Well, it was a broiling hot July 2nd, and Tenafly reveled in its annual 4th of July festivities. As usual, it was a blast (click for video) and the town did a wonderful job as always with a great fireworks display and music, but it was a close call. It rained all during the early evening and the weather didn’t clear up until about a half an hour before the show. But still, the hardcore picnic crowd came out in force, we staked out our claims and blanket territory in the park, had our sandwiches and chips and iced tea, and didn’t let a little drizzle deter us from our mission.
The overcast skies and the rain made for a beautiful rainbow. Of course, I wasn’t happy about the fact that we saw quite a bit of lightning as well. Stay away from the trees and the flagpole!
Rachel had an open house today and couldn’t help out until she got back late in the afternoon, so I was assigned the task of designing the picnic menu. I prepared our group a feast of grilled dry-rubbed chicken breast w/bacon club sandwiches, insalata caprese (w/some chopped up Zucchini flowers in it as well as the traditional basil, tomato and mozzarella) and an improvized spicy potato salad, with red potatoes, chopped red chiles, red onion, bacon, celery, dijon mustard, smoked dried guajillo pepper powder, mayo, salt and pepper and a hit of Daisy Martinez’s pineapple-chile vinagre that we now keep in the fridge all the time. It was declared a winner by both Andy and Rachel. We also had fresh brewed iced tea, carrot sticks, chips, and enough watermelon to feed an army.
The umbrellas were useful for keeping the sandwiches dry.
Off The Broiler 