Christmas in Spain

This was my very first Christmas away from my family.  During the last few years Jonathan and I have usually spent Christmas Eve with my Dad's side of the family in Buffalo and then drive to Westchester Christmas morning to spend Christmas Day with Jonathan's family.  We have been arranging a Christmas dinner the following weekend with my Mom's side of the family.  We have made plans to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with our family here.  We were very excited to see the different traditions here and were looking forward to a more relaxed Christmas, without all of the crazy traveling.  Also, my parents separated a few months ago and I was slightly relieved not to be in Buffalo during their first Christmas apart.  Despite my parent's continued close friendship there would no doubt be a strangeness over the holidays with different traditions being made to celebrate the holidays (though I do acknowledge some guilt in leaving my little brother all alone to brave and navigate it all).

The time leading up to Christmas back at home is somewhat exhausting and nauseating (the constant discussion of shopping and Christmas plans, the nausea that comes from 50 too many Christmas cookies being eaten, and the continuous bombardment of Christmas music that starts the day after Halloween).  In Spain Christmas is a religious holiday and Three Kings Day (Jan 6) is more associated with gift giving.  During this last month, the time leading up the holidays, I could hardly discern that it was any different from any other times of the year.  The municipalities put up lights on the lamp posts, reading "Boas Festas" and "Bon Nadal" (Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas respectively in Gallego, the local language spoken here) and you could see a little Christmas tree in the window of about one of every 50 homes you walked by.  Also, in the grocery stores gift baskets, Christmas Candy and desserts, and whole legs of cured ham were displayed.  Other than this, you couldn't really tell it was Christmas. I had to you tube Christmas songs, which when not over consumed, are actually quite lovely to listen to.  Jonathan and I also put up a little tree (about a foot and a half tall) and displayed the Christmas Cards we got in the mail.  Being away from all of the craziness leading up to the holidays (i.e. people literally being trampled for discount televisions) was really nice.  The ability to consume Christmas cheer at my own pace as opposed to having it jammed down my throat was pretty awesome

A few days prior I made Christmas cookie plates and delivered them to all of the family here.  We made traditional cut outs, chocolate shortbread cut outs (mind you I went on a quest to find a cookie cutter but was unsuccessful, so I rolled my dough with an empty wine bottle, made a heart stencil out of cardboard and hand cut every cookie with a knife), shortbread bars spread with strawberry marmalade, peanut butter balls, coconut macaroons, almond Russian snow balls, brownies, and pecan nut brittle.  It was quite a feat.  Everyone seemed to really like them; the dessert culture here is more of cakes than cookies, so I think they liked the foreignness of most of the treats.  All and all it took all evening to deliver them as everyone then invited us in for what grew to be a few bottles of wine and some tapas (including but not limited to: tuna and peppers, mussels, cheese, cured meat, and potato chips).  Needless to say I slept really well that night.  Here are a few pictures of my cookie plates and my darling Booey making his delicious coconut macaroons.

So we were invited to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with everyone here.  In the end, we decided to spend Christmas Eve at Chelo and Gonzalo's house and Christmas Day at Lalo and Aurita's house.  On Christmas Eve dinner is served around 9 or 10pm, so Jonathan and I lounged around the house all day.  I made bacon, egg and cheese sandwiches for lunch and we watched a few episodes of the Sopranos (They have the series at the library here, so I've begun renting them.  We've finished the first season.  It's generally fun and entertaining to watch, but not really anything to write home about.  That therapist should have her license taken away).  Before going over to Chelo's Jonathan and I had a few cocktails together and toasted to all of our future Christmases together.  When we arrived at Chelo's the table was already prepped with all different types of prawns and shrimps (unlike the US where there are just shrimp and prawns, some bigger and some smaller, there are a million different names for all of the different types of "shrimp" here) and the kitchen was full of people helping to prepare the second plate.  Marichelo, Martin and I finished setting the table.

Jonathan and I then sat on the couch with Martin and his brother Angel to watch an episode of "Los Simpson", which is still hilarious even after the translation.  Shortly after everyone was seated to start eating the shrimp.  As in many houses here, the TV was left on during dinner, which absolutely drives me nuts.  The way Chelo's house is arranged, the dining room table is in the living room and the table is right in front of the TV.  So when we were all sitting at the table, half of the table was facing the TV and the other half was sitting right in front of it with their backs to it.  This not only bothers me because I think it's kinda rude to be staring at a TV blankly wile eating instead of sharing company, but also because with the TV right behind my head, it's really hard for me to understand people.  I generally have more difficulty understanding people when there are several conversations going on at once, as there would be at a large family dinner like this, but with the added TV sound it was really hard for me.  Throughout most of the dinner Jonathan and I spoke together, though I did discuss potato picking briefly with Gonzalo, which I've invited myself to help with :). 



