Cooking In A Wet T-Shirt

Since I got a lot of people's hopes up with the "wet T-shirt" come-on, I should probably put that excitement to rest immediately. Sorry to disappoint you, but there will be no nipples to the wind on this site.  When I went inside Tuesday after lunch to pay our bill at Los Niños del Flor, I noticed one of the regular staff was out of his usual uniform, wearing an English-language T-shirt instead. I ribbed him about it and he said in Spanish that he had just spilled sauce all over his shirt. I hadn't gotten a clear view of the shirt, so asked if I could read it. Since neither he nor anyone else on staff had any idea what it said, he told me he would be grateful for a translation.

"WEATHER FORECAST... ALL NIGTH LONG... WET"
(LUCKY FOR HIM, THAT'S ALL IT SAID.)

Fortunately, I was able to translate the T-shirt (and the typo). It seems a bit risky to me to wear a shirt in another language without knowing what it says. Then again, people in the States do it all the time. I've even heard of people getting Asian characters prominently tattooed on their bodies only to discover the characters don't mean what they thought they meant. The staff person pictured is originally from Paraguay. He (along with everyone else at Los Niños del Flor) makes us feel like one of the family every time we're there. He always greets us (and sees us off) with every bit of his English repertoire. "Hello! Very good! Very nice!" He once tried to teach me to say something in the language of his native people, I could barely wrap my mouth around the words and, after practicing for a half hour, I promptly forgot it. I think it meant, "Hello. Very good. Very nice."

The Gourmand and the Gourmet
Tuesday night before dinner San Geraldo taught me, and I improved on, a gourmet hors d'oeuvre recipe that he's apparently known for years. We were about to have stew for dinner. While the stew was heating, San Geraldo brought out the crackers and butter to go with it. He opened the crackers and started snacking in advance of the stew. He then left and returned from the kitchen with a container of raisins. He buttered a cracker, took a handful of raisins and popped them in his mouth, and then took a bite of cracker.

We've been together 31 years. I'm sure I must have seen San Geraldo do this before. I had to have seen him do it before. But, it never registered. It actually looked kind of appealing (unlike bread & milk or lutefisk). But his way was a little too gauche for my tastes (I am after all the son of The Dowager Duchess). I spread butter on a cracker and then carefully placed raisins so they stuck to the butter. Much more elegant.

Oh, it was delicious. I ate an entire package of crackers with butter and raisins and barely had room for the stew.

WHO SAYS I DON'T COOK?
(OH, THAT'S RIGHT, I DO.)