Almost the New Year

Our array of goodies for breakfast, yum!

Today was a crazy day.  It was so busy.  But I expected it to be that way since we were having a dinner at my house.  This morning we went to Ulises's dad's house to prepare and cook the meat they got yesterday.  On our way there, I realized that I was missing something I needed for my dessert, so we stopped at Soriana's.  There, we both realized we were starving, but that makes sense since we hadn't eaten anything for dinner the night before and hadn't eaten breakfast, either.

Then we drove to pick up his mom before going to his dad's house.  There was a lot of meat.  I helped peel the garlic, but then mainly sat back and let Ulises and his parents do the rest of the work.  We were there for a couple of hours and then took the meat in their pots back to my house to cook.  The pots have a space in the bottom for putting water, then you put something on top of that (rests in a groove in the pot) to protect the meat from the water.  Basically the steam cooks the meat but it takes several hours.

At my house, I got the rest of the stuff ready.  I cooked a turkey, mashed potatoes, broccoli, stuffing, made my pistachio dessert that I love so very much, salad, and biscuits.  In addition, Ulises's mom made corn tortillas and a salsa.  While the meat was cooking (most of everything else didn't need to be made until the end) I started cleaning, Ulises swept up outside and then decided to wash my car, I swept and cleaned inside.

Outside the shopping center where
the Soriana's is located

By the time all the food was done, we knew no one else was coming.  Ulises's dad was going to come later after he got off work, but it ended up being Ulises, his mom and me at meal time.  After we ate, we went upstairs to watch a movie.  We didn't end up being able to watch anything because Ulises's brother-in-law showed up.  He ate and we talked, and then his dad came, so there was more eating and talking.  It was an exhausting day.  And we have way too much food left over.  Still, I think it was a good way to end the year.

Near where Ulises's dad lives, there are tons of abandoned
houses.  People fled with the violence and the down-turn
of the economy, and those left behind basically gutted
what was there, taking windows and doors, etc.

His mom, Ulises, and his dad getting meat ready

More meat

Boiling the head to get the fur off, yuck!

The meat was packed into this pot with
loral and avocado leaves.  The aluminum
foil helps to keep the steam from escaping.

One of the houses in the neighborhood had an stuffed man
that is called the Old Year.  At the end of the year, this man
is burned to take away all the bad things from the past year.

In my car, ready to go!  The weather was beautiful today,
it felt like spring!

Ulises's mom making tortillas, Ulises washing dishes

Tortillas cooking

Sweeping leaves

Washing my car

While I was cutting the tomatoes for the salad, I noticed
that the knife was super sharp.  I also thought to myself,
this knife is really dangerous, if this tomato moves, I could
cut myself.  A second later, that very thing happened.
As you can see here, it bled through SEVERAL bandaids.
It finally stopped leaking out after the fourth layer was added.

Ulises tending my finger later since it started
bleeding again

Dinner!

Ulises and his mom, don't ask about the funny faces, I don't
know.

Ulises and I

When we went upstairs to watch the movie, Gizmo was a little
put out to see that Ulises's mom had taken what he considers
to be his place on this bean bag chair.  After trying to tell her
to leave, he laid down next to her.

Cake and Pistachio Dessert!

Bro-in-law, Ulises and me, mom and dad