I was thinking of smoking pork last week at our pre-reunion gathering, but I was nervous about trying it for the first time when serving thirteen dinner guests, not because thirteen at dinner is unlucky--and anyway there were fourteen including me--but because I'd hate to serve a failure to that many people. When I tried pizza, it was so easy I went with that instead, but just as good dress rehearsals reputedly make for bad performances, pizza was not easy on the night.
So perhaps it is foolish of me to decide, based on how easy (if time-consuming) it was to smoke this pork, that it is the perfect choice if everyone comes again next year, but I am refusing to learn from my mistakes.
This year, along with the disappointingly slow and difficult pizza: blackberry-lime gin fizzes, zucchini with lemon and mint, lentil salad with carrots, and lemon berry tarts.
Though the pizza was difficult the company was delightful:
