The buffet line
Four weeks of Salsa dancing lessons in The Mayflower Community Buckley Courtyard, culminated with a dance demonstration and a Venezuelan-themed dinner hosted by the Mayflower Residents Association on Tuesday, August 20th.
The Salsa dance students led off the evening with a demonstration in the Buckley Dining Room. Dancers included instructor Silvia Ardila and her husband Matt Sonnichsen; Mayflower Foundation Director, Bill Ferguson, and his wife Claudia Beckwith; residents Suzanne Schwengels and husband Darwin Kinne; Food Service staff member, Marilyn Starnes; locals Tim and Gailanne Dill; and others.
Silvia, a native of Caracas, Venezuela, trained at a Salsa dance academy in Puerto Rico. She led the Mayflower group of 20 students during four evenings of class.
While the dancers were stepping and swaying, diners enjoyed wine and Venezuelan tizana (fruit punch). The meal entrees included empanadas (baked turnovers) with pork and beef, shredded beef, shredded pork, cachapas (corn cakes) with sour cream, arepas (ground corn maize) with Monterey Jack cheese, and cachito (croissant) with mozzarella. The sides were black beans with ham hock, rice, Guasacace (similar to guacamole) and pico (relish-like salsa) sauce. Desert? A Quesillo flan, of course! The Alfajores (shortbread cookies with dulce de Leche) were scrumptious. All was prepared by The Mayflower Community cooks!
As with all of our foreign-themed meals, residents typically observed, “I couldn’t pronounce what I ate, but it was delicious…all of it!”
– Bob Mann, Sales & Marketing Director
