you call that a bar-be-cue?

i do.

Indeed.  After we grilled out on Friday (our first really nice day here...followed by almost a straight week of rain/cold/wind/lame), I mentioned to Michael that, though we BBQ'd, nothing we actually ate was...BBQ flavor.  He informed me that BBQ is also a verb, so we're good.

Anyway, our friend Jared, who is a culinary student here in town and is straight up awesome about eating food we make and making food we can eat, asked Michael and I over to grill out in honor of the beautiful spring day.  How could we refuse?  At first, he was going to grill some meat for himself, but once we got to the grocery store, he decided that he just wanted to make a bunch of stuff we all could eat, and I couldn't have been happier!  

Here's a crappy flash shot of some stuff on the grill.

yeah, we grilled bread.  wanna make something of it?

Man, that grilled bread was good.  It was a rosemary focaccia to begin with, then we brushed it with olive oil and a balsamic reduction.  It made a perfect vehicle for this amazing stuff:

avocado relishhhhh

This was Jared's doing.  He makes this avocado relish that's crazy delicious (avocado, red onion, habenero and jalepeno peppers, roma tomatoes, cilantro, lime juice...).  Well, the avocado we got at the store was beyond hard.  They all were.  I had the brilliant idea to throw them (peeled) on the grill for a few, to see if they softened up.  I mean, it's not like we had anything to lose.  But everything to gain!  Because grilled avocado is freaking fabulous!  It got all black on the outside because I wasn't paying attention, but that just added some great smokey flavor.  

We also grilled up loads of veggies, some marinated tofu, and some veggie italian sausages.

feast your eyes on that

It all came together beautifully to become this:

best. bbq. ever.

So all in all we had: skewers of green and yellow bell peppers, yellow squash, zuchinni, and marinated tofu; sliced portobellas, veggie sausages, corn (on the cob), grilled bread, and that knock your socks off relish.  Jared said he didn't miss there being meat at all, that the tofu was awesome, and that even his culinary professor wouldn't be able to tell the sausages weren't real meat (which is awesome, but also kind of gross, if you think about it).  We were all stuffed to the max, but there was just enough room for this little fella:

amuse bouche!

In classic Top Chef style, Jared created the perfect bite.  I was so jealous.

Oh, I got a request to show a pic of my new haircut...  I don't really have any of the full on haircut because I've taken them all myself, but here's one, sort of (it used to be down to my chin, with no bangs):