My Roommate’s Birthday

Last week my roommate, Sharon, celebrated her birthday. It was a great lesson in how to celebrate organically as we had not planned anything specific prior to the day. We went to our Spanish class in the morning, then stopped by Arrocha which is a drug store similar to CVS.  She bought herself some candles even though we did not have a cake. Then we decided to walk around the block in a direction we had not yet been and viola! there was a panaderia or bakery.  I bought a piece of cake which we took back to the apartment and she made a wish as I sang happy birthday!

That evening we went to our salsa class even though it had been pouring rain – it is rainy season in Panama now.  We left early as her sister had offered to take us out for tapas and wine for her celebration. There just happens to be a great tapas restaurant three doors down the street from our apartment, called Angels.

We rushed home and changed and enjoyed a wonderful evening of tapas and wine and celebration. Amazingly there were three birthdays being celebrated that evening which contributed to the fun. We ordered some excellent red wine, spanish cheese, olives, calamari and manitas de cerdo en salsa. We knew cerdo was pork, but what we did not know was this dish was pigs feet in a tomato sauce.  I like being surprised, but neither of us cared for the consistency which was like a mushroom or pasta. We only ate a few bites; still it was a fun experience.

The bartender made her a cheese “cake” with a candle in a piece of cheese and one of the birthday groups shared their cake.  Such a fun day that just unfolded piece by piece without planning.