Memorial Day Menu

• Amazing Guests
• Gorgeous weather
• A glittering pool
• Hamburgers (2lbs lean-but-not-too-lean beef, fresh ground pepper, salt, three cloves garlic, Worcestershire sauce, 1/2 cup Parmesan, 1/4 cup bread crumbs, 1 egg--sort of like giant meats balls--I DROPPED TWO OF THEM ON THE FLOOR, UGH.)
• Hotdogs (BEWARE: Panamanian hotdogs are wrapped in plastic; you can't tell. WHY?)
• Corn on the Cob (which Panamanians don't usually eat and think is a little weird)
• Sour Slaw (Made with cabbage)
• Pineapple soaked in Rum (rrrrrumyumyumyum)
• Cheesecake
• Beer (Particularly Balboa, one of Panama's many native beers. BTW, when our guests drank Corona they drank it with a lime, in glasses rimmed with salt, like a margarita... GENIUS.)

This year, I developed something of a new philosophy on Memorial Day. My Grandpa Smitty was definitely in my thoughts, which he often is, as were our other service men and women. But I also thought about how important it is connect with people from other countries and cultures on a human level, and to, I guess, remember the people we're not at war with. And what we can do to stay that way so that no one ever has to be injured or die for our country again.

Tim and I didn't invite our guests--Gilberto, Angelica, Lorena and Kerube--here this weekend to make a statement, of course. We invited them here because we like them; they've been so welcoming to Tim since he got here and we wanted them to be able to come over and see how Americans spend their summer holidays. (If you think about it, we spend every summer holiday pretty much the same: EATING PICNIC FOOD. It's wonderful!) It just turns out that I happen to think that Memorial Day is a particularly nice time to make friends with your neighbors out in the world. I wish I had the opportunity to do it more often.
Yes, this is what the actual sunset looked like that day. Can you believe it?