For Adam and Lini's reception yesterday, I ran the bar.  Well, okay, no alcohol was involved, but I really did mix drinks upon request, and it really did look like a bar.  Besides iced water and coffee punch that guests could serve themselves, we offered made-to-order Italian sodas.  I spent three hours of the afternoon behind the counter measuring ice, sparkling water, syrup, and cream, finishing with a professionally torn straw.  People were raving!  I've discovered my new calling as a bartender.  Maybe not.  How about I just get a job at Starbucks.

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Real gold fears no fire.

Did you think I died and fell off the face of the earth? Well, I've been busy feeding people, taking pictures (when I remember and have time), catching up on sleep, playing soccer, and learning French. J'aime jouer au soccer!

Time permitting, one of my favorite things is chopping, slicing, or dicing anything by hand. Just give me a good knife. Whether it's mincing fifty cloves of garlic or slicing a pile of onion rings, there's just something so satisfying and calming about the repetition of the knife across the board.

I undertook, on the same day, two of the most intimidating projects and had to follow through practically flying solo...mm-hmm...and blind...and walking backwards, on my hands, juggling with my feet. Okay, no, not really. But I did have only the recipes and the memory that what was written wasn't all there was to it. My source and inspiration was unavailable two time zones away and not even answering her phone. For paella, I used the recipe for amounts and order of addition to the pan and relied on my memory of how we did it at camping. It tasted just like I remembered it should! Doughnuts were a bit more of a challenge because I was present for only part of the previous doughnut-day and didn't actually see the whole process. And of course there's the whole frying thing that I've never done before, not helped by the fact that I don't even have a thermometer that goes that high and, what type of oil does Mrs. Nutter use? They turned out well...oh my goodness! I love doughnuts! And they were so easy. Two batches of doughnuts, start to finish, clean kitchen to clean kitchen, took only one and a half hours. Of course, I admit, I had seven people helping me and pretty much did nothing but direct...but that counts for something too!

Well, this post has been gestating for almost a month and it's past my bedtime so I'll leave you with these two pretties from the marriage conference. Bonne nuit!

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