| Just south of Philadelphia, here in Arden, we celebrated Cinco de Mayo with a dinner of chips and salsa, tossed salad, rice and lentil salad, pollo con salsa and -- that favorite of Old Mexico -- Ricotta cheese pie. Moving here from Texas, I knew about Cinco de Mayo, the celebration of the 1867 defeat of the French-imposed government in Mexico. Few Americans think of Mexico as French. For that matter, few Mexicans do either. French troops invaded, with the support of England and Spain, after Mexico suspended payments of its foreign debts. Debts by impoverished countries to rich lending nations is still news. Many today are calling for debt forgiveness. Recently, in Seattle and Washington, D.C., these calls boiled into civil unrest. [Please scroll horizontally.] |
"Civil unrest" -- isn't that, like, an oxymoron? Let me assure you there was no unrest, civil or uncivil, at the Arden dinner last Saturday. It was perfect, all because our master chef, Laura, had it all together. |
Tall, thin blondes who are marketing professionals like Jean make a mean salad. She, like the rest of the cooks that day, is a newcomer to Arden. |
Every cooking crew should have a research chemist like Jeff. He was my buddy, the one other male on the team. Did we hold our own against the female chavinists in the kitchen? We did, with humility and wit. |
It doesn't hurt to have a Ph.D. biophysicist like Pam on the team, either. She examined each dish and certified that no copyright violations we made in the preparation of the meal. |
Sometimes Jane reminded us of Heloise; other times, of Martha Stewart. If you cut a lime in thin disks, then cut each disk from the edge to the center, you can then twist the disks into "S" shapes and put them on top of Ricotta Cheese pies as a garnish. |
Stephanie came in just to prepare the balsamic vinaigrette dressing for the salads. She was in the U.S. Coast Guard for years, where she learned to make vinaigrette dressing from rope and gunpowder in a survival course. |
We fed 121 people. Dinners happen every Saturday night in Arden, except for summers. The meals cost six dollars. Not only is this a great way to sustain a sense of community, it is a money-maker, because volunteers like us cook the meals. |
