I’ve been in North Carolina for four years and I have yet to attend a pig pickin’.  Luckily I was able to remedy that this past weekend!

A pig pickin’ is basically a a giant cook-out whose center-piece is a barbequed whole hog.  My uncles have some friends in Raleigh who host an annual pig pickin’ at the end of every summer.   They invite tons of friends and the whole neighborhood and close down the cul-de-sac where their house is located.  The street is filled with tables and tents.  The hosts provide the meat and the dinnerware and all the guests bring a side or a dessert.  Since so many people show up the amount of food is insane.  We arrived about two hours after the event officially started and there was still plenty of food left.

I brought an apple cobbler to share.  I’m hoping that people liked it!

The hosts evidently used to prepare and cook the pig themselves but this year they hired some assistance.  They also rented a huge barbeque on which to cook the pig.

I didn’t have much pork since I’m not a huge pork-eater–I had a token bite or two–but I did indulge in some excellent chicken, a hot dog, a bunch of beans, and some random delicious cheesy casseroles.  Oh and quite a bit of dessert: a peach cobbler, my apple cobbler, cheesecake, chocolate chip cookies, etc.  I doubt that anyone went home hungry.

This was really an end of summer bash.  They even had fireworks!

They actually had a lot of fireworks.  Considering it was an amateur display it was hugely impressive and went on for a long time.  We all enjoyed it, and so did this little guy:

So cute!  He belongs to the hosts.  So fluffy.

I’ve attended my last major cook-out of the season, I guess that means summer is officially over.

And good thing Rosh Hashana is this week, lord knows I have some repenting to do!  Although it was only a bite or two…