By the Way: Daniel's Party

On Sunday afternoon, January 22,
Cecilia, Will, and I hosted a party for baby Daniel
here at their apartment.

We spent the morning baking all kinds of goodies.
Here Cecilia is beating a meringue to top the Cuca,
her Tia Alice's recipe.

This is the Cuca (KOO kah) ready for meringue.
It was made with 2 layers of ripe sliced bananas
alternated with 3 layers of a flour/leavening/spice mixture.
There were little globs of butter on each banana slice.
Had to close my mouth to keep from drooling!

Here's the pretty hostess at the food table.
C made the Cuca, we worked together on Cowboy Cookies, and I made Banana Bread.
There were also sandwiches, dip, and plenty of fruit juices and waters.
Pretty flowers, right? Those are in baby bottles, and they're called Copo de Leite
which means "Cup of Milk!"

The Host and Hostess
with part of the breath-taking view from their living room window.

Cecilia, Flora, Joao

Kitchen photos are the best, yes?
Here's (l-r) Cecilia, Flora, Dora, Joao, and Cecilia

The Gringa waiting for another batch of Cowboy Cookies to come out of the oven.
Drop cookies are a rare thing here, and everyone loved these, especially hot out of the oven.

Party fun, food, and falando (talking)

(l-r) with married couple Marcia and Tacio are Tacio's brother Andre, his girlfriend Andreia, and Will
Tacio and Andre are Tia Alice's sons/Cecilia's cousins.

Andre showed everyone some of his beautiful photos.

Cecilia with (l-r) mother Dora, aunts Tia Olga, Tia Alice, sister Flora

W and C opened a gift from Uncle Steve with a note to Daniel attached.
From a guy who's never without his shades, Daniel received a pair of Real Kid Shades
and an invitation to hang with Uncle Steve for fishing, running, and all the things little boys need to learn.

Cecilia's grade school friends (l-r) Ana Paula, Giovana, Melissa

C's best friend Valeria enjoyed watching her open a gift.
Tia Alice (CHEE ah ah LEE see) looked at the clothes and toys that came from the States,
while packs of diapers piled up to the right of the piano.

Cecilia's cousin Elisa (ah LEE za) painted this wooden diaper holder.
Luey's bear (between W and C) joined the party.
BTW--I'm in love with all the beautiful names.

All the females at the party guessed the circumference of C's belly,
and measured out the guesses with lengths of toilet paper.

Then the measuring began.
Joao and his mom Flora were the measuring team.

Dear friend Valeria eyeballed her guess on her own tiny self
as Tia Alice looked on.

Who knows better than Mamae (muh MAIE)?!
So far, Dora has the winning guess.

Party-goers wait for the next measurement.
C's cousin Andre, at the window, took pictures of the sunset on this pretty afternoon.

Ana Paula, friend for more than 20 years, guessed right on the money!

Dora playfully protested the measurement.

Cecilia with the winner and the runner-up.

Cecilia's nephew Joao announced the winners with bravado,
and handed each a bag of treasured Cowboy Cookies.

Flora was in charge of recording everyone's guess for the date of Daniel's appearance.
She collected cash for the betting pool as well while Melissa, Joao, and her friend Raquel checked it out.

The earliest guess was January 23--the next day!
The latest guess is February 20. We all hope this guess is not correct!
There's a full moon on February 7th--how can Daniel resist?