Warning: If you don’t want to see photos of a cooked pig, you might want to skip this post.
Thumbs up to a fantastic pig roast!!! 
It truly took a village to put on yesterday’s Pig Party. Mike, Jim, and Erin spent countless hours prepping, cooking, and helping Mal and me with anything and everything that we needed. Additionally, our guests offered to bring side dishes, desserts, bottled water, and other items to the party. Yesterday’s event was definitely a team effort! Many thanks to everyone to helped!
Yesterday morning, the five of us were up and ready to go by 7:00 AM. The guys got the pig ready for cooking while Erin and I went in search of breakfast. Naturally, we decided on bagels and Marylou’s iced coffees.
Once we ate breakfast, Erin and I got busy in the kitchen preparing State Fair Potato Salad and Pasta Salad with Mozzarella, Sun-Dried Tomatoes, and Olives for the party. (FYI: The pasta salad was awesome. I will definitely make it again in the future.)
At one point, it started to downpour, but, thankfully, the rain cleared up and held off for the rest of the afternoon.
Several hours later, just as our guests started to arrive, the pig was finished cooking. Hooray!
While the pig cooled, we enjoyed Round 1 of eating.
We had lighter fare, including fruit salad, Greek salad, chips, pickles.
And pulled pork sliders! Yummmmm!
(The pulled pork sliders were from a different cut of meat and prepared separately.)
Doggie piranhas.
Once the pig had a chance to cool, we prepared it to present to our guests.
But, before we brought it out, the guys made a slideshow that showed the whole process from start to finish– how we deboned, stuffed, and cooked the pig for our guests.
I think they liked it!
It definitely made the experience seem all the more special to us.
Then, it was time to cut open the pig. Mal did the honors.
Inside was deliciousness: sausage, apples, fennel, carrots, onions”¦ mmm!
Round 2 of eating!
Round 3 of eating!
At this point, I stopped documenting the Pig Party and drank copious amount of White Sangria and socialized with friends instead. Things went well into the evening with the last of our guests leaving around midnight. It was quite the event!
I’m off to TechMunch later this morning. I’m speaking on a panel about marketing your blog. Wish me luck!
for some reason your pictures are showing up in google readers anymore. I wonder why? that pig looked amazing BTW
I’m not a fan of pork, but the party looks like fun! Its great to have so much work go into a huge meal and everyone get to enjoy it. Love the pig fruit salad!
Forget the haters! Looks like an amazing day with great food and friends, and that’s all that matters!
wow now all I want to do is have a Pig Roast! looks like so much fun 🙂
I have been scrolling through the comments and it sort of bothers me that there are so many negative comments about this party. I mean, everyone is entitled to their opinion but at the same time, I sense a lot of judgement from some commenters.
Even though I am a vegetarian and have been one almost all my life, I was NOT offended by this post. However, I do appreciate that there was a disclaimer at the top because at least I knew what was coming.
Tina, you rock, your blog rocks, and it looks like this party rocked! 🙂
@Katy (The Singing Runner):
I wholeheartedly agree with Katy. Thank you for the forewarning (pictures of whole roasted animals tend to make me squeamish) but this is YOUR blog and you are entitled to post whatever you please. This was in no way offensive and it looks like you guys had a ton of fun. Love your blog!
I can only imagine how good that tasted! I didn’t particularily like yesteday’s post (it was just too graphic for me) but I don’t have any problems with todays. It is like going to a luau….the rost pig is the main attraction. 🙂
Looks great – like a roasted Thanksgiving turkey. Our hog we did last month looked more steamed. Love the garnishes- awesome idea
Thanks for putting up a warning on this post. I think pig roasts are disgusting and I have a hard time looking at pictures like this. However, it’s your blog and your life so you should be able to do as you please.
I’m going to go out on a limb here and assume that all people out there that are against this due to it being “cruel” to animals aren’t carrying a leather purse, wearing leather shoes, chewing gum, eating jell-o, using glue, wearing lipstick or nail polish, etc! All of these things are made from animals. If you really think about it you chewing gum is the same as Tina roasting a pig and eating it, you just don’t think about the horse that died in order for you to chew gum!
@jackie:
As a vegan (that means no meat/dairy/eggs/leather/products tested on animals/etc), I have to point out that the majority of gums in the market do not contain gelatin, nor do any of Elmer’s glue products. Also there are many cruelty-free nail polish and lipstick options.
I loved that watermelon in the shape of a pig! Looks like a fun party!
fun! I’m a vegetarian but I’m not going to say this didn’t look like a great time with friends and food 🙂
Love the pig watermelon basket! So cute!
