The Church Ladies

We had another church event last night. Do you remember the curry dinner post? It involved helping two English women in the kitchen, and was hysterical. This time I made sure to bring my camera. Meet Patty and Linda. Patty's the one saying, "no, no, you can't take pictures, I look terrible!"


I didn't do any of the cooking... mostly followed directions like chop this, plate these, wash the cherries, that sort of thing. At one point, Patty needed me to whip cream for her meringues, and realized she'd forgotten her hand mixer at home. I told her I could probably do it with a whisk, and neither of them believed me. They let me try, but said it HAD to be firm. So, only having whipped cream by hand once, I figured the more you whipped the firmer it got. At some point it completely changed consistency, so I thought I should consult the ladies. "It's turned to butter!" one of them shouted. That batch was ruined, however, I gained a sort of "kitchen cred"... they started calling me the dairymaid, and told anyone who walked into the kitchen that I'd made butter. It was the highlight of the afternoon.

After many hours of prep, the party began. Here's a picture of me with two very important people in my Lugano life - my oldest and my newest friend. The woman to the right is the person that reached out to me our first week here. The one to the left is one half of the new British couple we've been talking about.


Every weekend in summer, Lugano offers free activities in the center of the city. This weekend is the jazz festival, so we stopped by on our way home from the party. Here are some pictures... the city looks amazing all lit up.