have I told you lately about our housekeeper, Ruth?

So I was a little down on Ruth for awhile before my vacation.

I know, I know.

I have somebody to clean my house who loves my child.  What is there to complain about?

I won't bore you with the details, but I got a bit mopey about her (read here, the stress from my job) so Jimmy decided to take action.  He asked her before our vacation if she could start cooking dinner two nights a week, thinking that would take some stress off of me after working all day.  He left her with two cookbooks in Spanish that I'd bought and told her to study up over the three weeks I was away.

Well, I don't know where Ruth the Cook was hiding for the last two years but she is showing her stuff this week and she hasn't even touched the cookbooks yet.  For last night's dinner, I asked if she'd cook lentils to go with some leftover barbecued chicken.  She cooked the best lentils I've ever eaten, which we ate over the rice she also cooked.  She also made a side dish of sweet plantains that Jimmy and I ate like it was candy.  My contribution to dinner:  heating the barbecued chicken.

Tonight's dinner was an Asian rice dish with broccoli, chicken, red peppers, bean sprouts, ginger, and who knows what else.  Y.U.M.  My contribution to dinner:  serving it from the pot.

Oh, and we have enough leftovers (after she took home food for her and her son) to eat for at least the next 4 days.

So Ruth is fully back in my good graces, not that she ever left them.  I have loved not having to cook and clean up the kitchen.  A girl could definitely get used to this.

(As an aside, while I was away on vacation, Ruth washed all the curtains and sheers, had the carpets cleaned, flipped all the mattresses, cleaned the house from top to very bottom, and even bought and potted new plants for the balcony.  I know, I know....  I'll quit my whining now.)