Post dinner is the time to clean up the kitchen and wash up the myriad plates and cooking paraphernalia. Last night's meal generated a more than usual dishes to be cleared thanks to the prep required for my sister's birthday dinner. For a simple meal of pan-seared salmon with lemon and cilantro sauce, buttered steamed vegetables and mashed potato (okay, there's lemon cake pudding for dessert as well), there was an insane number of pots, plates etc etc etc to be washed.
The birthday girl helped to stow away the left overs while I played with detergent and water at the sink. My niece was proclaiming faux messages written in invisible ink on the Thai place mat while keeping us company. She stentoriously declared that my sister's boss requested that she see him in his office on Monday in order for him to give her one hundred dollars.
"Hey, my boss is off on Monday. He won't be in to give me the money," said my sister indignantly.
"It's not nice to raise people's hopes for nothing," I rejoinded. "That's a terrible thing to do," I told my niece.
"Of course. I am evil," was her dead pan and spontaneous response.
Note: The picture included was her circa 2009. She has since lost the curls but not the cheeky grin.
*cross-posted at Cowbird*
