chelsea, july 2009.

Daniel and Sally in the backyard of Sally Pope’s glorious brownstone in Chelsea.  I’m almost certain this was the 4th of July, which undoubtedly meant an incredible food spread and an endless array of spectacular wine.  Then again, it seems like any old day in the Pope household involves impossibly wonderful food and wine.  My envy is profound.

In fact a few weeks after these photos were taken, Ralf, another member chez Pope (and producer of much of the glorious in-house fooding), held his second annual Summer Suckling Pig Out at his nearby restaurant, Trestle on Tenth (a spot I highly recommend — the crispy duck necks are irresistible!).  By the time we left, 6, maybe 7, pigs had come out, and the festivities were only just getting to that raucous, buzzy part of the afternoon.   Here’s a photo of Ralf and pig no.1.

Each pig was successively crispier, and around pig no.4, I found myself batting my eyelashes at Ralf, demurely requesting (ok, not that demurely, and more like pleading for) one of the crispy pig’s ears.  With a drink in one hand, a pig’s ear in the other, and my big old Yashica hanging from my shoulder, I couldn’t imagine a better way to laze away a Sunday afternoon in July.