North Meets South at a Barbeque

The Master of Barbeque, aka my brother, held a pig pickin this past weekend, and as usual, it was awesome! We all brought different side dishes, desserts, appetizers, and beverages, a la Stone Soup and it made for a great party that no one had to handle the whole burden of.

Here is our lovely hostess, my sister-in-love, expounding with a bit of Double Gloucester and Stilton in hand (It is quite an inspirational cheese!).
The Big Gorilla has just been told of his appointment to the high honor of Designated Driver. You can see how excited he is, can't you?
The Pork-Master gives informal introductions as we stuff ourselves with the last bits of the carcass. The majority of the lean meat was pulled and taken inside to make sandwiches, but who can resist pickin just a little of that good stuff off with your fingers and getting all greased?
My younger brother is such a helpful model, isn't he? It wouldn't look as good without him gesticulating towards the pig, with the omni-present Newcastle in hand? It occurs to me that this isn't exactly a true southern pig pickin - there are many elements like Newcastle you wouldn't see at a proper down-east pickin, but that's what happens when dug-in Yankees show their grit (there were very good collards in the kitchen, btw, but I forgot to photograph them. Once Bea and I started in with the Captain Morgan and Cranberry juice drinks, the documentary material suffered.)
Mmmmm! Even Mom can't resist getting her hands dirty for a little pull of pig.
Our newest addition, my brother's delightful girlfriend, graciously models the plated version of what's for dinner.(Many of us just ate over the hog, sans plate. What? Its how its done, so shut up.)
Notice that the sides are not traditional barbeque fare. There was coleslaw and collards, but the hush puppies and biscuits/cornbread were replaced with macaroni and cheese and a nice pasta w/ pesto. The rolls were homemade by my mom and she also made a killer chocolate cake with layers of coffee cream interspersed. The veggie sticks were also a healthy alternative that the kids would be sure to snack on (we hid the cheese and crackers from them!), as well as some Pennysticks brand pretzels (only the saltiest pretzel in the free world, since Mr. Salty threw in the towel.) which are amazing with cheese, in place of crackers.
The generations meet and try to out bullshit each other in the kitchen, but beware! The old one is so FULL of shite, there are few who can match him.
All in all, it was a magic night. The weather was beautiful, the moon was shining and a good time was had by all.