Saturday I went to an island themed BBQ at a friend's house. The food (and, of course, the company) was terrific.

The afternoon food festivities began with an assortment of tasty appetizers. The hostess served Terra chips with mango salsa, Chili-spiced nuts (made with macadamia nuts), chicken potstickers and firecracker shrimp.

The firecracker sauce was taken from The Common Grill Cookbook and brushed on cooked shrimp on the grill.

The host barbecued chicken and ribs for the main course. The chicken had been marinated overnight in a citrus-ginger marinade. The ribs were glazed with a sweet and tangy homemade bbq sauce using a recipe the host found on Recipe*zaar.

Accompanying the ribs and chicken were oven roasted potatoes with pepper and thyme and a cucumber salad. For the salad, english cucumbers and red onions were sliced and combined with fresh grated ginger and equal parts rice wine, rice vinegar and brown sugar.

For dessert, there were an assortment of cakes and fruit pops. The hostess made an Orange Pineapple Dream Cake for a guest's birthday. The tropical cake was the perfect ending to a tropical island feast.

Although this blog is all about the food, the party itself definitely was not. The food was a hit among the guests, and I would heartily recommend an island themed party, but it was the overall atmosphere and the guests themselves that made a great summer BBQ.

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