(Camino) Family Dinner

Today’s walk went pretty fast. It was cloudy and quite a bit cooler, probably in the low 60s, and, sure it was shorter than yesterday’s, but it feels noteworthy that under my current paradigm, a 13-mile walk feels like a rest day.

We did our part to bring a bit of joy to the pilgrims today in the cloudy weather. Jason and I bought helium balloons at the fiesta in Nájera last night which we tied to our packs today. I’m not sure anyone walked by without smiling.

We got to town around 1 pm, with plenty of time unwind and catch up on anything we needed to do. A few of us went in on a washing machine for a load of laundry. 7 euros, not bad. Some read. One went to the gym.

After laundry, Emma and I headed to the grocery store. After Lauren cooked dinner for us a few days ago, I offered to prepare a meal for the group. After some deliberation, I decided on pierogis.

As it turns out, three out of the five had never had a pierogi before, let alone make one.

Emma taught me to let go of perfection and, instead of using a glass or cookie cutter to make each pierogi exactly the same, to instead embrace imperfection and cut out the dumplings from the rolled out dough as you go with a spoon. This is the way her grandmother does it. The advantage - no wasted do from the spaces between the circles.

Emma was a blessing in the kitchen. I couldn’t have prepared the meal without her. Eventually, all of us had made it down to the kitchen before dinner was fully prepared. This resulted in what may be my favorite moment of the Camino so far

Wes, another pilgrim who was in the kitchen, captured some footage as we all sat together filling the pierogis.