American Independence Day 4th July garden party near Tewkesbury

Your golden wedding? Why not make a weekend of it! Especially when guests fly in from around the world. For this event a lot of their friends came over from the states, and as the Friday night also happened to be the 4th of July they all suggested an Independence day American themed party, and the American contingent came up with the menu choices too.....
This was another event with the Tewkesbury town band playing. Of course we had to start with the USA national anthem!

As always it was busy setting in the marquee and we didn't get quite as many pics as we would have liked - there's always next year.....

Barbecue Style Buffalo Wings with Blue Cheese Dip
"I didn't know buffalo had wings - I thought they were like cows...." Yes this did really happen #facepalm.

Zucchini Parmesan Crisps with Guacamole and Salsa - brief glimpse above cut from another pic. Went very fast. Makes a great snack too!

Grilled Shrimp with Cilantro Sauce

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All American Classic Cheese Burgers & Vegetarian Mushroom and Boston Bean Burgers
With a kettle barbecue after you have barbecued the burgers you can put the cheese on, put them on a tray and close the lid. That way the cheese melts on top without dripping and you still have your barbecue flavour.  Burgers and sausages below from Martins Meats.

Sticky Ribs with Sour Cream and Chive Dip

Barbecue Sage Hot Dogs & Vegetarian Sausages with Corn Relish
Great plates, no? We also had stars & stripes napkins and tablecloth from the USA food store in London.

Pulled Pork with Jerk Sauce

This got all the guys going! Slow cooked in our special marinade in the oven for 10 hours, then finished on the barbecue. Then you can literally pull it to pieces. What's not to love?

all served with;

Buns, Ketchup, Mustard, Pickles, Relish and Mayonnaise

and

Sweet Potato Fries

Red, White and Blueberry Coleslaw

Black Bean Salad

Honey Mustard Potato Salad

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Traditional Apple Pie with Vanilla Ice Cream (complete with stars & stripes!)

Key Lime Cheesecake

Blackberry Pie and Vanilla Ice Cream

The lavender was in full flower in the Upper Court garden so it seemed wrong not to use it. Also added these USA flag wafers for that 4th July touch!

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Tea and Coffee with Red, White and Blue Strawberries

(A work in progress these....)

After this it was on to their Saturday lunch buffet and all the other Saturday events - long live summer!

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Dear Anton (and everyone at Benson's!)

Yesterday (Thursday), we eventually said 'goodbye' to the last of our guests - 2 Americans and 3 Barbadians so I can breathe.....which is more than your staff managed to do last week-end!

Everyone was truly wonderful and we want to say a great big 'thank you' to all of you.  Gill, as 'front-of-house' manager on both dates did a wonderful job in organising your staff but also was great with our guests (and the audio-visual equipment!).

Although James obviously does not like the 'limelight' he clearly had everything/everyone under control behind the scenes on 4th and 5th and the events were so enjoyed by everyone.  Universal comments about all the food - how delicious; wonder where that recipe came from?; really wonderful!

A lot of our 'local guests' (about 30% of the total group) asked us for your details so I hope you are not busier than ever.  James and Gill must be totally exhausted if all their summer week-ends are timetabled as this last???!!

Thank you so much again and do hope your move to Gloucester goes well next week.

With all kind regards   Marguerite and Brian Harris