Party Prep

Our anniversary party was a huge success. In true chronicle style, here is a little background story about getting ready for the party. If you just want the pictures, you're reading the wrong post!
Enjoy!

To celebrate our anniversary, Justin and I decided to have everyone get together for a Texas-styled fajita barbecue. Adding to the festivities, we included Brian's 25th birthday and Rachel and I started planning.

We spread the word about the party at the bookstore, and Rachel came up with a design for invitations that were posted online. We weren't sure how many people were actually going to attend, so preparing food was all guesswork.

Of course nothing goes as planned when you live in Dominica. When I called to order chicken from Malcolm Stephens, who has cornered the imported meat market on the island, they were out of boneless skinless chicken breast. Of course. So I ordered chicken tenders, assuming (you can call that foreshadowing, thanks) that they would be raw.

So Saturday morning comes and I'm hanging out making lists of everything I need to remember. Christina called and offered to rent a car and help me transport everything over to Rachel's which was a wonderful idea because lately I've been hypersweaty and any little bit to ease the suffering helps. When the delivery truck called to say he's on campus, I rushed (walking, which of course equals sweaty) over to get the meat only to find that by chicken tenders were fully cooked and breaded frozen pieces. Ahhh! Now I'm sweaty and stressed! Now you may be thinking, duh, Ashley, chicken tenders implies that it is strips of meat breaded and fried... but the weekend before, Christina purchased uncooked chicken tenders from the same company! So lets just chalk it up to a miscommunication. It happens! Especially here!

Christina picked me up in the car she rented for 20 ec/hour (about $8 US!) and we sped (not really, nothing goes fast here) off to Tina's to find something to cook everyone. We weren't in the car long enough for me to stop sweating (and the a/c worked). Tina's did have chicken (it wasn't boneless or skinless, but it was chicken) and while Christina stood in line, I drove back to my house and picked up the empty cases of beer so we could return them for new ones.

With chicken and beer ready to go, we drive back to my house to pick up all the tortillas, beans, snacks, and dessert I had prepared. Plus a change of clothes since I was soaked. And an outfit to change into since I'd have to take a shower before everyone came and make an attempt not to be sweaty.

We hauled everything over to Rachel's and then returned to Tina's because we forgot ice. We filled up with a gallon of gas (which cost as much as renting the car for an hour) and returned the car. We walked the ice up Banana Trail to Rachel's and squeezed it into the "freezer" part of her fridge (definitely a bad design). Just a little sweat update: it is rolling down my face, but for some reason Christina looks cool, calm, collected. I think I have a problem.

We marinade the chicken, put the finishing touches on the side dishes and go to Christina's to cool down (her kitchen isn't hot from cooking inside during the hottest time of the day). I think I stopped sweating for 30 minutes before we were back to business. We carried the gas grill from Christina's to Rachel's and I started making the tortillas.
Right before the party started, I hopped in the shower (pretty much the only time I'm not sweating is when I'm in the shower) and got dressed. It was party time!