A few days ago, I mention how our first dinner party, after we were married, didn’t turn out quite like we had planned. That brought to mind another dinner party that didn’t go exactly as planned….
We had just moved from our downtown apartment in Manila to a house in one of Manila’s suburbs. We had a “live-in” maid — her quarters were just off the kitchen. She did everything — cleaning, shopping, cooking, etc.
Anyhow, shortly after we moved, a fairly high ranking official came to Manila to attend a conference. We invited him and several embassy people over for dinner. The night of the dinner party turned out to be Carmen’s (our maid) cousin’s birthday. Claire told her to go to the birthday party — she’d take care of dinner. Well, it turns out that Carmen prepared everything except the main dish before she left for the party and before our guests arrived. So Claire only had to do the main dish — I think it was a roast or something like that that didn’t need a lot of preparation.
Carmen, being super efficient, like she always was, thoroughly cleaned the kitchen before she left. Shortly before our guests arrived, Claire put whatever finishing touches were necessary on the main dish and put it in the oven to cook slowly for a couple of hours. When everyone arrived, we sat in the living room having drinks and appetizers. When it was time for dinner, Claire and myself went into the kitchen to get food on the table in preparation for the meal. When we opened the oven door, there sat the roast — just like it was a couple hours before…. uncooked and cold. I checked and the stove was plugged in, there were no fuses (not circuit breakers) blown. Finally, Claire found the problem. Apparently when Carmen had thoroughly cleaned the stove before she left, she had turned on the timer and the oven was set to start cooking in a couple of hours. We went back in the living room and Claire explained what had happened and apologized profusely. Everyone (except us) thought it was funny. Everyone got in their cars and we went to a Chinese restaurant. I picked up the check — turned out to be one of the most embarrassing — and expensive — dinner parties we ever had.
— 30 —