Happy Thanksgiving

Huzzah food, thankful cakes.

Happy Fourth of July!

Took a short vacation from work, grabbed my mother, grandma, my niece Chanti, and Mi Cariño and took the bus up to Massachusetts to visit my brothers. It's the Fourth of July! I usually spend it up there and this was the first time that Mi Cariño was coming along, so I was nervous as hell. To say the least. But it ended up being a most excellent "long weekend."

Most afternoons were spent in one of my brother's backyard, hoping to avoid the mosquitoes. Mi Cariño and I also got to take a trip to Boston with my oldest of friends, Fabi, to enjoy some hanging out time. On the Fourth itself, we drove around to see the town's fireworks and then stole away to find some delicious local ice cream at Jaylee's Ice Cream and Go Kart Store.

Gotta love spending time with the family. Happy Birthday, America!

Happy Easter!

Mi Carino, Mami and I took a bus to D.C., and Lily gave us a place to crash. It was a whirlwind visit, and we had tons of fun, with Mami and I even getting to stop by the White House Lawn's Easter Sunday Party or whatever it's called.

Some pictures!

Bryant Park

After years of asking my friends to go with me to Bryant Park to ice skate, I finally made my way there with Mi Cariño and two of my nieces.

The evening started with a walk around the shops, some really bad hot chocolate, a mad dash for socks at the store, and the excitement from the girls who were skating for the first time.

Unfortunately, it wasn't the completely happy experience I hoped for, since one of my nieces fell - face first. After that she had no desire to skate, and so we made our way out of the rink, and to the closest McDonald's.  Alas, I'm still glad I got to go to Bryant Park - Finally. All's end that ends well though, because we finished the night at home, watching movies and eating Frito con Carne, made by my sister in law.

Avatar: The Last Airbender

So, I'm in Lowell, MA for the weekend, and to continue the posts about movies, we move on to Avatar. Took two of my nephews, 8 and 6 years-old, to go see it this morning. I don't know yet how I feel about it... I really liked the Nickelodeon TV series, and the previews made it look very exciting - but I found myself having my mind wander during the movie. And I don't know why it needed to be in 3D. Let me tell you all, I really don't understand this 3D mania going on. The movie was beautiful visually, but really did not need to be in 3D. The little boy that plays Ang was great; my 8 year-old promptly let me know that the actor is from Houston and went to the same Martial Arts School that he attends. I really related to him, though. What I couldn't understand was why Katara and her brother were played by two white kids. The guy that played Sokka (the brother) in any case, was just beyond horrible. Katara was a bit better. But the dialogue was expository and boring, judging by the 6 year old next to me, and the kids in the row behind me that would start talking in the middle of the flick, which, considering that these movies were based in Cartoons that said kids watch over and over again, is a pretty clear sign that all is not good in movie world. Hmm. that was a very convoluted sentence that I don't feel like fixing.

The sad part would be if the movie does badly in the box office the other two parts will not be made, a la The Golden Compass. Yes, that movie sucked, but what sucked more was people not getting to know more about His Dark Materials because of the awfulness of The Golden Compass. Hopefully the movie will do OK, and the Studio will choose a different director for the next two films - I like the Earth and Fire chapters of Avatar the best!

In any case, my brother picked my nephews and I up. Stay tuned for BBQ's and Fireworks tomorrow, I'm sure.

De los paises

So I mentioned in my last post, my Tio is visiting from the Dominican Republic. My sister took advantage of his plane ticket and sent me masa de empanada de yuca (the dough to make yucca empanadas.) We fried them this morning.

This is unadultered empanada - that is, no added colorants to make it reddish. To make this you take Yucca, peel it (they're really fun to peel), grate it. When you grate yucca, you get this soft, actually kinda wet result.  I don't really remember the following steps to make the dough, though (ha!) and don't feel like faking knowledge by looking it up. But if you search for "empanada de yuca" you'll find plenty of results. Fried Yucca soaks up oil, however, so if your stomach is not the kind that can take oily foods well in the morning, I suggest you eat this for lunch or dinner. In any case, thank you Manita!

A girl worth fighting for

Went to my Abuela's house for Sunday dinner and to visit with my uncle, who's here from the Dominican Republic. We had a nice walk over to Grandma's house, but did not run into a wolf, which actually was kind of disappointing.

Abuela made some Salmon, White Rice, Ensalada Verde (your regular lettuce, tomato, onion, broccoli, please don't give me avocados deal) and black beans with auyama. (That's pumpkin or your basic winter squash for you, anglos.)

Dessert was courtesy of Tio, who brought it from the D. R.

I know it looks a little suspicious, but don't be deceived - this is REALLY better than what it looks like. It's called Jalao, and its Coconut and Honey Candy and it's super easy to make. Literally, it's just dry ground coconut, honey, and a smidgen of oil. I used to make these all the time as a child, and it's great fun to do so because they're gooey and sticky. You boil your ground coconut with the honey, stirring often. After 2 to 3 minutes, you turn the stove off, you let the gooey goodness cool a little, and then you make little balls. The oil is literally just to place it on your plate or cookie sheet so it won't stick too much. You can eat it cold or just room temperature. The only other Dominican Candy that's even easier to make than this one is dulce de leche cortada, (and granted, this might be a Caribbean Candy instead of just a Dominican one.) If you'd like to know, dulce de leche cortada means "Ruined Milk Candy." And you take your Milk that has gone bad/sour, you boil it with sugar, a cinnamon stick and a bit of lemon rind and you've got yourself delicious goodness. I often got in trouble for "souring" the milk on purpose (pour some lemon on it and it's screwed up right quick.)

But back to the present. Jalao? Really good! My nephew and I finished the day by first watching Mulan as the "adults" talked and lounged. That's right. Mulan. I love me some Mulan. I will sing "Be a Man" at the slightest provocation, and "a girl worth fighting for" is not far behind. But even Eddie Murphy couldn't drown out the "adult" talk, so Nephew and I took a breather and went to the park.

Not bad.

Le'ts leave work early

What an afternoon off looks like.