The second course was then served, which was Bacalao and cabbage as well as roasted chicken with potatoes.  We then spent a long time together over dessert, coffee, and liquors.  Jonathan made a flan to bring, which everyone seemed to like.  There were huge assortments of chocolates, cakes, and walnuts.  We then hurried home around 1am to video chat with our families.  It was nice to talk to all of them.  Generally here, as expected, there is this foreignness with everything I do, but on days like Christmas it seems much stronger and aches a little.  It felt good to talk to our families, like we were less far away.

On Christmas Day we headed over to Lalo's for lunch.  When we arrived the assortment of shrimp was ready on the table and Aurita was in the kitchen finishing up the second plate (Aurita is an amazing cook.  She and Lalo own a bar below their house.  Aurita used to cook, but now due to medical problems doesn't do it anymore.  Lalo now runs the bar, serving drinks and some simple tapas).  We brought Alba, Lalo and Aurita's granddaughter, their daughter Saleta's daughter a colored pencil set and a drawing tablet, which she seemed to really like (Alba is a great artist.  There are a bunch of her paintings hanging in Lalo's home).  We also brought over "snow in a can", which Jonathan's mother mailed us in our Christmas package.  They all got a kick out of it and Alba sat on the couch and played with it for a while.  We then sat down to enjoy the shrimp.

Shortly after we finished the shrimp, Lalo's daughter left with Alba to visit her ex-husband. Lalo's daughter is currently going through a separation with her husband, something that is not as commonplace here.  After this the kind of pain that this was causing the family was pretty evident in the air.  We then sat with Lalo and Aurita to finish lunch (roasted lamb and chicken with red peppers and potatoes) and spoke about life and marriage.  I think Lalo is a very honorable and wise man.  He has never been on a vacation and has worked as a fisherman for all of his life, starting at age 7.  He told us that life is work and that life is hard and that the most important thing in life is family.  When we began discussing marriage Lalo said that couples need to be good to one an other because in the end, they need to take care of one another.  I enjoyed talking with Aurita and Lalo, especially because I was able to understand what they were saying, unlike the night prior.  But there was this air of sadness at their house that was uncomfortable for me.  As we walked back to our apartment from there I missed my family a lot and wished that I could have been with all of them.  We had phone line and internet problems all day, so we weren't able to call them that evening.  We played cards together and watched some movies.  All of the family here was so very generous in inviting us to celebrate Christmas with them and I sincerely don't know how to even begin thanking them for all of the things that they have done for us since we came.  But in the end, I really missed my family this Christmas.  As we went to bed on Christmas night, cuddled up together under the blankets, I must say that I was pretty relieved for Christmas to be over because I knew I'd feel less far away today.

Red Cross Blunder

So more than 2 months ago I applied to be a Red Cross Volunteer.  There is more about this in previous blog posts, but for the purposes of this post all you need to know is that it is something I'm really excited to do and was told that I would be contacted within 2 weeks to discuss volunteer opportunities for me, and that despite my persistent follow-up I still have not been contacted. 

So yesterday as Jonathan and I are enjoying our after lunch coffee and Christmas cookies the phone rings.  I answer it and it's someone who identifies themselves as a Red Cross representative calling to ask for my "help".  Yes!  It's the Red Cross!!  They have finally called me!!  I then begin waving frantically at Jonathan to get his attention.  So I, getting excited, say of course I would like to help.  She then get's excited and asks me how often I would like to help, once a year, or maybe monthly.  I then, in excellent Spanish mind you, explain that I am living in Spain for a year and that in the US I am a social worker and that I want to help the Red Cross as often as I can because not only is it helping other people, but also a great way for me to practice my Spanish.  Surprised, the woman then says that her daughter is a social worker too, she works with children.  I then explained the various populations I have worked with.  Mind you, as this entire conversation is occurring my jubilation and excitement is building (and I'm already generally an excited person).  I am working diligently in my conjugation of my Spanish verbs, trying to sound as proficient as possible (the wheels they were a turning!).  So I'm thinking I'm doing awesome, that this woman is super impressed with me and I'm going to nab an amazing volunteer opportunity.  So then she says "so if you tell me how much you would like to pledge I can send you a bill in the mail, which you can then take to any bank to pay".  Confused, I ask her to repeat herself.  After she does I say "wait, are you asking me for money?".  She then laughed (laughed!!!) at me and said yes, to help the Red Cross serve those in need.  WHAT?!  She's not the volunteer coordinator at all!  This was a solicitor!!!  She probably thought that I was one of those old ladies who is so lonely that they spend hours talking to solicitors about their grandchildren!  Embarrassed, ashamed, and disappointed I played the passive wife card and said that I would have to talk to my husband about it.  She's going to call back in a few days...but this time I'll be ready for her.

