So here in Spain the traditions are a bit different. The big day for celebrating Christmas is the night of the 24th instead of the day of the 25th. This night is called Nochebuena, which literally means "the good night." For Nochebuena, everyone gets together with their family and has a big dinner. After dinner, the people who are religious usually go to a midnight mass, which I would imagine is much like the candle-lighting services in the US. After that, from what my friends tell me, it's common to head out for a night on the town.
Since all my roommates are from other towns, they were all obviously with their families and I was alone in the piso. Lourdes and Jose offered for me to go to Málaga with them to spend Christmas with their family there, but I hadn't really gotten a chance to relax since school had just ended on the 23rd. Plus, I wanted to stay here in Almería because I had made plans to have an AMERICAN Christmas lunch with Kelli and David on the 25th.
So instead of heading to Málaga, I stayed in the piso, cooked myself dinner, watched TV, and Skyped with people back home. My old roommate Reese was officially the first to wish me Merry Christmas at midnight my time! I talked to my brother Ben, his girlfriend, Lavinia, and my mom for a bit as well. My mom had sent me a package for Christmas, so I opened it while I was on Skype with her. She sent me a badass new digital camera, pictured below...
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| Sweet new camera with front view LCD screen! Thanks Mom! |
Equally exciting for me, were the other various goodies that she included in my package! I got taco seasoning, guacamole seasoning, gravy mix, chili seasoning, packets of Tang, a gingerbread man, and melt-in-your-mouth peppermint sticks! I seriously liked all that just as much as the camera! If anybody wants to make me a very happy camper, just send me anything food related or anything that I can use to cook that I can't find over here! I'm still in need of Kung Pao seasoning packets...hint hint to anyone who wants to be my favorite person for a few days :)
On the subject of cooking, on Christmas day, I decided to cook a little something to bring to Kelli and David's for lunch. I'm not sure how I stumbled upon the recipe I eventually chose, but I ended up going with Tex-Mex...Turkey Enchiladas with Cream Sauce! Since they're from California, I figured they too would appreciate Mexican food.
As usual, I had to modify the recipe some since sour cream doesn't exist over here, but they ended up turning out really well.
First, I cooked and shredded the turkey I was going to use to stuff the enchiladas. Nothing fancy, just seasoned the thinly sliced breast fillets with a little salt and pepper and threw them on the little griddle-dealy that was we have
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| Shredded turkey |
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| The beginnings of my Christmas Enchiladas! Note the apparent X-mas spirit: red & green peppers |
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| The filling/sauce...yummmmmy |
After that was all done, I let it cool for a bit, shredded some cheddar cheese, and then mixed about half of the sauce with the shredded turkey and cheddar. After that, I heated the tortillas on the griddle, stuffed them with filling, placed them in the pan, topped them with the remaining sauce (there wasn't really enough to cover them--next time I'll know to make a little more!), and popped 'em in the oven. Since our oven blows, I had to put them back in the oven once I got to Kelli and David's to let them finish. When they were almost done, I added the rest of the cheese on top and let it melt before taking them out of the oven. Not to toot my own horn or anything, but they were delicious! And very easy to make! I'm definitely going to reuse this recipe.
Since there were only 3 of us instead of 4 (they were expecting David's teammate from Venezuela, Jesús, to come but he ended up bailing) at Kelli and David's we had a TON of food. Kelli made a pear and cranberry salad with romaine lettuce and a homemade sweet onion salad dressing, mashed potatoes, and some really good stuffed pork chop. Our feast is pictured below :)
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| The spread: stuffed pork chop, my enchiladas, pear & cranberry salad with homemade dressing, & mashed potatoes (not pictured: apple spice cake) |
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| Kelli and David with our X-mas lunch! Delish! |
SETTLERS OF CATAN!
I had never played Settlers before, so they had to explain all the rules to me, but it was really fun! I'm not gonna waste anyone's time explaining how to play because it's somewhat complicated, but if you've never played it, you should check it out.
Next, we played one of Kelli and David's new Christmas presents. Kelli's mom sent them a new game for their Wii...Michael Jackson: The Experience! Basically, you hold the remote and you have to dance around like the figures on the screen. You can be either MJ himself or you can be a backup dancer. In Kelli's words, which perfectly describe the game, "if you can get past how embarrassing it is, it's actually pretty fun."
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| Michael Jackson: The Experience Complete with commemorative glove haha |
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| Playing "Michael Jackson: The Experience"...hilarious |
And yes, when they were done they did make me play. And of course, I was horrible at it hahaha. Kelli and I were backup dancers for Thriller. Let's just say her score may or may not have been 3 or 4 times as much as mine haha.
After that, Kelli drove me home and I just hung out at the apartment for a while and I decided to make a dessert that I hadn't had enough time to make before lunch...my famous OREO TRUFFLES! Dipping chocolate was too expensive, so i decided just to go with colored sprinkles instead! Yummmm
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| "Delectably delicious" |
While I was making them, Tomás showed up! I was so surprised because he had told me he was coming back on the 26th at the earliest. However, he showed up that evening with 2 of his friends from Carboneras and they all had plans to go out that night. Since I hadn't gone out on Nochebuena, I decided to join them. We had dinner in the piso and then went over to one of their friend's houses for botellón. And after that, it was pretty much a normal night.
While I did obviously miss Christmas at home, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I was able to Skype with my fam (even though the connection was terrible, it sufficed) and chat with friends via text messages so that was good.
I hope y'all all had wonderful Christmases with your family and friends! However, I've been blogging for too long and now it's time to go do something else. I will post again very very soon with the latest story of what has happened in the piso. It's hilarious and absolutely RIDICULOUS. Until next time!
And by the way, keep your eyes on your mailboxes for a little something from me :)
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