equality

Summer Time! BBQ Time!

Well hello ladies.

Digging a hole

Isn't BBQ season just marvellous for us women?
Himself piped up the other day, "isn't it grand for you now that I'm doing all the cooking." I looked up expectantly. Where is he going with this one? "Well now that the good weather is here and the kids are on holidays, you don't have to do anything"? Again I gave him the eye. Say nothing and see how deep this hole he is digging will be. I don't even have to supply the shovel.

The Great Gender Divide and Primeval instinct
"Well sure we (I'm assuming he means men) do all the BBQing”. "Yes, you do BBQ." said I. "Well it makes things easier for you" said he. "That it does. All I have to do when you're BBQing is bring out the meat, the marinade, the thongs, the forks, the plate to put it all on, then make the salads and wash the spuds and then after I get to clean the grill racks." It was his turn to stay silent.
So why do men do the BBQ. It’s a 'primeval instinct’ for men to barbecue. They’re essentially hard-wired to work with meat and fire. It certainly would be weird to see himself make a salad while I BBQed and although I'm the primary caregiver and himself the main earner we live in a house that has good equality balance of roles.

Equality 
Equality, in the home, to me means that we share out what needs to be done. Division of labour. I struggled initially with being “a kept woman" as it is traditionally seen. I find it strange that the care of children and investing time and effort in home life is less valued than a job. True equality is about choice. I choose to be at home. I’m lucky enough to have that choice but I did feel a little “anti-feminist” in my choice. At times I felt judged, by women more than men. But I think i was judging myself more. Was I setting a good example for my daughters?  But as time went on and life threw curve balls and it was essential for someone to be at home I was grateful for the choice and was at peace in my role. I’m lucky.

Gin and Tonics with a delicious dinner with the Matriarch and the sister

Anyway back to how lucky I am to have little to do now that it’s BBQ season. The weather is just amazing. We’ve been BBQing at the beach and at home. I love the Cajun chicken kebabs. I usually add them to my salad of leaves with toasted walnuts, tomatoes and beetroot. Love love love !!!! The kids are loving the BBQ sausages and the lamb kebabs. They haven’t time to chew. The butcher enjoys the beef or lamb burgers. But at the weekend I said no more. I was being lazy about changing what I was eating. My Mam and my sister were staying over and I wanted to feed them well. So I tried the butterflied leg of lamb on the BBQ. I marinated it with lemon juice, crushed garlic and salt and pepper. Simple. It was nearly half eaten before I got it to the table. It really is delicious and quick. And a welcome change from the typical BBQ fare. I served the lamb with South East Produce New Potatoes and a simple salad of leaves with mint. So between the delicious lamb and new potatoes with melting butter, portion distortion was the order of the day. I’ve found a Jamie Oliver recipe that I’m going to try for the marinade and will share the results.
So the butcher got to try something new and I enjoyed the results immensely – He even washed the grill rack after.

True love.

Equality.

Happy wife, happy life.

The butchers’ wife xx

Contact orders@molloysbutchersardkeen.com for any special request regarding the lamb.

In other news we are still encouraging our customers to bring their clean reusable containers into us. Choose to Reuse. Plastic Free Waterford.

by Aileen Graham