Things I Love About Spain (In No Particular Order)

1.  Pure Unadulterated Booey Time.  Jonathan and I are together literally all day, every day.  It's a pretty amazing opportunity for us to have this time together early in our marriage.  This must be like what it will be like when we're 80 (insert joke about Jonathan being an old curmudgeon trapped in a young person's body here).  

2.   Fresh bread.  Fresh bread is a guaranteed item at every table.  A gorgeous baguette generally costs about .80 Euro.  Amazing.

3.  Vanilla Beans.  Vanilla Beans are amazingly cheap here (.97 Euro for each bean) whereas they cost about $5 in the US.  I use fresh vanilla beans in my baking, as opposed to vanilla extract.  They have such a wonderful, rich flavor.  When you use vanilla beans, you slice them open and scrape out the tiny seeds inside.  We've been putting the empty bean shells (the part you would normally throw out) in our coffee sugar bowl, which gives our sugar a wonderful vanilla flavor.  Definitely a tasty treat in your coffee each morning. 

4. Walking.  Sometimes not having a car and relying on the bus can be a drag (having to organize your day around the bus schedule and not being able to stay in other towns past 10, the latest bus).  But all of the walking I get to do here is pretty amazing.  Almost every day I walk to the grocery store.  And then after that I walk to family's house, walk to the library (of which I am a proud member), take a bus to a neighboring town and walk around and look at stuff, or just plain old leave my apartment and go for a walk.  My legs have become so very nice and shapely :)

5.  Coffee.  You can get a good cup of coffee almost anywhere (bars, restaurants, bus stations).  There is always that experience when you order a cup of coffee at a diner in the US and it's always a toss up as to whether it's a solid drip coffee or whether it's been sitting on the burner for 5+ hours.  They don't serve drip coffee here either.  Everywhere has espresso machines.  I like to order a cage con leche, which is an espresso served with steamed milk added 1:1.  It's like a latte, but stronger - less milk. 

6. Gaseosa.  Drinking during the day is normative (yet another thing I love about Spain).  To ensure that people are able to return to work, they add Gaseosa to their beer or wine.  Gaseosa is basically carbonated sugar water, an amazing invention for light weights like me.  It makes an ordinary drink champagne-like. 

7. Cafe culture.  There are literally cafes on every street corner, and they are never empty.  In a time of severe economic difficulty people are out buying drinks and coffees in cafes.  To go out and have a drink with friends is considered to be less of a luxury as it is in the US, and more of a right granted by a modern standard of living.  When we stayed with family in Vigo we went to cafes with family probably about 2-3 times a day to get a drink.  This is normal life!  There are several different types of cafes, but all of them serve liquor and coffee.  There are the cafes that are more bar-like, more alcohol oriented, but which also serve a good cup of a coffee.  Then there are the bars that are more coffee and pastry oriented.  It's like if you took an amazing pastry shop from the US and then put a full bar and coffee shop in it.  Pretty amazing.  And when you order a coffee, it always comes with a little piece of cake or cookie standard.  When you order an alcoholic drink, it will usually come with a little tapa (olives, cured meat, tortilla).  A cafe con leche or a beer usually run around 1 Euro and a class of wine is usually around 2 Euro. 

8. Fresh Squeezed Orange Juice.  In all of the bars they have these incredible orange juice machines.  amazing.  Although, all of the orange juice in grocery stores is pitiful.  It's like orange juice from those tubes of frozen concentrate, but you accidentally put in too much water. 

9.  Fresh Food.  This is probably one of my favorite things about Spain.  All of the food is produced locally and organically.  When you buy chicken here, they still have small feathers around the feet.  When you buy potatoes, they still are covered with dirt. Food here is much healthier and the people are very connected to the food they eat, so much as to say that wine not made at home, wine from commercial vineyards, is not good for you because it has "chemicals" in it. 

