Cinco de Mayo 2006...

First order of business: special thanks go to Kirk for pointing out to me in an e-mail that it's CINCO de Mayo, not CINQO de Mayo. I've been spelling it incorrectly for ten years, and he's the first person to ever point out my mistake.

We still find it hard to believe that this was our FIFTH Cinqo de Mayo party in Switzerland. How the time flies... As usual, a few days worth of shopping, getting the margaritas ready, and cooking culminated in another festival of fun. We had about twenty people at our apartment this year, and that was a good number. Also, we actually had decent weather for our party for the first time ever in Basel which meant that we were actually able to bring the party outdoors a bit without freezeing our butts off. Here are a few pictures...

Clockwise from bottom left: King observes while Gretchen (eating for two), Kirk, DxDave, Judy, and Andy enjoy Mrs. TBF's Mexican cooking. Finding ingredients for Mexican food in Switzerland can be a bit of a challenge. Last year, we found a place in Basel where we can buy tomatillos, ancho peppers, and poblano peppers. That was a real find because before finding that place we usually ended up bringing the stuff back with us from Chicago...which could really add some weight to the luggage.

First spill of the party honors went to Chris. Her drink fell to the floor in the exact spot where Gretchen spilled her drink last year. However, since Chris was walking with a crutch due to a jogging mishap, we cut her some slack. Having learned from previous years that Cinco de Mayo spills are a normal occurrence, the mop and bucket were on hand, and the spill was cleaned up within seconds. We even let her have another drink...or two.

Not too long after Chris spilled her drink, Kirk also had a spill. But I have to say that this spill was much more bizarre. Kirk and I were talking out on the balcony, when suddenly his plastic margarita cup just broke in his hand. I told him to ease up on the "Kung Fu grip", the mop came out, and a new drink was in his hand in a couple of minutes. Gretchen holds the remains of his cracked cup. I think wasted Margarita officially counts as a sin!

Cinco mamacitas: our next-door neighbor Suzanne, Mrs. TBF, Judy, Rammy, and Canadian-Swiss. The first version of this picture was not suitable for a "family-oriented" blog such as mine. So, I opted for the tamer "G-rated" version. Aaaahhhhh...the magical powers of the Margarita!

Wendy declared me the winner over Eric in the smooth face competition. I'm glad I remembered to shave right before the party.

I have to say that we have really good neighbors. I've heard many stories about how intolerant the Swiss are regarding noise - our neighbors must be the exception. We've had several dinner parties that have gone into the "wee hours", and we've never had a complaint from any neighbor. I even saw the lady who lives right below us in the elevator yesterday afternoon, and she didn't even mention the noise. Overall, I'd say that we were pretty well behaved at this party, and the party actually didn't go past 4 a.m. like past parties. As a matter of fact, this picture of the last guests to leave - Rammy, John, Canadian-Swiss (sporting her new glasses), and Orange-X - was taken at 1:54 a.m. And I have to say that they all look like they're in pretty good shape.
Maybe I'll have to increase the strength of the Margaritas and Mexican iced teas next year!