Anyone want to make a delicious dish to showcase the cuisine of Spain? Oops, err, Europe?

When we enrolled Sunshine in school, we made it very clear to the school that we were not wealthy.  Our contributions to the school would, barring a lottery win, most likely not come in the form of large monetary donations.  We would, however, be more than happy to donate our time and talents.  

And to that end, we've been exemplary parents.  Todd has written articles for the monthly newsletter.  I've done everything from watching other people's kids while they help in the classroom to helping create the auction project for our class.  I've done photo projects, hosted a brunch, made plenty of hors d'oeurvres for different parent functions.  I'm generally there if people need a volunteer.  I've even taken home projects to complete for Sunshine's teacher.  So when a good friend of mine asked that I head up a continent for our school's World's Food Day, I said yes.  

Now I was a little reluctant.  April is just a really busy month for us.    And I'd never done anything like this.  I thought that perhaps someone who had actually attended the event once might be a better choice.  But I said yes, and I was given the task of finding people to cook dishes representing the countries of Europe.  Now I'm not sure how many of you have pulled out your map of the world in a while, but Europe...  Well, Europe has a lot of different countries, all with very different flavor profiles.  

But I sent out my nice little email requesting help for this fantastic event which would showcase delicious food from all over the world.  And almost immediately, I received three requests to cook for Spain.  But because I'm a novice at this and apparently lack all skills diplomatic, I made a crucial mistake.  I suggested that someone (the 3rd someone who had volunteered to cook for Spain) perhaps make an Italian frittata instead of a Spanish omelette.  She said sure, and then I never heard another word.  Until yesterday.

Apparently, there has been a whole flurry of emails going around about that mean coordinator from Europe and how she didn't want a Spanish omelette, she wanted an Italian frittata.  And did anyone else want help with their continent instead?  And really, yesterday was a terrible day to deal with this kind of beaurocratic BS.  

Silly me, I thought that the point of this event was to try to showcase as many different countries as possible.  So I did what any good, loyal parent would do.  I ate humble pie, a humongous serving of it.  I wrote the nicest email, copied to everyone on her little list.  I apologized for it taking me all afternoon to get back to her, that I've had a really sick little one.  I said that this was my first year at this school,  and that I was mistakenly looking at things a little differently.  That I was wrong for asking her to not cook for Spain.  And finally, that the omelette sounded delicious, and we would love anything that she would like to cook.  

And you know what I got back?  A terse email saying not to put her on Europe's list, she was still waiting to hear from Asia.  

Lovely.

Lucky for me, the coordinator of the entire event intervened and requested that she stay with Europe. So now I have three dishes coming from Spain, and that's it.  

I'm guessing that by the time this fantastic event showcasing delicious food from all over the world comes around, I'm going to be huddled in the corner, banging my head against the wall.