Category: Orkney Rovers’ Recipes

Before the wedding Geoffrey had told me that their intention behind the small wedding and the several days in Montecito was to give our two families a time to really get to know one another and that there would be time later, after their honeymoon in England, for the newlyweds to hold a big party for all their friends. What a wonderful sentiment, what a brilliant idea and how well executed! Thank you, Nica and Geoff, because meeting my consuegros Alicia and Peter was indeed a highlight of the summer and I hope we get together again soon! Alicia and Peter were in the throes of moving to a newly purchased home in Merida, Yucatan. The tales of bringing in all their belongings from Florida through the Mexican customs, the post midnight delivery of their furniture, the bureaucratic snafu because Peter wore shorts, all these stories had us laughing night after night.

We also met some of Alicia’s family, her half-sister Margi and husband Hector, her nieces Cammy and Erica, and Margi’s mother whose name (four letters long of which two were u’s) I can’t quite remember

Geoff and his girls! I love, love this picture!

The day after the wedding we took a tour bus about an hour’s drive north to visit three vineyards near Solvang. I think we were all somewhat done in by the previous day’s festivities. The first wine tasting was fun, the whites were crisp, the rose really good and I tried at least one of the reds. Monica had arranged to have delicious box lunches for us there and that was a lot of fun.

By the second vineyard we all seemed a bit drained and the vote was to skip the third and head back to our vacation paradise so we could relax and enjoy our last full day there.

Sunday morning was devoted to packing, cleaning up which meant following all the many rules listed for leaving the house in tip-top shape–filling the five dishwashers, doing laundry, carrying out the bags of trash, putting away all the pool and lawn equipment, etc, etc– as we had to be out by 10 o’clock that morning. There was a little time for a few last-minute activities. Those who hadn’t tried the trampoline did so now. And there were a few wistful moments by the pool.

We arrived in LA in time for a brunch of Cuban pastries, sweet and savory, from Portos, a bakery which does for LA what Juniors does for Brooklyn, fried plantains, fresh fruit and good strong coffee at Margi and Hector’s home.  Hector owns three restaurants in Hollywood; needless to say, the plantains were the best I’ve ever eaten! The temperature was a mere 104…but dry!

Back in Carlsbad, however, I finally got to elaborate on my tenuous connection with Alicia and her family, the Manduleys, which I had mentioned a couple of times during the week. Alicia was born in Holguin, Cuba, in the Oriente province near Camaguey and my great uncle “Charlie”…Charles Muecke…had lived in Holguin back during the Spanish-American War and then again later until his death in the late ’40s. For many years I was in possession of the book he had written late in the 1920s called Patria y Libertad. I had sent the book to Geoffrey as soon as I felt that he and Monica were a real couple in the hopes that perhaps she would translate more of it than my mother had.

When I showed the book to Alicia and Peter they were really excited and Peter immediately became immersed in it . I knew that Uncle Charlie had been sent to a military school on Long Island at the time his sisters (my grandmother and great aunt) were sent to boarding school in Lausanne, Switzerland, when the family was moving from Germany to NYC. I knew also that Uncle Charlie was a munitions expert, knew about blowing up bridges, had been granted some land in Mexico by Pancho Villa and was generally considered the black sheep of the family. I knew that his wife had moved back to New Jersey (she was from one of the Patterson silk families) after a bullet had ricocheted through their casa in Holguin one night. Of course, he is the family member I am most interested in! How could one not be?

Now I learned that he truly had fought with the Cubans, not with the Americans, and that his book was a long refutation of all the biased press coverage in the US newspapers, which dismissed the Cuban forces as basically irrelevant, and  a detailed journal of his life at the turn of the century. And according to an article about him in the online magazine CubaNow, there is still a neighborhood in Camaguey called La Mosca which was the name of his farm! (If you have gotten to this blog through Facebook you will find the link there.)

So this brings us pretty much to the end of the wedding and all its ramifications. A walk through the San Diego Botanical Gardens (formerly Quail Garden), a bit of window shopping in Encinitas, a great last dinner at a wine bar and restaurant that makes its own wines (muchas gracias, Alicia y Peter) and the next morning we all headed our separate ways….for now.

All these photos were in the Botanical Garden.

If you remember from earlier Orkney posts, I had brought back a Harray Potter quaich to celebrate the blending of our families during this week of festivity.

I had bought a bottle of Bowmore single malt, a mildly peaty, smokey, salty scotch from Islay, an addition to my luggage which meant I had to go back through the whole security thing again because of course I had to check my luggage through. That first evening after we had eaten our fill of Chinese take-away and emptied a couple of bottles of wine I suggested that we have the quaich ceremony while we were just family and just getting to know each other. Geoff and Monica had already told me that they had planned a similar ritual using wine during the wedding…seemed a good idea not to try to do both at the same time!

Bottle and quaich were brought out, the scotch was poured, the bride and groom presented it to each other, then each passed the bowl to their future in-laws with many a slainte pronounced. After this, conversations flowed easily and friendship was assured!

