Family around, always great!

Joel and I are experiencing a great thing here in Panama... loads more guests than what we had in Hong Kong. Guess it's because Panama is closer to our side of the world, therefore people can easily "pop in".

Anna arrived last Thursday for a three week holiday and then together we will all go to Bristol to enjoy Alice's post-grad graduation.

Than on Friday, my dear Kerr cousins arrived for a 10 day stay. They will be enjoying both sides of Panama, the Pacific and the Atlantic. Again I'll repeat what I said when my parents were over... it's wonderful to be able to have dear visitors around and not share them with their everyday life... sorry for being so selfish, but after such a long time away from my biological family, I am enjoying the "immersions" on family stories.

A canine note on Alice's graduation. Her thesis defense was back in February, which meant she was ready for graduation in July. Taking into consideration that we are talking about an university in the UK, a summer graduation is ideal, much better weather with beautiful garden parties offered by the University. However, back in late May, when she had to let the University know what was choice for a graduation date, July or February, we were stuck in Angola, with no concrete date in the horizon for a home, no helpers in sight and no hotel for dogs. So, because of our Darling Carlota, we had to kindly ask Alice if it would be ok to postpone her graduation for February, when we thought our situation in Angola would have finally been resolved and we would already have a home, a helper... oh life... so much has changed since then! We are not in Angola and Carlota is no longer around.

Something similar happened when Alice was ready to defend her thesis. We had told her that we would like to be in the UK for it, so we asked her to let us know as soon as she had a probable date, in order to organize our absence from Hong Kong.

When Alice called us with two dates in mind - one at the end of January and the other early February, I had to ask her if there would be any chance what is so ever that she could delay it to the end of Feb , because of guess who??? Darling Carlota, of course!! Joel and I would be in Angola early Jan and upon our arrival back, Alpha our helper, was due to leave on her annual leave. Sending Carlota to a hotel was far away from my first choice, so... Alice, very Darling, understood it all and went to her supervisor, explained something that I never had the guts of asking what it was. The supervisor spoke to the outside professor who was coming from London to be part of the board, who then spoke to I don't know who and together they scheduled it to take place in late February. I went back to HK from Angola a week earlier, Alpha went for her vacation earlier and Joel and I left to the UK on the very hour the helper walked back into the flat!!!

I tell you, Carlota was surely part of the Braga Family and we miss her terribly!!

Cooking together through the Meridians

I’ve never been, I mean, NEVER been into cooking, but always appreciated good food.

I’ve been lucky enough to have had a helper since my day 1 on this Earth, thus never really had the need to go into the kitchen to cook stuff.

However, because of my “sweet tooth” taste, I have accumulated quite a few dessert recipes along my life, mostly in Portuguese. While living in Brazil, that was never a problem, because I would give it to the helper and she was able to follow it. But… this scenario changed when Joel and I moved to South Africa… the helper could only read English or Zulu… so… that meant I had to go into the kitchen for deserts, which was ok. I was cooking things I liked and it wasn’t the whole time. Carlota (oh gosh, have been missing her so much!!) and later Siggy, would always be right there, on the way, by my feet just hoping something would fall… so adorable they were!

However, as we learned in physics, every action calls for a reaction, in this case, a consequence - sending the girls off to college with very little knowledge of cooking (they both did a “basic college cooking” course at the end of their high school). I did send them off with some other skills (or so I hope, LOL!) but surely not cooking skills.

Well, this is now all history! At the end of last year, Alice decided to change this scenario and… and … went out and got two copies of the same recipe book. One copy she gave herself and the other one she gave it to me. I LOVED the idea!!

Her suggestion is that we cook together, the same recipes, in spite the fact we live in different countries. Every time one of us cooks one of its recipe, we’ll exchange comments about it, like on how it came out, on anything we could add or whatever… I’m in awe with her plan! We'll try to cook at least one recipe a week.

So, in order to have a triumphant entry into this new hobby, while in the States now over Christmas, we went into a “Williams - Sonoma” and I got myself a gorgeous bright yellow (to match this colorful Panama) apron.

My mother heard about this plan and is sending us some of her newest recipes… just great!

Where is the diet? Anyone said diet? … no worries, Alice’s book is all on low fat cooking!!! Bon appetite and good luck to Joel’s stomach, my test pilot.

