Friendship is a special thing, one of life's greatest joys. Meeting up with old friends is always memorable and when it happens after a long period of time it becomes an event. For friends, of course.
The pandemic has been a major cause of the rarer meetings between friends. Beyond all our fears, I managed a few days ago to meet up with some very old and good friends.
In the tradition of my people, in the Romanian tradition, but I am absolutely convinced that this is a universal tradition and custom, found in all peoples of the world, is that any guest is invited first of all to eat with the hosts...
Another Romanian tradition is that when friends get together, to make barbecue, that is, barbecue to be the main way of cooking.
Well, barbecue, besides tasty food comes with this inconvenience, the smoke!
The grill maker, the host, is always imbued with the smell of smoke and food because he is forced to stand in the middle of the smoke.
The smoke and the heat of the burning coals is quite uncomfortable but my good friend Valentin bears it with stoicism and the joy that he will make a joy to his friends, i.e. to us, those of us who have just arrived and who are starving!
Valentin's effort leads to a result that is worth it. An excellent barbecue.
The food may not look great and the place where it is made may not please the pickiest.
We, our group of friends, prefer food without pomp and good image. We preferred food as close to the earth as possible, the way our ancestors used to prepare it, meat and fish on the fire, over burning coals!
I like to stay with the image of Valentin, in a corner of his yard, next to the barbecue. He made a wonderful meal!
The table is ready and waiting for us, although it is full of food, most of all we enjoy seeing each other and talking about ourselves, our other friends and plans for the future. These relate exclusively to re-enacting the seaside holidays we used to take together in our youth.
It was a wonderful half-day! Somewhat ruined by unpleasant and painful news but such is life!
This is my entry for the #monomad challenge.
