Puccini House Party II

Last night, the owners advertised a home-cooked dinner for Puccini House guests. For an extra fee of N$90, guests could enjoy a meal of oryx steak w/blue cheese and mushroom sauce, red wine, potbread, garlic toast, and a cucumber, tomato, feta, sprout, and avocado salad. YUM. The oryx was grilled and the taste – pure bliss. We also tried bites of ox liver (?!) as an appetizer, and also had coffee and a traditional Afrikaan dessert. I can’t remember what it was called, but it was basically friend dough soaked in some sort of sweet, slightly fruity syrup. I had two big pieces, it was amazing… goey and sweet and delicious on the outside but somehow still crispy on the outside. Mmmmm.


There were maybe twelve of us who signed up for the dinner, scheduled for seven, but served at Namibian time (close to 8:30 or 9pm I think?). Brooke and I met this really sweet Franco-German woman named Anne, who geneticist who works for the Cheetah Conservation Fund. Anne lived in the states for several years and had worked with the NIH, so we enjoyed talking about the DC area for a while. The three of us ate at a table with the Brazilian documentary-makers, who brought another three bottles of wine (in addition to what was served at dinner). We jokingly referred to ourselves as the “kids” table – we had fun. Soon it was 10:30, and the boys had agreed to meet the local woman they are filming and her husband in town, at, you guessed it, El Cubano.

Ah, El Cubano. I miss smoke-free bars in the states. The DJ there wasn’t the best, but he did win few points with the boys by playing a few Brazilian songs they knew. Since our numbers were three and three, the boys attempted to teach us ladies a few traditional dance steps. Usually enough wine can help with dancing, but not last night – the rhythm and steps were much different than anything I ever danced to before. At any rate, the boys were good sports about us stepping on their feet more than a few times, and we had fun.

The weather is beautiful here today. High 60s, perfect blue sky, light breeze. Would be a perfect day for a run… sigh. Especially with all the delicious steak, desserts, wine, and beer I’m enjoying here, I’m sure I could use it. I think I’m going to join Brooke at the fitness center next week. I’m not too enthused about running on treadmills (their cardio equipment is pretty limited), but my workout DVDs are starting to skip, and it’d be nice for us to go together.