Late summer food fest

Some time back Mrs. Phactor and yours truly auctioned off a dinner for 8 at a fund raising event. Today is the day the goods are to be delivered. To take best advantage of late summer fare the dinner theme is sort of a Mediterranean mixed bag, except for dessert, where a particular recipe caught the eye of Mrs. Phactor, but who is going to argue with coconut key lime pie in a coconut macadamia nut crust? The dining experience starts with an Aperol martini. Aperol is an aperitif flavored with rhubarb, and it makes a quite nice drink, ever so slightly bitter, and nicely reddish pink. Starters will consist of cacik, a cucumber and Greek yogurt mixture, and an aubergine carviar on pita bread. Then we will switch to a very cold, very dry Spanish rose wine to serve with gazpacho complete with homemade croutons. The main course is grilled marinated pork kebabs with vegetable kebabs on the side. This will be followed by an orange, kalamata olive, and cilantro salad served with a dry Spanish white wine, an Alberino or white rioja. Lastly of course, the pie, and then a small finisher of dry fino or amantillado sherry. The festivities will take place in our garden pavilion. We do so hope they think they got their monies worth. But if it doesn't rain pretty soon, there won't be much garden to look at.