Thursday the yardsmen were there all day tidying up the already pristine environment. Lawns were mown, every stray leaf and fallen petal whisked away, every fading palm frond removed. Shero…oh, I haven’t mentioned Shero, have I…had to be kept inside because dogs were forbidden although a wedding without her was inconceivable.

Geoff and Monica’s friends began arriving, the barbecues were fired up and delicious food set out. Shero got to go outside again and chase the squirrels and cottontails,

which made her a happier pooch.

Friday morning all Monica’s friends pitched in taking her theme of green and white, burlap and leather, and created the elegant table settings that Martha S. herself could not have improved upon.

Chris was the main architect of this beautiful setting

The guys went off on a bike ride up the coast

Some of us sat around and just enjoyed the beautiful day, some took a dip in the pool,

the photographer, the “officiant” and the guitarist arrived.

The bride arrived back from the hair salon and at 3:30 we gathered on the lawn. The officiant Miriam introduced us four parents with descriptions gleaned from conversations with Monica and Geoffrey in a manner that suggested a fortuneteller “And you, Cynthia, are a free spirit, aren’t you?” was one, then asked me to repeat the quaich ceremony (I had been desperately trying to fashion a gracefully casual presentation after learning that this was to replace the earlier plan to use wine); fortunately I have no photos of this episode!) and finally married the two of them with Isabelle and Christian as ring bearers.

The reception and hors d’oeuvres over, we then, with many toasts, most notably Peter’s and Isabelle’s, sat down to an excellent dinner.

followed by dessert…the cake, a basil-lemon flavored one, so good (and fabulous cupcakes as well)

The rest of this amazing week will have to wait until the next post!

So, I’m sitting here trying to think of a good way to begin my post about a wedding but I have suddenly become protector of a sweet little gray kitten who, I hope, is only starving, not sick and who has extra toes. For a couple of days we have been putting out food for a pair of kittens Bob saw near the barn and the food has been eaten. Perhaps it is the other one who has indulged while this one has been starving. That at least is my current theory and based on that I have brought her in, made a bed, given her milk and the juice from a can of catfood and a small litter box. She drank a bit of milk…she is not that young, perhaps 10 or 12 weeks…and is now purring slightly, nestled on my lap. She certainly does not appear to be feral. That was established when our animal-loving mail lady drove up to the house to say that a kitten was huddled by the road, that she had stopped and petted her and was alarmed by her gaunt little body and weakness. What is her story I wonder, our little Shadow ?

But the wedding…   I first met Monica two years ago and was instantly taken with her, very classy, very warm and completely down to earth. She was on her way to Singapore and we only had an hour at a San Diego coffee house and a quick stop at her apartment to pick up her luggage before she left. Later I asked my son Geoffrey “Is this for real?” And he said “I hope so!” She seemed already to be a great friend with my grandkids and they with her; a good sign.

Then last summer Geoffrey, Monica, Isabelle and Christian spent a week at Keldaby and despite the insane temperatures and stupefying humidity, everyone seemed to have a good time.

This was followed by a trip to Merida, Yucatan, where Geoffrey met her Mom Alicia and step Dad Peter; all went well. Engagement followed and then a move into a house just steps from the beach in Carlsbad and soon I was flying off to California for the wedding. Bob didn’t come which is too bad as he would have had a tremendous time, but there are far too many home responsibilities and besides he claims to hate traveling anyway   A small wedding was planned but a long celebration where the two families could spend time getting to know one another. Geoff, Monica, Izzy and Christian, my ex Kring and I left Carlsbad way before dawn and headed north to Santa Barbara where they had rented a vacation home in Montecito for four nights. We couldn’t get in until mid afternoon so spent the morning in town, eating breakfast and most importantly picking up the marriage license at the City Hall. which is elaborately Spanish in style with painted ceilings, tiled floors, a century-old clock. and bell tower from which all of Santa Barbara can be seen

.     

Each of its four vistas was occupied by an artist or two painting the views of town and country, distant hills and courtyard gardens. Christian and Kring went off to check out the old mission, Geoffrey went to see that the flowers had been delivered to the house we would be staying at, Izzy and I went in and out of shops and Monica went to the hairdresser she had found online and had a trial styling.

At 3:30 we drove into our perfect Sea Ranch, settled into our various suites, exclaimed over the attention to all the amenities of a vacation home; to name but a few: I think we counted 14 TVs, at least 5 fire pits, at least 5 and a half baths, a pool with every piece of equipment one could want…one corner sectioned off as a hot tub with jets, a bocce court, a ground level trampoline, badminton, and croquet gear, bicycles, a fully equipped kitchen with four, count ’em, dishwashers, a laundry room. The list goes on and on. I have never spent so much time in so much luxury!

Later in the afternoon Alicia and Peter arrived from their flight up from Merida. But this is enough for a first post!! The wedding will follow