First guests

Saturday night Esperando and I had our first houseguest, the Storyteller from Prince Edward Island. He is a long time friend from many past projects. He forgot to bring the moonshine he said he set aside on his desk to pack, but we had lots of tequila and beer.

We had invited 6 people to come for dinner. In the morning I taught the cook how to make Ann Ward’s chocolate chip bundt cake so she will be able to do that next time we have a party. We kept trying to make the cake then realized that part of the ingredients were in the pantry where the workman were jackhammering a concrete block out. We finally managed to get the those ingredients organized, then realized that we were missing Kahlua. Senor Jueves went to the store to get that and sour cream (which comes in a tin can and isn’t refrigerated, isn’t as sour as in the U.S., and is more runny.) I wasn’t sure if it would work. Then we figured out how to set the oven (fortunately the guide was in English and Spanish) and put the cake in to cook. After an hour the cook came to tell me she was worried about the cake. I looked in and it hadn’t cooked at all—the oven wasn’t even working! Our first big dinner and no oven, oh my!

The architect was here fixing some stuff so I asked him if he could check why it wasn’t working. After about 2 hours he and the electrician finally found some valve that hadn’t been opened, and voila we were open for business after all. After sitting around mixed and waiting for the oven for 4 hours with weird sour cream that maybe wouldn’t work either I wasn’t sure what the cake would do, but it had a mind of its own and rose to the occasion. We had dinner for 6 people and the cook made fabulous chile rellenos for dinner along with beans and rice. We gave her a standing ovation when she brought the tortillas to the table. The cook is a really lucky find and we are happy to have her.