All You Need is Love and meatloaf and gadgets...

Today is that very special day when you get to tell people how much you love them, how grateful you are to have them in your lives, to wear red, to buy horribly gaudy boxes of chocolates, over priced roses, ahhh commercialism...no, it's simply another day in the year with an extra touch to it. Luckily, in Catalunya it has yet to become a 'normal' holiday so as the foreigner, I am reminding all those I love that I love them. Yes, that means you! I was awoken by my beautiful friend Carolina's voice this morning telling me how much she loved me. It felt like my birthday. In a way it is, a rebirth of love. I've been walking around all day humming, "All you need is love" by the Beatles, a song dedicated to me by the Puccini and Pinetti gang before I left San Francisco.

Last week for our weekly Tuesday dinner, Alex impressed us all with his meatloaf, okay, really it's a Spanish dish, but I swear it looked like meatloaf, only better. We cooked mashed potatoes mixed with squash and ate Tiramisu ice cream. Jordi invited the neighbor and we got the 15 Buenos Aires gossip and got to know one more person. I have to admit that Alex's cooking skills have improved dramatically. I knew these boys had it in them the first time I laid eyes on them and now they are flourishing. Because all you need is a little love and inspiration and you can become the next Ferran Adrian (a famous chef here).

And then I was invited to an all exclusive girls only taper sex party that same week. It's not what you think mom! The girls decided it would be fun to host a tupperware party, only this one was made up of fun sex gadgets, oils, tricks and advice. I have to say it was very educational and hysterical. It took us all a while to warm up to the idea of using something other than our own creativity, but we, as mature ladies that we are listened, learned and ended the night with wine in our blood and a world of knowledge. In the end we all walked out with discreet bags containg the necessary to survive. Some gadgets were out of this world...I mean, I never realized the variety of intimidating gadgets that are out there. The host talked about them as if she couldn't live without them while we laughed, turned red and tried imagining how on earth you could wear chinese balls while cooking...don't ask.

The winners had to be the Sex in the city swirling pearl vibrator and the double duty strap on that you're supposed to wear when your honey comes home to give him a taste of something different. Yeah right! Imagine how you would react...Mine had to be the remote control one, the one you wear to Christmas dinner and hand the control to your loved one and say, "Tonight you are in control" Whooo...unfortunately it was way out of my budget...but I'm an optimist. The greatest part was being surrounded by lovely women, two who happened to be pregnant and in need of a little material loving...who said women don't have needs?

And there you have it folks, yet another learning experience abroad...I highly recommend crossing borders in order to learn something new...and we aren't talking foreign languages.

Happy Valentines to all of you and remember, "all you need is love tan tantumtum...all you need is love sweet love..."