This evening we're entertaining our friend, Renee, her mother, her uncle, and her brother and sister-in-law. Marian's preparing a Thai feast, and we're serving sweet German wine (Renee's request). This is our version of a fusion meal - Jamaican guests, Thai food, German wine. My role? I'm the sous chef. Let's see - so far this afternoon, I've harvested the basil and hand-picked all the good leaves, I've snipped the cilantro from the stalk, I've deveined (that's a nice word for a nasty job) a mountain of microscopic shrimp, and I've toasted the coconut. I suspect I'm also going to have to blow the pine needles off the driveway. Marian had to pick up one of the kids from the barn, which provided me the opportunity to shirk my duties and come tap-tap-tap on the keyboard. I better get back in the kitchen before she returns or I'll be demoted to dishwasher.