Is there any better dinner food for a Saturday afternoon in summer than bratwurst prepared Wisconsin-style (boiled in a pot of beer with a sliced onion and a few tabs of butter)? The correct answer is no, there isn’t. It’s simply the yummiest food you can eat any time between May and September, but particularly in July and especially when our family has gathered on the Chain O’ Lakes for our semi-official annual reunion.

Mom prepared the brats on the stove top, simmering them in the pot until they had reached the peak of beer-soaked perfection, then handed them off to me to take to the grill where I turned them until they were evenly, delightfully browned. We ate them with potato salad and baked beans on the side. Bliss!