I Love Lena

I have a new mom. She's a 36-year old ethnic Russian living in Baku who is a fantastic cook and doesn't mind cleaning up after me. She is, in a word, perfect.

Lena started working for us two weeks ago. Although I still feel strange about having a housekeeper, Lena is so fantastic that all of my reservations and awkwardness soon disappeared. She is amazingly sweet and so enthusiastic about her job. When I was sick she made sure I got enough liquids. When another light bulb burst in its socket, she was immediately on the phone with the embassy to get someone out to look at the wiring. She just gets stuff done.

Her favorite activity is baking. Which works well because my favorite activity is eating.

This week I left her a menu and for Wednesday I wrote down "cupcakes." I have a box of Duncan Hines mix and some frosting in the back of my cupboard so I pulled it out and placed it on the counter before I left for work.

Running late this morning, Lena showed up before I left for work. I heard her sigh in the kitchen.

Skeptically, she looked at me and held up the box. "You really want this?" she queried. "Because I had some ideas." At that she whipped out a Martha Stewart cupcake cookbook she had brought from home and showed me two different recipes she was thinking about making.

First, let's note that Lena owns a Martha Stewart CUPCAKE cookbook. Second, she picked out two recipes that looked absolutely mouthwatering. So now, I'm sitting at work dreaming of getting home to a house stocked with carrot cake cupcakes.

There are some serious benefits to this overseas lifestyle and I think Lena might be at the top of the list.