Happy Birthday, Grill Master!

On November 6, Tamarindo Grill Master celebrated our first birthday!  And what did we do to celebrate?  Absolutely nothing!  It poured rain outside, and we spent the entire day lying on the couch like we never ever have the chance to do.  What a perfect way to spend a birthday!

It has been quite a year!  Last November 6, we packed the food we’d purchased into the one cooler we owned, borrowed a neighbor’s car, and drove up the hill in Tamarindo to Casa Xanadu to prepare dinner for 7.  We were so nervous, we had to take a few shots of rum to get up the courage to leave the house!  

The dinner went great!  The clients were so happy, they couldn’t get done exclaiming about how wonderful everything was, and we were giddy with delight.  Before we left, they gave us a generous tip which both surprised and thrilled us!  We knew that some people would probably tip us and some probably wouldn’t (true, that), and the tip was just one more thing that made us happy that day.  Tips make us happy because we need money, of course, but tips also make us happy because they tell us that our clients are happy.

Within about a week, we traveled to the San Jose area to buy a vehicle.

And then there was dinner after dinner after dinner…

We learned so much!  We learned that every grill is different, that some houses do not have enough silverware for big groups, that some clients are terrified of gekos and grasshoppers, that trying to bake desserts for everyone is impossible, and that on taco bar nights we need to bring a helper.  

We also learned that our favorite things are not necessarily our clients favorite things.  One evening Hernan left the pork kabobs on the grill a little too long, and the poor charred looked too pitiful to even serve.  But we had to put them on the table, because the clients ordered them, and had paid for them too.  So with great chagrin, we cleaned them up a bit and delivered them to the table with giant confident smiles.  

At the end of the meal, as we were cleaning up the dishes and chatting with the family matriarch, I asked her what her favorite dish was.  Without a second’s hesitation, she exclaimed, “The pork kabobs!”  …I tried to stop the burst of laughter from exploding out of me but I didn’t exactly succeed.   I had to confess that we thought we’d burned them.  She assured me that they were wonderful.  I cannot imagine how this is possible, but…she was dead serious.  

And there was born our inside joke about “pinchos quemados.” 

Another important thing that happened this year is that Hernan turned 50.  And we threw a big party for that too.

We did some traveling this year.  Hernan went twice to Argentina to spend time with his beautiful daughters. I went to Italy and to Pennsylvania.  We went together to Peru and both fell in love with the colors, the mountains, the ceviche, and the mystical history.  We wish there was a little more oxygen in Cusco, but we loved it anyway.

We gave up on trying to do our own social media, and hired a fantastic 20-year-old to do what we just can’t wrap our 1970s-Edition brains around.  He’s doing a great job.  Have you seen our facebook and instagram accounts?  Yeah, it is definitely not us creating that! 

And then, just as November began, we bought ourselves a birthday present!  Check it out!

This is a super mega wood-fire grill that we hope to use for events.  Are you getting married?  Having a special birthday party?  Just feel like celebrating the joy of being alive?  This puppy can grill meats and veggies for a feast!  We’re having a base created for it so that it doesn’t create so much heat on the ground where we set it, and so Hernan doesn’t destroy his back working over it.  We’re not sure how we’re going to transport it, not sure how we’re going to store it, and not sure how long it will take to cool after the cooking is done, but here it is!  We have at least two events for which we will use it in December, so stay tuned.

The holidays are going to be busy.  We hope the whole next year is busy.  If you’re coming to Tamarindo, look us up.  Let’s go surfing and then have something awesome for dinner!