Last Monday, I was making spanakopita; we were expecting my brother, Eric (the Boy), and his girlfriend, Tiffany, along with our friends, Sung and Jessica. I was doing lots of prep work: stemming and chiffonade-ing pounds of fresh spinach, mincing garlic, chopping onions. Next, I sauteed the produce and transferred the mixture a strainer. I was washing my sautee pan when the sink started to drain really slowly. I turned on the disposal hoping to solve the problem. All of a sudden, water was gushing from behind the washing machine! I turned everything off in time to see water rushing all over the floor. Ack!
I threw some towels on the floor to dry some of the water and got on the phone to maintenance. Of course, I was starting to panic a bit. I wasn't worried about the Boy and Tiffany coming over for a soggy dinner party but I don't know Sung and Jessica very well and I wanted things to go well. After a few minutes, maintenance made it up to the apartment and told me how good the food smelled. I huffed and told them I was making dinner for my friends and really hoped they could figure out what was wrong. They asked to borrow my plunger (apparently the maintenance guys don't have their own) and made an attempt to unclog the sink. Surprise! No luck.
A 3rd maintenance guy was called and he decided an actual plumber had to be called. I tried not to get too wound up; I struggled with my phyllo and waited for Jesse to get home. I knew it woudn't work to see if we could pack up and take dinner to Sung's house since we had to wait for the plumber so I called Tiffany to see if they had a table they could bring. It clear and warmish out and not a bad night to eat on the lawn.
Jesse got home and tried to calm me down and convince me that things were fine: the Boy and Tiffany were bringing a table and chairs, Sung and Jessica were bringing chairs, rain was not in the forecast.
Six o'clock rolled around and the plumber and his matching cohort arrived and brought industrial-strength sucking appliances. Next, Sung and Jessica arrived and the four of us sat outside and drank a
Bully Hill Chardonel and waited for the Boy and Tiffany. Meanwhile the plumbers sucked and sucked and sucked some more. I periodically checked on their progress and the progress of the spanakopita. When E and T arrived, we got situated outside and enjoyed some of the Boy's homemade salsa.
While the big and little plumbers continued sucking unsuccessfully, we had our spanakopita and the Boy's salad and Key Lime pie. The plumbers left around 8 or 8:30 and said they would return tomorrow and possibly have to go into the wall to complete the project.
The evening was nice, the food was good and the company was great. The biggest problem was having to go to bed with a kitchen-full of dirty dishes, which I
hate as much as
I hate Palin. The next day, when got home from work, the plumber was back and still sucking. He finally dislodged whatever gross obstruction that impeded my kitchen cleaning; thankfully he didn't have to go into the wall. As my dad and others would say, "All's well that ends well."
Eric has returned to New York after a three-week outdoor leadership certification course on Washington's spectacular Olympic Peninsula. The photographs I have seen thus far are pretty damn stunning; they make me want to never stay in one place, ever.
I am finally getting around to telling you about my brother's very special birthday dessert for his very special 25th birthday! As you can see, Eric requested Dirt and Worms! We bought our pot (an absurdly too big 5 quarts!) at a local garden center and we even found a plastic trowel that we used for serving this muddy treat! 
My brother, Eric "Boy," has been in Alaska since June 20th with a Wilderness Alaska class. It is hard to believe that he has been gone a whole month; he'll be coming home on Tuesday, July 22. Although we haven't personally spoken to him, we received a postcard extolling the scenery, the wildlife