An Update

Before I came to Spain I assumed that being immersed in a Spanish speaking culture would easily facilitate my Spanish skills.  I assumed that I would just naturally pick things up and improve through my daily experiences.  To begin and lay some groundwork I took language classes for the first 2 months, finishing in October when the school closed for the winter.  Since then I have hoped to slowly but surely improve my language skills.  What I have found though is that I am not as immersed as I would like to think.  Jonathan and I speak Spanish together in the mornings before lunch, but then after lunch we speak English together and generally we go places and do things together.  So really my only real immersion experiences are when I run an errand by myself or when we go to have lunch with family (about once or twice a week).  I found that the exposure to the language is much less than I would have anticipated.  To me this was concerning as I then started to think about where my language will be when we go back to the US in August.  Will my language be enough to make myself a better candidate for employment, or will employers just think I went on vacation for a year?  I am absolutely open to continuing with some sort of Spanish instruction once we return to the US to further my skill, but I want to at least be able to function as a bilingual caseworker or something similar.  I do not expect to be able to complete bilingual clinical work upon returning, which is much more dependent on the mastery of the language (i.e. explaining to sex offenders the difference between saying I had sex with a minor and saying I raped a 16 year old girl). 

So this discovery, my perceived lack of progress, was very discouraging. In early November I applied to be a volunteer at the Red Cross in Pontevedra, which by the way, needs a new volunteer coordinator.  From what I understand the organization keeps a folder at the front information desk where they file volunteer applications.  From there the volunteer coordinator reviews the applications and contacts the volunteers to set up an interview to discuss their skills, what they are interested in, etc.  When I completed my application I was told that people are usually contacted between 1-2 weeks.  So in two weeks, after hearing nothing, I returned to the Red Cross to inquire about the status of my application (you've got to love the initiative).  A worker at the front desk found my application in "the folder", which was now one of 3 (when I initially completed it I was the only one).  I was told that she should be calling me any day now.  So I left the Red Cross satisfied and excited to start.  About 2 weeks later I returned to the Red Cross to inquire again.  The worker at the front desk then located my application, which was now one of like 30!  I explained that I had completed it over a month ago and still had not heard anything.  The worker then explained that the applications are responded to as they are received, and that mine is in the middle of the stack so it should probably still be a while.  What?!?!  I explained that when I completed my application I was the only application in the folder (it seems as though there is a flaw in their hi-tech folder system) and asked if there was someone I could call.  I was told that there wasn't (horseshit!) and I needed to wait.  So either the Red Cross is the most unorganized organization ever (which I can't believe as they have some incredible leaders, like my daddy <3) or they don't want me :(.  In an attempt to keep my self esteem in tact I am going to assume that they are unorganized. 

The news about the Red Cross was discouraging.  I took a week off from being motivated and decided that I didn't want to learn Spanish anyways, so who cares.  I am now back on the wagon and feeling motivated.  I have written to the language school inquiring about continuing with Spanish classes twice a week (when the school is closed they offer individual lessons).  I will also stress the importance of not mastering more advanced grammar, but rather mastering more conversational and every day skills.  I have also enrolled in painting classes, which I'm pretty excited about.  The classes are taught in groups of 4-5 for 2 hours twice a week.  So during that time I will be able to use my Spanish while learning a new skill (now that I'm done with my Masters, I need some new hobbies).  Lastly, there is a local restaurant here, where Jonathan and I have become friendly with the manager.  I am considering asking if they need help; I could clean stuff or cut onions or something.  I'm not looking to be paid, but would just love to be able to hang out there, listen to Spanish and be able to learn some good Gallego cooking. 

I am excited about my new plan.  I have found it very difficult to spend a lot of time here in the apartment.  Sometimes when we get several rainy days in a row and I choose not to go out, not even for a walk, I get stir crazy.  I think that having something more of a schedule, events in my week that make me leave the house, will be good for me.  I also find that without some sort of organization to my day, needing to be somewhere at a certain time, I find it difficult yo be productive.  When I have all day to study verb conjugations, I much less likely to do it than when I have 3 hours in between class and bed, which is actually quite interesting.  I don't know.  For me, something about being on a schedule makes me be more in a working groove.  So hopefully these new developments will get me on track.  Wish me luck and patience!!

Vigo

Vigo is the largest city in Galicia, the region of Spain we are living in.  Jonathan and I were invited to stay at Tina's home in Vigo and spend some time in the city, which we obviously took advantage of.  We took a bus into Vigo (45 minutes) last Thursday and spent a week there.

