Weekend-Engagement 152: Wish I spent more time having family gatherings around a barbecue

Hi friends,

This is my entry to the #weekend-engament organized by @galenkp every weekend.

This time the theme I have chosen among the proposed ones is.

Complete it
Complete one of the sentences below in a post of over 300 words and use your own photos where possible.
“I wish I spent more time doing…”

Hi folks,

I wish I spent more time having family gatherings around a barbecue.

Today in Spain is celebrated, as in some other countries, Mother's Day. However, for logistical work reasons, this weekend I can't enjoy it together with my mother.

It turns out that on Friday I finish my work activity in the city of Valladolid, about 5 hours away from where my mother lives and on Sunday, that is, today I would have to travel from my mother's house to Guadalajara, which would be about 9 hours of travel in my company car.

Therefore, faced with this situation, I decided on Friday to go to see my aunt and cousin in Madrid, which is halfway between Valladolid and Guadalajara, and spend the weekend with them.

However, this morning, knowing that it is Mother's Day, the nostalgia has seized me and made me think that it has been a long time since I had a family barbecue with my mother and other uncles and aunts who live in the region where my mother lives.

Family barbecues are a special day that begins with the selection of pork ribs, chorizos, chicken, etc.

The ritual continues with the preparation of a delicious sauce based on olive oil, paprika, tomato, vinegar, garlic and water that can be used as a sauce to accompany the meat or to baste the meat with this sauce when I am grilling the meat.

When making the coals, I always select holm oak charcoal. It provides a good ember, little smoke and gives a special flavor to the meat.

I do not like to boast, but to make meats to the barbecue, I am an expert and to see the face of satisfaction of my relatives while they are delighted with the mixture of the flavor of the meat and the sauce with the aroma of the coal is for me very comforting.

Thinking back now, I have not prepared any barbecue since August 2022 due to two main circumstances.

The first one is that during the winter months cooking the meat outdoors I have the experience that the result is not the same, I suppose that the contrast between the ambient temperature and the embers makes the cooking different.

The second and more attributable to me is that with the vortex of work I have not managed to have a Sunday available without having to leave on a trip in which I could organize a barbecue as my relatives deserve.

Conclusion, I wish I spent more time making family reunions around a barbecue.

Best regards.