The Pope is in town!

Human Highlighter Suit Tally: 8

I did not leave the house once today.  It was a beautiful day, but somehow it just didn’t happen.  The Pope was in town, although I do not think he had anything to do with my confinement.  For a week or more, folks have been hanging yellow and white papal flags out their windows in honor of his visit, although truth be told there were far fewer papal flags than there were on September 11, the national day of Catalunya.  Which tells you something right there.

The Pope visited La Sagrada Familia today, a church that is widely recognized to be architect Antonio Gaudi’s masterwork.  Construction on the church started in 1882, and will not be finished for another 20 years or so.  From what I gather, the Pope did some hocus pocus today that consecrated the building and made it an actual church.  We stayed away—I don’t go in much for crowds, and anyway I saw a different Pope conduct Easter morning years ago in the Vatican.

Back home, we spent the morning cooking lunch for our local friends Iu, Nerea and their two children Joan and Iban.  Alec made the fisherman’s stew—suquet—that went over big once before.  It’s a risk to cook Catalan food for a Catalan, but I think we passed the test.  At Milo’s behest, I made an apple cake that he had made with his kindergarten class.  Of course, Milo does not eat apple cake, but he was pretty proud of the recipe he had illustrated and brought home.  Unfortunately, the recipe did not say what size pan to use, what temperature to cook it at, or how long to cook it.  I figured I’d turn the oven to 350 and start checking after a half hour, and it came out fine.

We also made chocolate chip cookies.  Joan and Iban had never had them and let me tell you, it is a powerful thing to give a child the first chocolate chip cookie he has ever eaten.  It’s magic.  I have a distinct memory of giving a friend’s 2 year old son chocolate mousse from a spoon.  His eyes got huge and he started circling the table asking everyone for more.  It was like what I imagine it would be like to watch someone get hooked on crack.  They didn’t invent the word “chocoholic” for nothing.