A Multicultural Dinner ~ Chinese, Mexican, Swedish, Norwegian, Romanian! In fact, The Pretty Much the Whole Damn World Was Represented!

My entire peony "crop."

So, Eme (our Chinese exchange student who now works at Microsoft) brought her mother (who is visiting from China) to dinner this evening.

Kim (who is staying with me) is a visiting nurse and pretty much did the whole dinner. Enchiladas, Spanish Rice, Guacamole. I did the black bean salsa with blue and yellow corn chips. We started with a nice bottle of wine and finished with a couple of bottles of three buck chuck Shiraz.

A lot of the world was represented. Chuck and his girlfriend Dana who is Canadian by way of Romania. I'm Norwegian, Scot and a little German. And, over dinner we found out that Kim's great-grandfather was Chinese. Whaaaaaat!

God, I love having dinner with friends. Conversation around the table is fascinating. Eme's mother is a charge nurse in China. So, through Eme's translation her mother and Kim got to swap stories which is how we found out that Kim's great-grandfather was Chinese and the towns people in their Mexican town didn't like him running around with Kim's soon to be great-grandmother. Utterly compelling story which ended in a lynching. Oh, dear God. Another reminder ~ everyone has an astonishing story.

The beginnings of Spanish rice

Anyway, it was wonderful.

After cleaning up the kitchen and loading the dishwasher, I started brining the wild salmon to get them in the smoker this weekend. Talk about pioneer woman.

A really, really nice day.

Homemade Enchiladas, Spanish Rice, Black Bean Salsa, Guacamole ~ Oh! Yum.

Kim's homemade guacamole

Enchiladas? You're going to need these.

Black Bean Salsa in papier mache bowl

Day 52 Everyday Grateful ~

Such a gorgeous sunny day. Warm, still, bright.

Friends over for dinner.

Happy!

God, this girl can cook!

So, Ramses and I spent yesterday afternoon and evening with my friend, Barb ~ she of the tour de force meals complete with the menu posted on the refrigerator.






Ramses loves going over to his Auntie Barb and Uncle Rico's lake front house. He's crazy nuts about them both. During my campaign for Congress, I was on my way to the airport to go to a fundraiser in San Francisco or Washington, DC or New York or somesuch, when I got this total wave of worry. What will happen to Ramses if my plane crashes? Who will take care of him? The boys are not set up for this enormous hound. Will Ramses go to the pound? I was panic stricken. I immediately called Barb.

"If I die in a plane crash, please don't let Ramses go to the pound?"

"Jeez, Heid, you're not going to die in a plane crash! But, should you drop the hell dead, Ramses will come live with me. So, stop worrying. Go get on the plane. Go smile and raise some dough."

Great friends are so wonderful.

So, I got an email from Barb on Friday:

Hey Heid ~

It's a big eatin' day. Come over tomorrow so we can feast.

How about 3-ish?

Going to be sunny they say. Do we dare believe?

xoxoxo

B

Seared snapper tacos. Shrimp Fajitas. Pulled pork tacos.

Guacamole with fresh chips. Refried black beans.

Spanish Rice. A couple of different grated cheeses.

Fresh sliced limes. 

 Everything fresh. Everything homemade. Everything delicious!

And, feast we did. And, Ramses sneaked out

of the gate for a swim in the lake.

The perfect day for everyone ~

especially the 126# wet dog!

Day 25 Everyday Grateful ~ Andrea Marcovicci on the stereo,

clean sheets on the beds, sunny beautiful day. Thankful.

http://www.andreamarcovicci.com/