Gee, how good it's to have a home!

I know my title is so cliche and obvious, but how true it is! You know when you don't realize you are missing something until you have it? Right, that is exactly how I am feeling right now. I have a fixed home and that is so good!!!

In this trip to the US, we went to some shops that sell stuff for homes, like the wonderful "Bed Bath & Beyond". For those who know the shop (and if you don't but like home stuff, I suggest you add it to your next trip to the US. You won't regret it LOL), you can easily picture the many alleys selling all those little bits and pieces we "really need" for our home, right?

So, we went into a really big one in Houston and I asked Joel as we entered that terrestrial paradise:
- Darling husby, can you please do me a big favor?
- Sure, what's up?
- Can you please forget I ever existed in your life, just for the next 3 hours?

The poor man, being married to me for more than a decade, got it immediately, gave me a big smile, hugged me strong and whispered in my ears:
- Go for it Babe!
And being the very obedient wife that I am, I went!!

But all this long story to say that as I was leisurely strolling by the alleys and loving it all, I tried to fit in our home or life all those gadgets and here is where I had the comfortable feeling of "yes, I now have a home,"coming to my head.

Every time I saw something potentially usable, I would try to place it in whatever room it was suitable for and a long film with the different places I've actually had or almost had in these two years would pass before my eyes until it finally stopped here in Panama City. I felt like my brain was doing its best trying to find where was home in that very day. It was like old time researchers going quickly through indexes cards looking for the information of whatever it was they were looking for... ... Oh, what a relief and cozy sensation it was to find our flat here in Panama sitting at the end of my thoughts.

Our flight back to Panama City (PTY) was at night and as the pilot announced our final descend into PTY I looked out in the window. It was a very clear night, the lights of the city were flickering, the Bridge of the Americas was beautifully lit, the Causeway strip laying peacefully on the Pacific, the many ships heading to the Caribbean waiting for their turn to enter the Canal or ships having just come from the Caribbean, helped giving the picture a comfortable feeling of "home sweet home"... it felt good to be welcomed to Panama and be able to go to the "Residents booths at immigration"!

New Orleans, what can I say?

What can I say or for that matter, what can one say about New Orleans? What is left to be said about her? Wow, wow, wow... just fantastic! What a great mood the town has, even when you are outside the French Quarter.

I had never been there, so can't compare to what it was like before Katrina. Some people say that Bourbon St. now has more rock and roll than jazz ... I don't know... all I can say is that historical charm is still the name of the game in NOLA!

The whole French Quarter is adorable, with it's charming restaurants, shops and galleries. The markets by the Mississippi are very picturesque... actually they have no choice but be picturesque... THE Mississippi river is behind them, THE Mississippi River Boat is whistling and the sudden hospitality is in force. Awesome, awesome!

The last day of the year was specially remarkable for us. It was dry, the sun was beautifully out, not a single cloud was to be seen in that perfect blue sky, the cold weather was mild and easy to be endured. Joel and I wondered for hours along the many streets of NOLA, having a coffee here and there. In the afternoon, Joel took me to a hidden corner, the Preservation Hall, where jazz is well revered... The "Hall" actually consists of an entrance on the side, kind of a wide hallway that leads you to a room with about 2 dozens chairs positioned in a row, some pillows making the first row and twice that space of standing area. Near the pillows, there is an insinuation of a stage with drums, chairs and the typical brass instruments that jazz musicians enchant our ears with. The walls have some genuine aged texture showing quite a bit of bricks and any resembling to paint, indicates that they were once painted in terracotta.

All this mood is perfect... when the jazz players come on stage, it's as if they were the last piece of the puzzle and it blends it all in ... you can't help but believe they were born and raised as one big family as they quickly take you into a delicious jazz journey! Impeccable!!

We were very happy to wave good bye to 2009. It was a hard year for us, with some very nasty moments. I think we managed to welcome 2010 in big time style (apologies for the lack of humbleness here, LOL). It arrived with a fun and warm dinner chez friends from Panama who were in New Orleans visiting family or simply "re-grouping" as my friend says and with fireworks by the Mississippi with adorable New Orleans behind us!

Happy New Year to you, dear friends and family! May you enjoy all the plans God has in store for your 2010!