Food and Family

Yesterday, we had some of my favorite people join  us for the day: my siblings, their families and my mom (and her friend).  Since there are so many of us Gayners and all the birthdays seem to happen in rather close succession through the summer months, we decided to try something new: a family party to celebrate all of the kids' birthdays. With a water blob, sprinkler, water balloon sling shot and a trip for some ice cream, I'd say the experiment was successful.
Of course, there was also food. A lot of food. I teased my brother that in many of his memories and stories, food serves as an anchor. That's probably true of most of my family - I know it's true of me. And so for this get together, I suspect that our cous cous salad will be the focus - everyone loves cous cous, everyone loves salad, everyone ate loads of it. Would you like the recipe? Of course you would.
I found the original recipe here, but I tweaked it a bit, mainly by adding cous cous and cucumber, so I shall also share my own version:

Tomato, Chickpea & Cous Cous Salad

1 cup cous cous

1 cup cold water

1 tin chick peas, drained and rinsed

1 pint grape or cherry tomatoes, halved

1 cucumber, peeled and cut into chunks

25 basil leaves, chopped

3 cloves minced garlic

1 1/2 tbsp red wine vinegar

1 1/2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp honey

pinch of salt

Pour water over cous cous and leave it until the water is absorbed, about 10 minutes. Then add in all the other ingredients and mix well. Leave it in the fridge for about 30 minutes to marinate, after which time you can eat it. All. In one sitting, if you like.