Pelkey's Pig Roast

Can you point me to the pig roast?

Having been a vegetarian for most of my life, the last place on earth that I would have thought I would end up was at a pig roast. However, since I decided to start expanding my palate in the past year, I jumped at the invitation extended to me by friend Katherine to attend her father's annual Pig Roast held in Madison, CT. After all, when do you ever get invited to such an event? I figured it was my responsibility my followers to go and report back. Luckily for me, Kathy is a fellow vegetarian, and so I wasn't worried about starving since she informed me that she would be bringing plenty of veggie burgers and there would be tons of side dishes to nosh on, if I wasn't ready to try a slice of the pig who had been nicknamed "Earl", evidenced by the carved apple in it's mouth. I have to admit that while I didn't taste any of the roasted pig, which weighed in at 130 pounds, I can report back that he smelled absolutely delish while cooking!  

Kathy and I

A line quickly formed when Papa Pelkey announced that "Earl" was ready to emerge from the roaster. The eager crowd who had been patiently waiting and increasing their appetite by downing beers quickly stripped the meat off of Earl and loaded up their plates on the long tables which were groaning under all of the side dishes, ranging from baked apples to salads, corn on the cob, coleslaws, potato salads and everything in between. Before you know it, the food had practically been inhaled by the masses. To wash it all down with, Kathy had played the role of mix mistress and had created an

Papa Pelkey carving up "Earl"

intoxicating summer sangria for us. Chock full of summer berries and lemon halves, it was like having desert in a glass and I almost couldn't believe my eyes when I looked up from my glass and saw that the long tables were now magically ladden with brownies, pies and jellos that I wanted to try. Luckily there was a planned activity for the crowd to help us working through our expected lethargy. We all gathered round for a very enthusiastic game called "Cajun Horseshoes" which involved tossing 3 metal washers into a board that had 3 holes in it and represented a points system. The game is a tradition, and many of the players had 12 years of practicing under their belts. There was an officiating judge and it cost a dollar to play. The winner got to take home the winnings.  Unfortunately despite my dedicating an hour to practicing this game, I was taken out in the first round by Papa Pelkey, and didn't have a chance to showcase my new found skills. The evening ended us with roasting marshmallows over the fire pits, and both listening and commenting on some of the conversations that were going on around us. We heard one group talking about a dog who had drowned in a toilet. Another was reminiscing about clothing that was fashionable in the 80's and 90's. Hmm, that's one of the best thing about summer. You never really know what to expect when a bunch of random people get together.