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As they were driving home a few hours later, Ulrike felt so elated and relieved that she happily chatted away about the great time she had had and how fabulous she found Carmen's parents. She had even, albeit grudgingly, come to accept José as being a nice guy.
Carmen smiled weakly at that. She knew she should be delighted; after all, she had been nagging Ulrike about accepting her brother for weeks. Why couldn't she feel any happiness at all? Instead she only felt a numb emptiness inside her that she couldn't really explain.
Ulrike didn't notice her partner's pensive mood, and she went on chatting excitedly. "… and I'm so glad that your mother liked my gift. I was rather doubtful if she would appreciate the paints. I thought perhaps she would find it silly. But she loved it, she really loved it. Gosh, I can't tell you how relieved I was…"
Carmen didn't respond. And Ulrike didn't seem to expect a response anyway, she had already moved onto the next subject. And Carmen only listened half-heartedly while the numb emptiness grew inside of her, pulling her thoughts into a void of darkness.
As she turned into Henriettenplatz, Ulrike finally noticed Carmen's quietness. Casting a glance at her, she thought that her partner looked awfully tired and also, probably had a few too many. Smiling indulgently, she decided to be considerate and halted in front of Carmen's apartment block and suggested, "You know what? You look tired. How about I just drop you off and I'll catch up with you tomorrow night?"
"You don't want to come up?" asked Carmen surprised.
Placing her hand on Carmen's knee, Ulrike said softly, "It's not that I don't want to, but it's going to take ages to find a parking place, and you look as if you're going to fall asleep any minute. And José will be picking you up at eight in the morning, so we wouldn't have much time for fun then either."
"You aren't making a fuss about me going on a drive with José?" Carmen's feeling of surprise grew by the minute.
Shaking her head, Ulrike said with a smirk, "I told him that if he didn't bring you back safe and sound I'll put his cojones on the asado grill and make him eat them."
Carmen's jaw dropped. "You did not!"
Her smirk turning into a grin, Ulrike said, "Yep, sure did. And your father agreed with me and said he wouldn't stop me. Judging by José's face, he got the message, so I will trust him - for now."
Carmen looked down at her hands in her lap. The numb emptiness had been replaced by a dull ache inside her chest, and she was fighting back the tears that were threatening to spill over.
Ulrike gently caressed Carmen's hair off her face and said softly, "You are tired, Liebling. It's been a long exciting day. Go to bed, hm? You need your beauty sleep."
Carmen nodded and fumbled for the lock of the safety belt.
"Come on, I'll help you," said Ulrike, and while she freed her partner from the belt, Carmen grasped her handbag from between her feet, not even looking at Ulrike.
Ulrike was about to release her own safety belt in order to lean over and kiss Carmen good night, but Carmen didn't notice and reached for the door handle.
"Gosh, you must be awfully tired," said Ulrike as Carmen opened the door. "Call me tomorrow after your trip, will you?" she called as Carmen got out without a word.
Carmen only replied something unintelligible before she slammed the door shut.
Ulrike graciously interpreted Carmen's mumbling as an affirmation, and as she watched Carmen walk towards the entrance of the building, she wondered why her partner was so unusually tired. Normally Ulrike was the one who fell asleep first. And as soon as Carmen was out of sight, Ulrike drove off, hoping that her partner wasn't coming down with something. However, she was so elated remembering the events of the afternoon and musing over how well everything had turned out, she didn't dwell on Carmen's tiredness. Instead she drove home, happily reliving the afternoon moment for moment.
To be continued …
Recipe Empanadas:
Ingredients:
Filling:
200g minced beef (or veal, or chicken)
2 chopped hard-boiled eggs
3tbsps. lard (or 30g Speck)
1 hand full of chopped black olives (or stuffed green ones if you prefer)
(Optional: 1 hand full of raisins)
1 chopped onion
2 cloves of garlic
½ tsp. paprika powder
Salt, pepper, sugar, marjoram (or oregano)
Dough:
250g flour
150 ml milk
100g butter
Salt, sugar
(Optional: yolk of 1 egg)
Filling:
Heat the lard. Sautée the onions in the lard. Add garlic and minced meat. When the meat loses its red colour, add the rest of the olives, raisins and spices, and adjust spicing according to your taste. When the meat is slightly browned, set it aside and mix in the chopped hard-boiled eggs. Then let everything cool down.
Dough:
Mix the flour with the salt and sugar and alternately add warmed milk and warmed butter.
Let the dough rest for at least half an hour.
Roll out the dough and cut into circles (size of a dessert plate).
Put filling on half of the slices (ca. 1-2 tbsps. on each), moisten the edges with water, fold over the other half, and press the edges together.
(Optional: Brush the top of the empanadas with egg yolk.)
Put the empanadas in the preheated oven (200°C) till they are golden brown (ca. 15-20m).
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My website: www.sophiadeluna.com
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