Here are a few street shots of Vigo:

We had a really great time in Vigo with everyone.  Sometimes here in Raxo it gets a little lonely just Jonathan and I.  We do spend time with the family here in Raxo, but that's usually only 1 or 2 lunches each week, so the majority of the time it is just two of us.  It was nice to spend so much time with other people, particularly other people under the age of 50.  One of my best friends here is Chelo, a 65 year old woman.  Rosa invited us over to her home a few evenings to have some drinks and play some games (poker, Parcheesi, and Taboo) and have a few drinks.  Taboo, by the way, is awesome for developing my Spanish skills.  They had some other friends over and Jorge had his brothers over.  We had a lot of fun these nights (I came out of "early retirement" to have some fun with the youth, had forgotten how fun they could be).  The first few days we were there the weather was horrible - cold and rainy.  So we spend most of that time having long lunches with family and hanging out indoors.

Here's a picture of Begnoia and I at her house after lunch:

 Our first major outing was into the commercial district to watch the city turn on the holiday lights.  They decorate the entire city with lights for the holidays and have a little show and ceremony when they turn them all on at once.  This year's show was a dance rendition of Snow White where the prince brake danced and all of the dwarves were on stilts.  We then took a nice long walk through the city to enjoy the lights.  Here are some pictures of the lights:

 
The following day we went with Rosa and Jorge to a mirador that overlooked the city to take some shots of the view.

Later that night we went to an ice cream parlor on the beach with Vicente and Tina to have some coffee.  Here's the view:

The next night we went to this cool Tapas bar that is located in an old mill.  Here's a Grandma Lundberg table shot.  We went with Tina, Vicente and Begonia and their two kids Noel and Mario.

We had a bunch of your classic Galicia Tapas: tortilla, empanada, croquettes (I can now by the way, make all 3 of these :) and chorizo.  This wasn't just any chorizo, it was a flaming chorizo!!  Perfect for us tourist folk!  It is a cured chorizo that is placed above  bed of aguardiente (liquor), which is then set on fire.  You then rotate the chorizo to crisp the outside.

Unfortunately, I woke up in the middle of the night with the flu :(  I spent the next day in bed.

On Wednesday, a national holiday we went Begonia, Vicente, the boys, and Tina to Portugal for the day.  We took an amazing road that winded along the beach.  It was like a mix of Maine and PCH in Cali.  It was definitely awesome.  We stopped along the way at an old monastery.  I climbed all over some rocks at the beach with Tina, Vicente and the boys and collected shells.  Mario gathered a whole series of smooth rocks, which he referred to as his eggs.  I got to go home with two of them :)

We then took a ferry into Portugal and got a bite to eat.  Afterwords we went to this strange place.  It was an old fortress but inside was a street market.  Super weird.  The market was a little too crowded for me, but Jonathan and I had a lot of fun taking pictures of the view and the fortress together.

All and all we had a great time in Vigo, though it felt good to go back to Raxo.  There's nothing like being away for a while and then coming back to your home.  It's strange how this happens.  It took a long time for it not to be my parent's house anymore, for my parent's house to feel not like my home.  It was some several months after Jonathan and I had been living together in Buffalo.  And yet I have only lived here for 3 months and already feel that comfort when I return to our little apartment here.  I felt comforted to return to Raxo from Lisbon last month and was surprised at how quickly Raxo had come to feel like my home. 

Happy Holidays from the Lundberg Maurers!

 

Thought it might be my first Christmas without a tree...that is until I found this baby!  A whole foot of tree for only 6 euro!  They had it in a nice shiny white too, but I opted for the green one. 

The Festival of Saint Catalina AKA the Day I Got Drunk and Ate Horse Meat

So yesterday was a holiday, which as in true Spanish tradition, celebrates some saint or virgin.  Every town has a patron saint and once a year a celebration is held to honor the town's saint.  Back in September, Jonathan and I celebrated Raxo's patron saint, Saint Saleta (you can check out some pics on Jonathan's blog).  Yesterday in Portonovo, which is two towns over, there was a celebration for their patron saint, Saint Catalina.  Portonovo, as all towns in Galicia, is a fishing town, though a more notable fishing town that some others because of its larger port.  So during mass yesterday (which we didn't have the pleasure of attending, darn!) they honored Saint Catalina (the saint of the sea) and then began a procession to the port.  They carried the monument of Saint Catalina along with other important monuments (i.e. the Virgin Carmen, who is the saint of fisherman).  They then arrived at the port, where Jonathan and I were waiting for them.  They placed each monument at the front of a boat and continued the procession out to sea!  Jonathan and I rode on Gonzalito's brother in law's boat, along with about 20 other people.  We had Saint Lucia, the saint of vision, on the front of our boat.

We then followed along with about 25 other boats in a procession out of the port and then about 1/2 way to the Isla de Ons (about a 20 minute boat ride).  There were huge crowds standing along the port watching the procession. The procession dropped a large bouquet into the sea for good luck.

