Feliz Cumpleanos!

A birthday of someone you love is not just an ordinary day. It is a day to really celebrate how much you appreciate their being. So April 12 was the birthday of the love of my life. Normally, I would drive him to our favorite Indian Restaurant or Olive Garden, or even better yet to his Mother’s house for a yummy dinner and then we would head to the bar with a bunch of friends to get a little tipsy and maybe dance a bit. However, being in the Peace Corps with no nearby restaurants and Mom’s home cooking far far away, what can I do? A surprise party with the community of course! So for the past couple of weeks, I have been secretly inviting the high school students that we work with, all the nice families that have helped us settle in to Moroceli, and several of the children from our English classes. One of the teachers in the high school helped me make a cake called three milks and horchata to drink with it. Pastel de tres leches (Cake of three milks) is a wet cake. First it is made like a regular cake and then a mixture of condensed, evaporated, and regular milk is added on top and absorbed by the cake. It is a sweet soggy texture, but very yummy and Steve's favorite dessert here in Honduras. Horchata is a very popular drink here made out of ground rice, sugar, cinnamon, and a bit of lemon peels. It actually tastes pretty good. I told Steve that we had a “meeting” at the Art Center at five. Really no such of a meeting existed. Rather, all the people were hidden inside with the cake and horchata drink with their voices ready to shout sorpresa (surprise)!
Two of the other volunteers also called us up and payed us a surprise visit. They of course brought with them a bottle of rum and a bag of plantains to fry. For a birthday dinner, we had red bean soup, plantains fried, and scrambled eggs with peppers and onions. Steve's favorite Honduran meal. Brian, the visiting volunteer made liquados (milk shakes) with bananas, milk, and sugar in our recently purchased blender. To my love, I really hope you enjoyed the celebration of you!