. . . pretty much a tradition for those of us who are just beginning our own personal journey into tradition setting.  This party, a stark contrast to the other classy parties I've been involved with this season, involves starting from scratch. . . literally.  A backyard, a pretty little goat, some machetes, and a freshly dug fire pit.  

They've been talking about it for weeks.  They've been scheming about where the cheapest place to get a goat is.  Where do you even find live goats anyway?!  Yesterday, JB told me he had no idea where they were going to get one, but he seemed to have full confidence that Luke and Adam were going to drive around and find one this morning.  I never heard the final story about how or where they got it, but it was certainly there.  

Here's an idea of the kind of planning that goes into an event like this:

The official documentation of the whole process:

I got a call from Adam earlier today asking me if I would be available to come over and help him out with some of the prep for the event.  I was more than willing, of course!  When I arrived, I walked into the house and Adam was stirring one of his beautiful curries on the stove while DP was in the backyard painting a picture of the head of the goat as a tribute to the event and to the HOF.  I greeted all three of them (Adam, DP, and the goat), checked out the hoof that was still hanging from the roof, and then when back into the kitchen.  Adam was now holding a handful of goat intestines, but I wasn't really paying that much attention.  He said, 'Caitlin, are you a texture person?' and I answered 'Yea.'  'Here. . .' he said and handed me a the whole gob of intestines!  It was definitely an interesting texture. . . not unlike what you might imagine goat intestines to feel like in the palms of your hands.  I screamed and complained before he took them back to prepare them for the meal.  He said that in Kenya, they don't even clean them out before eating them!  Thankfully I watched all of the green goo come out of them before he put them into the pan.  Not a cross-cultural experience that I am longing to have, for sure.  

Here is the smoke pit on the side of the house.  You can kind of see the wooden cover that they have laying to the side, that's to keep all of the smoke in the pit.  When I went over this afternoon, there was a big cooler full of hot meat and so we cracked it open and enjoyed a few hot ribs that had just come off the racks.  Mmmm. . . it was so fresh and just good!  

So the challenge comes when you have to mentally separate the picture above from the picture below. . . and then bite into a big hunk of goat meat.  

Here's me giving our precious goat some love. . . 

My friend Shannon and I decided yesterday that we wanted to contribute to the meal with some extra, and fun dishes.  I seriously feel like I've done nothing but cook/bake for the last two weeks, which is mostly true--but we did it and it turned out super well.  We made a great fruit salad, Pina Colada cake (which turned out a little funny because of the lack of oven racks in the oven. . . they were being used in the smoker outside) and Shannon's family traditional Celebration Cake.  We also made hot apple cider, which is always a big hit!  I wish I could remember exactly the words he said, but Adam thanked us for bringing some grace to the whole meal.  

Here's Celebration Cake: 

Angel Food with Cool Whip and Fresh Berries

And Pina Colada cake: 

Which tastes much better than it photographs, I assure you.  

This whole process is really is an art.  It is a very strategic process that allows for maximum flavor in the meal and maximum community over the meal.  I stood next to the stove and served dozens of cups of cider while Adam passed them out to people who were mingling and enjoying each other's company.  He looked at me and said, 'Caitlin, food is just so good at bringing people together!'  I couldn't agree more.