Diario de Tepintzin

My parents flew in late Sunday night for a visit. They were staying in a hotel because my mom is allergic to/phobic of cats.

I was more than a little nervous because my mom can bring huge suitcases of Crazy Puerto Rican Catholicism with her. Happily, she left almost all of it at home. Still, Dad seemed to have a better time than she did, which is par for the course.

We spent time at the condo, which they liked very much, time at the office to pick up some mail and let Mom use the computer, and ate a lot. Last time they were here was before I deployed, so Dad hadn't seen Pancho Villa's for years.

Well, I don't know who likes PV more, Dad or electorprince. Last time, Dad was in a state of fascination at the sight of the tortilla machine. This time the guys operating it gave us fresh hot ones to munch on, which sent Dad into bliss. The bolillos and panes dulces are now on his top ten favourite things.

They also spent some time tootling around Old Town and we drove through Balboa Park even if we weren't able to find parking.

But yeah, we ate a lot. Two meals from PV (and they were making mole', which they don't all that often, so we joked that again it was for Dad), one dinner at Ritual and lunch with Ma'am at the Thai place on the east side of the Spreckels building. I figured that Ma'am would get along with my parents and I was right. Mom referred to the glowing review she gave of me as a "report card".

I was glad my folks liked our house, our practice and our favourite watering hole. I wasn't sure if I'd need lots of booze to survive the three days. While there was a lot of drinking done, it was to enhance the moment, not escape it.

Cats and cooking!

Today started off as the first Sunday where we didn't have a million errands related to our move. This afternoon was the National Cat Protection Society's open house and fundraiser. seki_raku called about going. Steve had to go in to the office, so Seki and I headed over there ourselves.

I donated $20 and we visited the senior cats and the cats in one of the adoption galleries. The other rooms were closed off, probably because there were a lot of people there. Sizzler's had donated burgers and hot dogs as well as the fixings, potato salad, etc. I talked to the ladies who had been there when Ivan was adopted and showed them a picture of him taken an hour previously. The truth came out; while they did honestly think he was a runt who'd never grow, they said he was unfriendly because they couldn't bear to see him go. But they acknowledged he was in a good home and I think I may just have to bring him by for a visit.

Seki and I stopped by North Park Produce because I needed feta and kalamata olives for a recipe I was making. I came out with cucumbers and tomatoes for a salad, the olives and feta, but also a container of baba ghanouj.

For dinner I made a recipe out of a cookbook I'd never used. It was pan-cooked chicken breast with a sauce of tomatoes, olives, onion, parsley and feta. I served it with a Beringer 2008 cabernet sauvignon instead of my daily cheap tavola. VERY nice, and Steve and I were very happy sitting at our dinner table in our condo.

After dinner, Seki returned with strigine for mojitos since I had a lot of mint and limes and suggested them as an apertif. I think I'm going to make cooking new recipes a weekly thing.