Muchacho Polaco

It’s been ages since we’ve had a Christmas tree. I think we’ve probably done this maybe once or twice before. In fact, my very first blogging efforts were of our very first Christmas tree 8 years ago. This years tree was much more expensive because for some reason, they are twice the price here. But with the price, came a tree about 8 or 9 feet tall, which is bigger than anything else we’ve had. It barely fits into the living room due to its height, but it looks great.

We don’t have a truck anymore. So we used our little Mazda to go pick it up and found it fit quite nicely on the roof. We didn’t have to go far, so we made it home with no problems.

We had a nice thanksgiving day this year with 16 guests visiting for dinner. Yun and I had prepared well days in advance, so it really wasn’t too bad to get everything together for Thursday. Miraculously, we were able to find a turkey and all of the essentials here in town. Costco has proven to be invaluable. We had turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberries, green beans, green bean casserole, asparagus, corn, mac and cheese, rolls, pumpkin pie, apple pie, brownies, and a spectacular fruit salad! The food was great and we had nearly no left overs.

I brined the turkey for a couple days prior to the day of consumption. Here is the evolution of our bird:

I love this time of year!

Our friend Billy frequents the State of Chihuahua and on his last visit he brought us a kilo of cheese from the Mennonites there. That’s a lot of cheese. And it is very good. Perfect for quesadillas!

I bought a new plant the last time we visited Tucson a couple weeks ago. It’s another golden pothos, but one that looks radically different than any I have at home. I like the color variations a lot. This is a plant that is virtually impossible to kill (unless you try to fertilize it with urine) and does not require a lot of sun. They grow all over the place here, but none that I’ve seen that look like this.

Next week is Thanksgiving and I thought it would be neat to have a big dinner with a bunch of people over. The challenge was going to be where to find one. We have a friend that recommended a particular store which turned out not only to have the turkeys (of various sizes), but the stuff necessary to cook the turkeys (like the pan and bag and such). It will cost about $50 just for the turkey. I don’t know if this is expensive or not because it’s been about 10 years since I last bought and cooked one. Nonetheless, it’s not like I have other options right now.

We went out for ‘Thai” food last night (Mexican version of Thai is nothing like Thai food, but it’s really good) and the above photo was taken from the parking lot after dinner. The weather has finally begun to cool off (80s in the day, 70s in the evening) and it’s been very nice. We no longer have to use the air conditioning. This is my favorite time of the year.

I saw this creature at church a couple Sundays ago. I didn’t know what it was but was told it’s a Horn Toad. Apparently they’re common, but I’ve never seen one before. According to info online, these are not actually toads, but lizards and are common all over the US and Mexico, with a variety of species.

Still trying to get this ivy (I think that’s what it is) to grow. I have no problem getting it to root, but the challenge is in the transplant. So far, of the 10 I’ve attempted, only one remains outside that is having a hard time surviving. I’m not sure what the problem is. Maybe it’s the soil. I don’t know. But it grows all over the neighborhood,  so it has to make it eventually.

Yun and I went to The Game last night, a favorite restaurant up the street. After a breakfast of oatmeal and a lunch of beef jerkey, I was starving. I love their fish and chips. That, along with an extra order of fries and some jalapeno poppers, I was beyond maximum capacity. Sadly, I just don’t learn. We then went to a movie where I inhaled a large box of popcorn within the first 30 minutes. I then spent the rest of the movie wanting to throw up.

The movie theater in our neighborhood is great. They have leather, reclining, lazy-boy-like, chairs with servers that attend to your every food and drink needs. We saw Thor 2 in 3D. Although I am a recent fan to 3D movies, I was not particularly impressed with this movie.