Here's Saint Catalina's boat, which came with a bagpipe band!

Jonathan and I really enjoyed our boat ride.  We got to fully indulge in way to many references to these: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avaSdC0QOUM and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTTUKejngiw&feature=related.  Here is a picture of us and Martin, one of Gonzalito's sons.

 Here are some more pictures from the procession. 

We then returned to the port and the monuments finished their procession back to the church with a marching band in tow.

We then all met up with Rosa, Jorge, and Gonzalito's other son Angel and went to a cafe for a drink before returning to Gonzalito's house to eat.  Gonzalito and his wife had 25 people over to eat!  Here's a classic Grandma Lundberg style table shot:

I sat next to Gonzalito's father in law, Luis, who had brought some lovely Riojas.  Much of the wine I have been drinking here, including what we drink in our home here, is house wine - wine made privately here in Galicia by farmers.  Many people make their own wine and a bit extra to sell to neighbors and friends of friends.  I love the idea of drinking this wine, how the grapes are grown, picked, and juiced by one single person.  I also love it's grapey and foxy flavors.  But I do definitely miss a big strong wine; It's impossible to find wine produced outside of Spain here (Bordeaux has become something of a distant memory).  So naturally I asked Luis if I could "try some" of his Rioja and we officially became best friends.  He poured me a glass (not a standard serving of wine mind you, he filled it to the rim of my wine glass).  This continued throughout the entire meal, him pouring me.  Dietitians speak about the psychology of eating, how one has been trained to "finish their plate"...this is exactly what I fell victim to during this dinner.  I had to finish my glass of wine!  Except I just couldn't seem to finish it as he kept pouring me.  When we were seated the table was full of crab and a crab dip, made of bits of crab and crab brain (it was served in the crab shell, very cool).  While we ate the crab Luis proceeded to tell me about how Galicia has the best seafood in the world.  Despite being an old Gallego, who are normally harder for me to understand because of their thick regional accents, I was able to understand Luis (this probably had to do with the fact that he repeated the same things over and over).  So then we were served Callo, which has quickly become one of my favorite things in Galicia.  It is a soup made from chorizo, garbanzo beans, and different beef and pig parts (stomach, bones, fat hunks, etc).  I usually give my stomach hunks to the closest Gallego sitting next to me and just eat the beans and a few small pieces of chorizo.  The soup has this wonderful smokey flavor. We then began eating beef pot roast which was served with potatoes and some mixed veggies.  I was really enjoying my meat and excited that it even came with vegetables, something they don't really put a premium on here.  Somewhere in between my 4th glass of wine and my second helping of beef Gonzalito turns to me from the other end of the table and asked how I was enjoying my "caballo".  I smiled, not quite understanding what Caballo was, assuming it was some sort of recipe, and said "mmm que rico" in a drunken slur.  He then laughed and asked me if I knew what it was and I answered "the beef, right?".  The entire room went into laughter and Jonathan leaned over and explained that caballo is horse meat.  I quickly panicked and covered my mouth in horror.  Then I thought about how delicious it was, figured when in Rome, and finished my plate.  Luis then served me anise liquor and I proceeded to tell Marianeves she makes the best dessert in all the world.  Horse meat is probably not something that I will seek out again but oh baby it sure was delicious.

Thanksgiving

Jonathan and I decided to host a Thanksgiving dinner for the family here.  Today was special for us not only because it was in Spain, but also because it was the first time we have ever served a Thanksgiving together <3.  Everything went swimmingly and was really special, which was important to us as we missed our families a lot today.

On Monday we went to the local grocer store here to inquire about purchasing a whole turkey (the only turkey I have seen here thus far is lunch meat turkey, so I'm sure that our request was no doubt a little out of the ordinary).  We were told that we could pick it up after 1pm on Wednesday.

Wednesday morning we went to pick up our glorious bird.  It was absolutely fresh.  There were still some remnants of feathers around the feet and wings.  It was 6.5 kilos (a little more than 13 pounds).  When we picked it up I was actually surprised at how big the bird was in size.  In the US the birds are bread to have huge breasts.  For a bird to grow large enough to have a good amount of meat it needs to actually grow.  When allowed to do this normally, that is without genetic engineering, the bird actually has to grow.  They threw some paper in the bottom of a plastic shopping bag, put the bird in, and then handed it to us.  We picked up some of our other groceries and were on our way.  Once we got home I got cracking on my apple pie.  I had made one before, so I wasn't very nervous about it.  The only problem I had was that I don't have a pie pan here, so I had to make my pie in a 8" cake pan.  The sides fell in a little, but it was still a pie to be proud of.

