I don't think I've been to a barbecue in 35 years. the last i recall was 1979 in New Haven, CT, and it was all Indian food, since it was at the home of an Indian professor at Yale. It was really excellent, quite delicious.
For years, growing up, my mother's family had wonderful barbecues on Memorial Day and July 4th, at my Aunt Jean's in Hamilton, OH. There were usually five of my mother's six siblings and their families, and the food was pretty much the same, but my mother's sisters and sisters-in-law were all good cooks. There were always grilled hot dogs, bratwurst, and hamburgers, potato salad, baked beans, a green salad, a jello of some sort, several pies and cakes, along with tons of cola and beer. At least one of my uncles got really tipsy and my dad, God bless him, often got roped into driving my aunt, uncle, and cousins home.
My mother was one of five girls and only she and my Aunt Jean, the most liberated woman in the family, drove. The other three never learned to drive, and as my mother got older and crazier, she really resented driving her sisters around, but it was part of her general passive-aggressive behavior.
