I love the term 'sobremesa'. The direct translation is 'over the table' but in Latin America it refers to a long, slow meal with plenty of conversation. No one watches a clock. The idea of slow food is nothing new to this part of the world. Welcome to Sunday lunch.
Michael who has been traveling a ton recently was home and in the mood to cook. I didn't argue and neither did anyone else. With eight adults and five kids in attendance, he put on Chinese feast.
We stood in the kitchen chatting and watching Michael cook as well as greedily munching on an appetizer of char siu pork (Chinese BBQ pork) and freshly pickled chilies. I can't express how delicious this is! I could have eaten the entire platter!
This was followed by a lunch of hunan beef, chicken with cashews and chilies, green onion pancakes, Taiwanese peanut noodles and of course rice. Can you say heaven?
At some point the kids fled in order to go and play. Meryn, who was the oldest kid of the day took over the care of the brood. She spent hours organizing games and treasure hunts. One treasure hunt clue that I was asked to hold read, "Go to the 2nd floor in the room where I go poop." Oh my! I laughed so hard. I laughed even harder when Colin read the word as 'pop' and looked puzzled.
Late in the afternoon I pulled out homemade sugar cookies, icing and sprinkles and let the kids go to town. It was a definite hit and gave them a second wind. But eventually we knew things were beginning to disintegrate when our kids pulled out the whoopee cushion. They tried to encourage the adults to casually 'sit down on the sofa'. Liana happily agreed and when she sat down it sounded like the sofa exploded. The force of this whoopee cushion was uNbElIeVaBlE! When she stood up it had literally exploded in two pieces. The kids when nuts!
After everyone had gone home, we were cleaning up the kitchen and Michael piped up, " I've never seen such a tiny person eat so much . . . " He sat at the opposite end of the table, next to Liana. She came hungry and boy did she eat. I didn't have the heart to tell him that she went home and ate dinner!
Happy Sunday! ✿ Micheline
