Tuesday, January 16, 2018 - Antonio's 47th birthdayI had to work today. Being wintertime, Ecuador is in the same time zone as home, so I worked my usual hours. I had set up my "office" in Rosa's sewing room upstairs in the main house. It was a good set up that gave me the privacy I needed to participate in remote meetings, but with a view of the yard so I was never far from what was going on at the household. I joined the family for meals as my meeting schedule allowed.The weather was rainy again today. This was getting a bit tiresome. We hoped that it would clear up before the weekend, when we had planned to do some sightseeing. For breakfast we had fried eggs, French fries, croissants, ham, cheese, juice, and coffee. While I was working, Craig and Sonam walked around the property, looking at the various flora in the gardens. Sonam was surprised and delighted to see the tree tomato, which is familiar to him from Bhutan. His whole family knows Craig's love of chili peppers, so his Apa (father) had given some to Sonam to bring to Ecuador so that he could cook ema datshi (chilies and cheese) for us. Seeing this tomato tree inspired him to prepare a variation on the dish, called ezay. Sonam felt right at home here, and was comfortable in the kitchen. He singed the chilies and the tree tomatoes on the gas flame from the stove. He then cut them up, added onions, and then ground the colorful mixture with Rosa's grinding stone. It was a delicious addition to a meal which became an experiment in Ecuadorian/Bhutanese fusion: rice, beets, chicken, beans, and ezay. Rosa was delighted; she grows peppers and really enjoys them, but doesn't eat them often because nobody else in the family likes spicy things. Sonam offered some ezay to the kids, and they made a big dramatic reaction, afraid of the peppers. Craig told them that it barely even seems hot to him. I said that we should start calling him "Aji Taita" rather than "Achi Taita" (aji is the Spanish word for chili pepper). We do love our foreign language puns! After lunch, I went back to work while Antonio and Javier continued the plumbing project. Here in the rural communities of the Ecuadorian highlands, there are trucks which pass through selling anything from fruit to potatoes to shoes to fish. This afternoon we heard the fruit truck approaching and went in front of the house to meet it. Craig was telling Sonam about the last time we purchased fruit from a passing truck: Abuelita couldn't find her money, so Craig offered to pay $1 for her fruit. She did not want any part of it and protested vocally in Kichwa. But Rosa talked her down and she eventually relented. The same scenario played out today, and Craig paid for her fruit once again. She was not happy about it. Sonam and I joked that we would have to protect Craig from her. She's tiny but strong, and could probably take him! Rosa bought a 7 foot sugar cane, some mangoes, a watermelon, etc. The kids love to eat fruit. After I was finished with work, we played with the kids while Sonam helped Rosa to prepare dinner. The kids were climbing on me and hanging on me. It struck me just how much they had grown; their size makes it impossible for them to all be on my lap at once, and Sisa is getting too big for me to carry. Lucky we have strapping young Sonam with us to do the kind of horsing around that we are too old for! For dinner, we had soup, lentils, rice, salad, a fried plantain, and the remainder of the ezay. Today was Antonio's 47th birthday, so we celebrated following dinner. The cake was topped with fruit and had Oreo bits on the sides. While Rosa lit the candles, Antonio came in playing Happy Birthday on his sax. Always up for a new experience, Sonam jumped at the chance to try playing it. We sang Happy Birthday in three languages: Kichwa, Spanish, and English (It wasn't until afterwards that we realized that we should have had Sonam break out his Dzongkha and Hindi skills to make it even more multicultural!) Next was the Latin American tradition where the birthday boy gets his face smashed into the top of the cake. The kids did the honors, but Antonio managed to avoid getting his face too deeply embedded in the cake. But then they decided to give Yupanqui a turn as well. Yupanqui was a good sport, and eagerly awaited his fate and its subsequent photo ops. Just before they were about to smash his face into the frosting, Sisa adjusted the position of the cake for maximum impact. It did not disappoint; Yupanqui had a faceful of frosting! We all had a lot of laughs and enjoyed eating the cake. It was really nice that Javier was here to be a part of the celebration as well. Everyone was hopped up on sugar and we were all quite punchy. But it was a school night, so everyone went straight from cake-fueled sugar high to trying to wind down enough to go to sleep. It had been a great day. Happy birthday, Antonio! Antonio's 47th birthday party |
 Achi Mama and Shina   Achi Taita with peppers from Bhutan! Sonam grinds the ingredients for ezay  Making purchases from the fruit truck  Antonio's birthday party See all photos from January 16, 2018 |
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