We barely squeezed in a family barbecue this summer because of all the remodeling going on this year. But with Nick visiting from Japan, we decided to go ahead and invite everyone over even though the remodeling is still not completely done. Sometimes I wonder if it ever will be completely done...but that's another story. I still plan to do a "before and after" post when and if it ever is completed. Anyway, Nick came to visit for 10 days from Japan and we had such a good time while he was here.
He had a list of favorite foods he wanted to eat while he was here so I was busy preparing many of his favorites. For the family barbecue, we did Bruce's barbecued baby back ribs.
They are finger-licking good!
Everyone who came brought side dishes to go with the ribs so we had quite a variety of food.
I made my Harvest Apple Sangria with Bourbon and Thyme as a fall cocktail to start off the party as people arrived. I doubled the recipe for the punch bowl so people could help themselves. Bruce also made his Peppered Smoked Salmon so we had lots to munch on before the main course.
A couple of Nick's childhood friends came by to join us, too. He ran into one friend at the Mariner baseball game earlier in the week. He recognized Nick walking by and there he was. Such a small world. .
They were pre-school playmates, if you can believe that.
While at that game, look who else Nick ran into...
Josh Osich was a player on Nick's high school team and is now a Chicago White Sox pitcher! We didn't even know he played for them but at the previous game Bruce and Nick went to, they saw Josh Osich come out of the bullpen and pitch relief for a couple of innings. They looked up on the big screen and there he was. They texted me and Lauren (Josh was actually in Lauren's class) and I turned on the TV and watched. It was quite amazing, really. Nick was determined to talk to him at the next game but it's really not that easy. He got to the game early to try and catch him during batting practice when the pitchers are just standing in the outfield catching fly balls - no luck. But then during the game, Nick saw him in the bullpen just standing there so fortunately T-Mobile Park has an easy access for viewers to watch pitchers warm up. He called out to him mentioning Bishop Kelly High School and Josh immediately looked up and recognized Nick right away. They talked about 10 minutes and Nick learned lots of interesting things about his career. It was quite the thrill. Nick's friend, Jeff, took this photo and also got one with Josh.
Nick has been friends with Jeff since grade school and they always see each other on Nick's visits home and catch a Mariner game or Seahawks game or both.
Josh Osich was a player on Nick's high school team and is now a Chicago White Sox pitcher! We didn't even know he played for them but at the previous game Bruce and Nick went to, they saw Josh Osich come out of the bullpen and pitch relief for a couple of innings. They looked up on the big screen and there he was. They texted me and Lauren (Josh was actually in Lauren's class) and I turned on the TV and watched. It was quite amazing, really. Nick was determined to talk to him at the next game but it's really not that easy. He got to the game early to try and catch him during batting practice when the pitchers are just standing in the outfield catching fly balls - no luck. But then during the game, Nick saw him in the bullpen just standing there so fortunately T-Mobile Park has an easy access for viewers to watch pitchers warm up. He called out to him mentioning Bishop Kelly High School and Josh immediately looked up and recognized Nick right away. They talked about 10 minutes and Nick learned lots of interesting things about his career. It was quite the thrill. Nick's friend, Jeff, took this photo and also got one with Josh.
A third friend of Nick's who was at our barbecue, named Hiroshi, is a Japanese friend of Nick's that I wrote about who owns "the shoes". He was on the same plane as Nick from Japan in 2016 and Nick noticed his shoes because they were special Seahawks Richard Sherman shoes. Nick notices things like that. The next day, Nick and Jeff were at a Mariner game and Nick saw the same shoes down the row and noticed it was a Japanese guy who was wearing them. He knew it had to be the same guy from on the plane so he went and asked him. Hiroshi didn't speak any English so Nick spoke in Japanese and they immediately hit it off. If you remember this story, the funny part is when Macklemore, the Grammy award-winning rap singer, came and sat down right next to them and Nick next couldn't get back to his seat. Hiroshi on one side and Macklemore on the other.
Nick and Hiroshi stayed in touch and the next year in 2017 they both visited Seattle at the same time and overlapped one day again which is when Nick invited him over to our house.
Hiroshi has stopped by other times when he visits Seattle to say hello to us and now he's been working on his English which keeps improving.
He was thrilled to have some big, fat American ribs because he had taken Nick out to eat in Tokyo and ordered ribs. Nick said after seeing our ribs, he apologized to Nick at how skinny those Japanese ribs were.
Notice his Seahawks Richard Sherman shoes...
Even though we don't speak the same language, we really enjoy having Hiroshi over and seeing him when he's in town. Needless to say, he loves American food.
And so does Nick. He makes the most of it when he returns from Japan. This is his second plateful.
Nick's request for dessert was pumpkin and pecan pie. He misses Thanksgiving so I happily obliged and made a couple of pies. There were a few other desserts that people brought so no shortage of desserts, either. I would say our barbecue was a success which is a good thing because it's probably also our last barbecue of the season. Welcome Fall!
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