And if my dog was that tan dog in the picture, that pig would have been eaten!
haahhahahaa
this is too awesome.
i just dissected a fetal pig for lab, and this is quite a different approach!!
hey, tina i’ve been reading your blog for a little more than a year now, and i just started my own!
i really hope you visit! 🙂
very similar to kalua pig in hawaii! 🙂
someone is a great fruit artist! loved the pig watermelon and the swans!
Wow, that is just amazing! And everything looked great 🙂 Good luck at TechMunch!! Can’t wait to hear about it!
Your pig is amazing!!!! What an awesome dinner party, guys. Well done, thanks for sharing it with us!
Glad the party was fun!! Great crowd and food 🙂
Yummy! Looks like a good party. I really like that adorable watermelon.
Love that you guys stuffed the pig. In Ohio, where my husband is from, we always went to pig roasts, but this looks amazing! Very gourmet-ish!
There is literally nothing better than a good ol’ fashioned pig pickin’. This looks like such a blast, I can honestly say that I loved every shot (especially the doggy piranhas)!!
Wow looks like a great party Tina! A lot of prep for it but it was worth it!!
I read through the comments from the previous blog and am avoiding today’s comments. Just can’t believe people feel the need to leave something negative when you clearly warned them what was ahead. I appreciate that you share your life openly with your readers!
~Ang
Looks like a great party! Someone definitely has skills with the fruit carving 🙂
I am also having issues with the pictures from your blog showing up on Google Reader by the way…
i’m having trouble viewing photos on the feedburner mail 🙁 but looks like you had an amazing time! cutest watermelon pig ever!
So awesome! The ONLY reason these posts have made me sad is beacuse i have to miss my friends 2nd annual “Pork-a-palooza” in Portland OR this upcoming weekend. She and her husband have been hosting a similar event as you and Mal’s and i know from her how much work they put into roasting a pig for their friends and familiy. They too have expressed how special it is for them to really see their pig go from farm to table (plus the satisfaction of pairing it with friends favorit potluck dishes and veggies that they brought to fruition). My favorite thing to do is spend time sharing an amazing homecooked meal with friends- it looks like you and Mal and your guests had a wonderful time! Good work!
Sounds like so much fun! I love pig roasts because the meat is so fresh and delicious! Oh and multiple rounds of eating is definitely my style!
Looks like such a fun afternoon!! That pig and all of the fixin’s look delicious. 🙂
What do your and Mal’s pig tees say?
@Jennifer M: I was curious about that too!
@LizK: @Jennifer M:
I’m pretty sure Mal’s shirt says “Look like an iron chef” (or cook, maybe?)
And Tina’s says “A rare breed.”
Again, that’s just based on what I think I could make out, lol.
@Jennifer M: @LizK: @Amy: Mal’s said “Cook like an iron chef,” and mine said “Rare breed,” which is from Niman Ranch in Iowa http://carrotsncake.com/tag/niman-ranch
what an event!
I love the watermelon pig and apple swans- who did that?!!?
Oh my gosh, this just looks SO delicious! My husband would be foaming at the mouth if he were here. What a great idea! I’ll have to pitch it to him to serve at the twins’ birthday party. YUM!
Ghah! We must know where you got your cute blue pig shirt!
Looks like so much fun! The pig watermelon is so cute! I’d love to see a how-to on that 🙂
I know I’m like 10 years late in commenting on this whole comment debacle, but I just have two things:
1) This looks like an AWESOME time. A crapton of work, but like so, so much fun. Jealous!
2) I’m constantly surprised by people’s reactions to stuff like pictures of the whole pig on your blog. Haven’t they ever been to Chinatown? Rows of whole cooked ducks are literally hanging by their necks in store windows. Gross? Maybe. And maybe I’m desensitized because I am half-Chinese and have done the frogs legs/shark’s fin soup/whole duck/fish with the eyes looking straight at me/whatever but c’mon peeps. Lay off. That is what you eat. Tina’s not a vegetarian, it’s way better for her to be eating a whole pig sourced from a local farm than a couple of pre-butchered pork chops from Giant.
3) That watermelon pig is perhaps the cutest thing ever.
Okay, well, I guess that was 3 things, not 2. Hey, just because I’m half-Asian doesn’t mean I have to be good at things like counting!
Seriously? The way you and yours treat your ‘food’ is seriously upsetting. Unsubscribing now. Thanks for turning me over to Peas and Thank You, where the writing and content is more mature.