We’d made plans for dinner out with another couple, followed by dessert back at our house. We’re all learning Mahjong together – fun, but amazingly hard even for a group of people replete with graduate degrees.
It’s not a couple we know well, they’re older and conservatively Southern, but we’re allied by our shared confusion as we muddle our way through the rules and frustrations of a game that really works the brain cells.They’d offered us coffee when we’d been at their house, so I wanted to be ready. I had ordered a Keurig coffeemaker almost a month ago (I drink tea and My Guy is the coffee person, so something that produces one cup at a time is ideal) but it hadn’t come and hadn’t come. Meanwhile, ever the optimist, I stocked up on Keurig pods for the machine, but with today’s supply chain issues, had to hit two stores before I found half and half creamer.
Finally, word! Amazon said they’d be at our house on Saturday between 4 and 7. We were leaving at 5:15. This was going to be tight. I hovered by the front door, waiting in vain for the thump of a package.
At 4:30, still not dressed to leave, I gave up and dug the old 8-pot coffeemaker from the cabinet, gave it water, and spooned coffee into the filter basket. You guessed it. Thump. I retrieved the package, unpacked the Keurig at lightning speed, soaked the charcoal filter thingy, put it in its holder, filled the water tank and ran a cleansing cycle as instructed. Then emptied the old coffee maker of water and coffee, dried it, and stuffed it back in the cupboard, with just enough time to throw on my clothes and dash out the door.
“And what would you all like to drink? We have tea, coffee, gingerale . . . .”
From the table at large:
“Oh! Gingerale!”
In The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, iirc, there's a hilarious scene of mahjong being played by distractible people with an uncertain grasp of the rules. I think you could relate.
ReplyDeleteMy mother played mahjong and had a beautiful ivory set in a lacquered box from China. As for the Keurig, a french press might have been a better choice. No plastic pod that goes in the landfill.
ReplyDeleteFor years, people who used Kcups brought out the sneer in me, but now my life's goal is the easiest route possible. I'll try to be more vigilant with my reusable shopping bags to balance things out.
DeleteHa! Of course.
ReplyDeleteMy partner's mother played mahjong and her descriptions of the complexity made my brain hurt. You are braver than me - and have fun. With or without the stimulation of coffee.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with that game. I know nothing about it and maybe one day I'll at least learn something about it. My sister has a Keurig and loves it. She got some of those reusable cups, too. :-)
ReplyDeleteCome to think of it, I have the reusable ones also. That should soften the guilt.
DeleteI cannot imagine ginger ale with cake!
ReplyDeleteHah! All that fuss and all they want is gingerale. At least that's easy enough. But now you can at least have a cup of coffee any time you want it.
ReplyDeleteI was unprepared for the ending. Well played.
ReplyDeleteBut was I understanding correctly? The guests bring the coffee, not the hosts?
Whoops! Your observation made me re-read my post. I’d “miswrtten” - I’ve since fixed it to read correctly that we’d been at their house previously. Sigh
DeleteWhoops! Your observation made me re-read my post. I’d “miswrtten” - I’ve since fixed it to read correctly that we’d been at their house previously. Sigh
Delete