On warm summer evenings there are very few things that beat the flawless combination of good friends, good weather and good eats. Back yard entertaining is one of my favourite ways to spend time during the entirely too few warm months in Canada. Growing up, a large backyard was something we took for granted as kids. We always had a place to play, a place to picnic, a place to pitch a tent and play at "camping". Even though we lived smack in the middle of busy, crowded, downtown Toronto we always had that shady, comfortable, large oasis at our beck and call.
I don’t think I truly appreciated how good we had it back then until S. and I bought our own house this past fall. We love our little house and are absolutely crazy about living in Leslieville (we are close to everything: Little India, the Beach, Queen East, TTC, and only about a 12-minute drive from the downtown core), but we realized this spring that something very important was missing.
We don’t actually have a back yard.
Well, we do have a rather petite rectangle of grass behind our house that S. has been working hard to keep neatly mowed. Recently we have been making very big plans for what (hopefully) will be in no time, our own wee sanctuary. Once we have a fence built, the barbecue S. received as a Father�s Day gift will come out of its box, the lawn chairs will come out of the basement and Leith will be �set free� in his very own outdoor space to play, picnic and pitch a tent.
Once all the bits and pieces come together we will of course host a backyard barbecue with friends, food and fun overflowing. I have some very good backyard-friendly recipes already but only recently have I come up with a worthwhile coleslaw recipe. Because honestly, what good are homemade burgers, grilled corn with chipotle butter and margaritas without a delicious bowl of chilled coleslaw�???