I then prepped broccoli au gratin, which I have made several times before.  I also prepped stuffing, something I have never made.  I was really nervous about making stuffing and spent a long time online looking at recipes.  There were so many different variations in how people make them (with or without egg, with or without meat, with fruits, nuts, etc.).  I hoped that the abundance in different recipes signified that it was pretty hard to mess up, but was still kind of anxious about it.  I opted for one that seemed pretty standard.  It used white bread (I like my moms with the mixed white, rye, and pumpernickel.  Although the bread here is always fresh, there isn't much variance.  I get excited when I come across wheat bread), celery, apples, onion, parsley, pepper, and sausage (I found some nice mild chorizo).


We then eye balled the turkey and quickly discovered that we didn't have a pan large enough to fit the whole bird.  We went up to Manolo and Margarita's house to borrow a pan and a thermometer.  We got then pan, but didn't have any luck with the thermometer.  Manolo seemed confused as to why we would need one and indicated that you can just poke at meat and cut into it to know that it's done.  Jonathan explained that if you want it cooked perfectly, you need a thermometer.  Manolo seemed to understand, though just kind of looked at Jon like he had read too much and had become impractical. 

I went to bed feeling confident about the next day.  Everything seemed to be in place.  All I needed to do was heat up some corn, throw my stuffing and broccoli in the oven, and do the mashed potatoes.  Very manageable.  Jonathan was assigned to the turkey.

As we have become accustomed to, we had the meal at 2:30pm.  So we were up by 9am to get the turkey in the oven.  Here's a picture of Jonathan in his PJ's (I call them his "jam-jams") putting the turkey in.  Good thing it fit in our tiny little oven!!

I then sat on the couch, drank coffee, facebooked, and read the news for a few hours until I had to get moving.  Everything basically went as planned today.  All of my dishes heated up perfectly and the timing seemed to go really well (something we had difficulty when we hosted Christmas last year).  The kitchen was even relatively clean up until like 20 minutes before we were supposed to eat.  We feared that we were running a little bit behind schedule so Jonathan suggested that we put some olives and chorizo out for them to pick at (people here always show up right when the food is supposed to be served.  There isn't that like 2 hour window of chatting that goes on like back at home.  You can add this to my list of things I dislike about Spain).  In opening a big glass jar of olives I dropped it and spilled olive juice all over the front of me (ew.  I hate olives).  By the time I finished cleaning up all of the glass and mopping up all of the olive juice it was almost time to eat and we found ourselves to be running perfectly on schedule.  I cleaned myself up a little bit while Jonathan went to make us champagne cocktails (champagne, bitters, and sugar.  yummy).  So we toasted to our very first of what will hopefully be many Thanksgivings served together.

The family showed up and the eating commenced. The turkey was nice and juicy (well done Booey) and all the food turned out perfectly. 

Thanksgiving food Spaniards love:
Stuffing (Margarita had like 4 servings.  Truly a hit)
Broccoli au Gratin
Turkey

Thanksgiving food Spainards are just not that into:
Gravy (everyone tried it but they all seemed to very wary.  Nobody went back for seconds.  Please note that this has nothing to do with my gravy skill.  I make the good stuff from the pan drippings.)
Mashed potatoes (this was a major shocker for me as french fries are served at every meal here).

I then served my pie a la mode with coffee and some macaroons that Jonathan made.  I explained that apple pie is a very traditional American dessert.  I tried to explain the phrase that something is as American as apple pie, but didn't do very well.  Jonathan then attempted to explain it better, using baseball as an example, stating "baseball is as American as apple pie".  Everyone seemed to get it..but then Manolo said "Emily is as beautiful as apple pie".  Jonathan then explained the phrase again, but Manolo just reiterated again how beautiful I was.  haha.  We then partook in some whiskey and aguardiente (equivalent to Italy's Grappa) and video chatted with Jonathan's family in Westchester.  This was really nice, especially since Jonathan's grandmother had not "seen" the family here in 9 years, since Jonathan's grandfather died.

All and all it was a great success.  Jonathan and I are officially compatible Thanksgiving cooks.

Raxo Rainbow

mmmm, Homemade Chorizo

These were made from Chirrichin, Chelo and Gonzalo's pig.  They smoked them in their backyard for 3-4 days. 

