I am back with a report.

The last couple days were busy with cooking and shopping and decorating napkins and making place cards. Early this morning Gerardo brought me about 10 beautiful hydrangea from the mountain house and Emilio did the arranging.  Numbers keep changing and I ended up with 19 so I kept adding places at the tables. I must be an official Tica now because dinner was late. Once everything was done I went out to greet everyone and once everyone was seated I explained I would like to say grace and Emilio translated for me. It was easier writing and thinking the grace than saying it out loud. I got choked up.

We left and I dished up the soup in the little tin cups. People commented because the tin cups are such a part of Costa Rican history. Emilio and his mother were so much help. After the soup came the salad, then the other dishes then the chicken, which Emilio cooked at the pizza shop. They were stuffed with garlic, lemon and thyme. Bacon was laid over the entire ch Ickes for the first hour and then taken off for the last half hour. I think 4 were just right. QThe hit of the meal was the dressing. Emilio had turned his nose up when I told him what was in it. They loved it. It is not something they are used to having and I made it with chorizo sausage, Minnesota Wild rice and apples besides celery, carrots, onions, bread, chicken broth and seasonings. I did it in the crock pot and it was nice and moist. The other favorite was the sweet potatoes. Here they usually just steam them and the recipe I used was butter in a frypan, sliced sweet potatoes and a topping of sugar, nutmeg and cinnamon. I didn't have any mashed potatoes but I was told they were very good with garlic, butter, half and half and Parmesan cheese. I ended up not making gravy but it wasn't missed. The cranberry sauce was a hit also and the pickles.

Dessert was the world's best lemon bars, pumpkin roll and chocolate coconut balls. With dessert I served shots of Amarula which is a South African liqueur.

It was a lovely dinner and when it was over people pitched right in and did clean up and dishes. The only leftovers I have are salad and green beans. I gave anything else away. I did tell them next year it will be potluck.

I did not know when I invited Gerardo and his family that tomorrow is the grand opening of his new enormous hardware store so I really appreciate all the time they gave me today. For most of the people it was their first Thanksgiving celebration. I was happy to be part of it.

Tomorrow I am invited to the opening at 9:00am and my massage is scheduled for 10:00am so I will see if I can change it to 11:00am. It has been a long week and I ache all over and need it.

I usually cooked Thnksgiving dinner because I loved the smells but since I worked the next day I stayed home and ate alone. Except last year when Heather and Kent came. This year was lots more fun than being alone.

I was short tempered Thursday morning because everything wasn't going exactly as I planned. Emilio brought me roses to help me feel better. I got 3 other presents. Two pair of earrings and a blue bowl and plate, the start of my happy dishes, and a kitchen towel.