Focaccia and Birthday Cake Oh My!

My friend Gilda celebrated her birthday this past Sunday so we organized a potluck party for her with all of our neighbor friends including Marina and her husband Jon, Antonio (his wife Dyane is away on business), their Israeli neighbor, and Gilda's sister who's in Ghana visiting from DC. I volunteered to make focaccia and of course the cake. I'd never made focaccia before but figured I'd give it a try. It went pretty well actually and the cake was delicious if I must say so myself (chocolate with berry mousse and whipped cream frosting). Gilda had a great time at the party despite the fact that the guests got in some pretty heated political and world issue debates that verged on the point of producing awkward moments. This, we've learned, has become common place here because so many people converge from all over the world with total opposite types of experiences and world views. Luckily, everyone was generally respectful and no one seemed offended by anyone else. It makes gatherings in Ghana very interesting to say the least and I'm certainly learning a lot.

Here are some shots from the prep work I did for the party and of the guests.