Lisboa, Eu Te Amo

Jonathan and I headed out Tuesday morning for our brief, but wonderful stay in Lisbon.  We initially decided to go to Lisbon to see Arcade Fire.  Unfortunately, the concert was canceled due to a NATO conference being held in Lisbon, which was a major disappointment for us.  We already had our bus tickets and hotel reservations so we quickly decided to continue on with our trip! We took an 8 hour bus ride from Pontevedra to Lisbon.  It was long, though nice to be able to see other parts of Portugal.  From what we saw, it appears as though much of Portugal seems very economically depressed.  Though Lisbon is an absolutely enchanting city. 

We arrived around 8pm on Tuesday evening.  We quickly found out hotel, changed and then headed out to dinner.  We went to Bico do Sapato, a Japanese Infusion Restaurant on the water, which is partly owned by John Malkovich (insert "Being John Malkovich" restautant joke here).  The bottom level of the restaurant is more formal, while the top level hosts a sushi bar.  Jonathan loves sushi and wanted to take advantage of being able to eat something other than Gallego style food (going into Pontevedra for Chinese is a major outing for us).  I have tried sushi before, though never sashimi (for those of you who know me well, I'm very particular about the textures of the food I eat - raw fish doesn't seem like a sensation I'd like in my mouth), but I decided to go for it and actually, I liked it!  With our bellies full and happy we hit the hay.

The next day we woke up and headed to a cafe for some coffee and pastries (FYI Spanish coffee > Portuguese coffee).  After that we went to the Lisbon Botanical Gardens. 

We then headed over to Belem, the port area of the city, which also holds all of these monuments to exploration.  Here's a picture of Jonathan being thrilled to be there in front of an homage to Vasco Da Gama.  I can't wait to have 12 year old children who make this same face on family vacations:

We then headed to the Monument of Discoveries, a gift to Portugal from South Africa, thanking Mr. Da Gama for rounding the Cape of Good Hope (hopefully they have buyers remorse - there are probably better things S. Africa could have spent their money on).  Hey!  Here's me at the Cape of Good Hope from summer of 2006! 

But anyways, here's the monument.  We went to the top, which gave us an awesome view of the city.

We also checked out the Mosteiro dos Jeronimos, a monastery. 

Here's Jonathan, being an asshole while I'm trying to take nice pictures.

We then went to the Oceanarium, the most amazing aquarium I have ever been to.  It is designed with one main tank in the center with smaller tanks around the outside.  You travel through the building in circles around the main tank, checking out the smaller tanks.  Awesome.  I took way too many pictures of blurry sharks, but here's the highlight reel:

We then quickly rested our feet, changed, and headed out for dinner.  We went to Cafe de Sao Bento, this steakhouse Jonathan found in the NY Times (we obviously have to take advantage of the abundance of beef eaten in Lisbon - a warm up to our glorious two months of Malbec and meat this coming February when we go to Argentina).  It was absolutely delicious.  We both had the Sao Bento Prime Ribs - epic (Gallego iron deficiency no more :).  We then took a cab (note that this cab driver pretended to be lost and took us for a 10 euro cab ride.  damn him.  We used the subway the whole time we were there.  We were unable to find this club on our maps, so we took a cab.  Just our luck) to a fado club, Sr. Fado.  We sat, listened to live music and had some drinks.  Fado is a Portuguese folk style, characterized by mournful songs about the sea.  Here's a link of a more famous singer, if you're interested: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFgctURyGp4&feature=fvst 

Our second day we headed to Alfama, the older district of Lisbon for breakfast and to, ya know, take in the oldness.

We then hopped on a bus to Evora, which is about 1 1/2 hours outside of Lisbon.

We then went to the Church of Saint Francis, our main reason for going to Evora.  This church contains the Chapel of Bones.  This Chapel was built by Franciscan monks during the counter-reformation to denote the transience of life.  The entrance of the chapel reads "we bones, lying here bare, are awaiting yours".  This chapel is made entirely out of human bones, held together by cement.

We then went back into Lisbon and had an awesome dinner at an Indian restaurant and went for a walk through the city.  There was a concert in protest of the NATO conference the next day going on in the middle of Barrio Alto, the area we stayed in.

We then just barely caught our bus back to Galicia this morning.  I wanted to leave a half hour early, get there nice and early and have some breakfast (I get anxious when traveling.  I get worried when I have to catch flights or buses and always like to be there nice and early so I can wait nice and relaxed).  Jonathan wanted to sleep longer.  We ended up leaving when Jonathan wanted.  There were problems with the subway system so we arrived at the bus station 10 minutes later than we had planned, just as our bus pulled up. Needless to say, not only did I get Jonathan to admit that he was wrong, but from now we get to arrive at airports and bus stations nice and early like I want.  This has always been a source of conflict when we travel together and I'm just glad that this experience has allowed us to clear this problem up :).