Carrots & beets salad + Potato & leek gratin + Awesome ribs

Things have been rather quiet around here, I am back at work and flat out boring with my daily meals since I am a creature of habit. Over the past couple of weeks, my brother-in-law was in town with his family - the first trip since he got married and now my sister-in-law and him have the cutest little 13 month old. 

They have since flown back but last weekend, their port of call was at lunch at our place, and we were just happy to be able to prepare a meal for them. 

A carrots and beetroot salad tossed with parsley, blue cheese and raisins signalled the start of summer. Oh, who am I kidding? It is just disgustingly hot these days. I have never really cared for the raw taste of carrots but dressed in a citrusy vinaigrette, I could eat buckets of this salad. Any salad with cheese and dried fruit just does it for me.

Carbs presented itself in potato and leek gratin with potatoes and leeks nestled in a creamy concoction. It was tasty but woefully watery. Maybe I should have cooked them longer and not rushed them out of the oven.

Of course, the highlight of our meal were THE RIBS THAT KW MADE. Can you feel my excitement? Let's try again: THE RIBS THAT KW MADE!!! Gaw-, slowcooked on the grill for 5.5 hours, they were ah-may-zinggly tender. While I flit from recipe to recipe, KW chooses a few and perfects his craft. You can tell who is the patient and methodological one in the marriage yeah?