feel good story

a couple of weeks ago a man posted on the maple valley community facebook page asking where the best place was to get flan.  some people answered with some local mexican restaurants and one women said she had a great home made one at a dinner party.  he asked if she would get the recipe for him.  so i responded to his post and told him i have the best flan recipe and he could message me if he was interested.  he did message me and said he wanted to surprise his wife with it and asked if he could purchase one from me.  i agreed, and he had a trip planned the next day and said he would be in touch when he returned.

he reached out this weekend to touch base and i said i will make it for him.  for my trouble he wanted to give me a bottle of coquito, which he describes as a spiked eggnog tasting drink.  sounded like a good deal to me, and i told him that i couldn't take his money.  i explained to him that i am not originally from here and there have been many times i wished for one of my favorite foods that reminds me of "home" and family.  this community has been so good to us and it made me happy to bring his family some joy of one of their favorite desserts.  the world feels so divided and heavy that i simply wanted to do something kind for someone else.  he told me that he has been trying to spread positivity on the community page and wanted to share our story.  

and here is the message he sent to me after he tasted the flan. 

"O M F(reaking) G!!!!!!!!!!!! Your grandfather is a man of his word!!! No lie

This was absolutely awesome. Very much a Latin Flan!!!!

It’s a hit. A huge HIT!!! We loved it!!! But most of all we loved that a stranger could be generous and so we loved meeting you both and are thankful for the treat and the experience."

please read his community facebook post below.  it felt so heart warming to do something nice for someone else and it also goes to show the power of food to bring people together.   and i think i got the better end of the deal, the coquito was AMAZING!!! absolutely delicious!

from the moment I met this couple, I had this strong presence of my grandma bev, watching down on us, smiling ear to ear over this encounter. these are the kind of moments that make you wonder if it was really more than just a coincidence???

here nick's post on the community page:

Would you indulge me in a feel-good Community post….

 

The story of the Coquito and the FLAN!

 

A few weeks back I asked on the Maple Valley page for recommendation for a good Latin version of a flan, one of my wife’s favorite desserts, in an attempt to surprise her with a treat when she came back from he church mission’s trip.

 

A wonderful person, and stranger to me (Erin), offered to cook and gift us her flan, believing she knew exactly what I was looking for. I offered to make her my good Puerto Rican coquito (a puerto Rican traditional Christmas drink, kind of like our version of egg nog). 

 

We kept in comms and today we finally made each other our treats and met up at at Erin’s house for the exchange. My wife came with a bottle of coquito in her hand not knowing where we were going or why. As we pulled up to the driveway I explained it all. She was elated and happy about the surprise, but much more at the fact that a Maple Valley neighbor and stranger would have so joyously done that for us. 

 

We met, greeted, hugged and exchanged treats. I have to report…. HOLY CRAP IT WAS DELICIOUS!!! It is exactly like the flans of my youth in Puerto Rico.

But what I really wanted to convey… is the beauty there is in doing something simple and sweet and kind for others… even strangers. And how nice it is to create opportunities to meet new people… make new friends. We now know a new couple in Maple Valley that we did not before… and it was tasty to do it. 

 

Keep using this page to grow the bonds of our community members. Blessed Sunday to all and a huge huge thanks to Erin and her hubby!