My sister was in town helping my aunt settle in after her move from Toronto Ontario to Richmond BC. This created an opportunity for a family gathering with my cousin and his family, and my nephew who also recently moved here.

I made 3 of my favourite dishes to make for guests, a rice stir fry, steak, and salmon cooked on the bbq on a cedar plank.

Two out of those 3 dishes posed a problem because they are both recipes that require a considerable amount of cilantro and my sister hates cilantro… so I sort of made 5 dishes, duplicating these two dishes with basil replacing cilantro.

It would have made sense to just make them with basil and skip the cilantro altogether, but I love cilantro and it’s not like I couldn’t just duplicate steps when it was time to add this wonderful herb that some people think tastes like soap, (these poor people really miss out!)

The food was wonderful if I do say so myself. My wife also made a couple yummy salads and our guests brought delicious chicken wings and cheesecake. We all ate to our heart’s content with generous portions of leftovers to be enjoyed at a later date.

The only thing better than the food was the company. I hadn’t seen one of my cousin’s daughter’s in close to a decade, which is a bit embarrassing when you consider how close we live. We could have had leftover pizza and it still would have been a great gathering… but sometimes it’s wonderful to cook up a feast, and share it with family.

(And yes, my cousin looks like he could be my brother!)