Sorry, I've been putting off this blog because I knew it would take a long time, but here ya go!

Thanksgiving dinner was a huge success and in my opinion, much better than last year! The menu was not only healthier, but tastier too! This year's spread included:

Turkey

Stuffing

Gravy

Spinach-artichoke Dip

Deviled Eggs

Cornbread Casserole

Bacon-wrapped Green Bean Bundles

Brownies

Cinnamon Apple Crisp

and

Pumpkin Pie

As I said in my last post, I spent a lot of time preparing stuff the day before Thanksgiving so I would have enough time to finish everything by dinnertime. Even so and after pushing back the start time of the dinner from 8:30 to 9:30, I found myself running all over the place, non-stop, the entire afternoon to get everything done. Nearly everything I made had to be baked for at least a short amount of time so I had to arrange for a second oven. Juanmi, who lives like 5 minutes away from me, let me use his. Although I was reluctant to leave my precious turkey unsupervised while I made all the side-dishes, I didn't really have another option.



To make sure my turkey was moist, I decided to brine it overnight using this recipe for the brine. At my brother Neal's recommendation, instead of cooking the turkey with the instructions that go with that recipe, I used those for Alton Brown's Perfect Roast Turkey. The only hitch in the plan was that I couldn't find a meat thermometer anywhere, so I had to just guess how long to leave the turkey in the oven by how much it weighed. I probably could've taken it out a little sooner than I did, but between running between my house and Juanmi's and not wanting to serve 12 people undercooked turkey, I ended up leaving it in for probably a little under 3 hours if I remember correctly. And I must say, it turned out pretty darn well!

Keeping in mind that Thanksgiving is an absolute glutton-fest and the fact that I knew I was going to eat way too much, I made an effort to find healthier versions of the traditional recipes so I could gorge myself guilt-free (ok maybe not guilt-free, but less guiltily). I came across this great blog called SkinnyTaste, from which I took several of my recipes, most importantly the desserts.

The author's recipes for Skinny Pumpkin Pie and Cinnamon Apple Crisp were absolutely fabulous. For both pies, I made my own crusts with galletas María, the Spanish cookie that most closely resembles a graham cracker. The Cinnamon Apple Crisp doesn't call for a crust, but I made one anyway because, honestly, who doesn't love graham cracker crusts? My pumpkin pie was actually half pumpkin and half butternut squash since pumpkin is quite a bit harder to find and much smaller here. I found some immediately following Halloween (guess the stores were trying to get rid of them) but didn't see any more after that. The butternut squash, the most massive one I've ever seen (pictured right...it was literally 2 feet long!), was given to me by Juanmi because apparently his mom had no use for it. I found that it was actually quite a bit sweeter than the pumpkin so my pie turned out plenty sweet even though the recipe only calls for 3/4 cup of unpacked brown sugar. With it and the pumpkin, I pre-made and froze my own pumpkin/butternut squash puree a couple weeks in advance and thawed it the night before for easy use on Thanksgiving day. I followed her recipes nearly exactly and was VERY impressed with both how easy they were and the results. I will definitely use these recipes again. 

Her recipe for "Mom's Stuffing, Lightened Up" while still good, was probably my least favorite of all of the ones I used. It was a little lacking in something, though I'm not sure what...maybe it was because I couldn't find the sage leaves the recipe calls for and I didn't replace it with anything else. I think maybe it would've been better with sausage than bacon, but who knows. Next year I'm gonna look for a different recipe.

Since having recently gotten mildly addicted to cooking, I've realized how easy it is to make healthy substitutions without losing flavor. The healthy ingredient that was the saving grace of my Thanksgiving was none other than Greek yogurt. The devilled eggs were my own creation...pretty standard but with Greek yogurt instead of mayo. The cornbread casserole is a recipe from my Mom's collection also lightened up with Greek yogurt instead of sour cream. I even chose to completely omit the mayo from SkinnyTaste's Hot Spinach and Artichoke Dip and add extra Greek yogurt (I also used fresh boiled spinach instead of frozen).

The last dish I made was an aesthetically pleasing take on green beans as I learned from last year's regular old pot-o'-green beans that no matter how delicious the dish may be, the appearance of "strange" foods, especially vegetables, can either really encourage Spaniards to or deter them from (this was what happened to me) trying something new. These Bacon-Wrapped, Glazed Green Bean Bundles were definitely prettier than last year's batch, but honestly, I much prefer the traditional style like my Grandma Mac always made. And the lesson I learned is that while more beans were eaten this year than last year, Spaniards simply do not find them appealing in any way. Oh well, more leftovers for me!

My friend and fellow American Brenna arrived right before dinner bearing gifts of the most delicious and richest brownies I've ever had, and just in time to save my gravy! I was too lazy to try to scrape the fat and juices out of the bottom of the turkey pan so I made it just from the chicken stock that I had made the day before and it ended up tasting more like flour than anything else haha. Brenna came to my rescue and added the turkey juices and I don't know what else, but I'm glad she did because otherwise people would've walked away thinking that gravy was gross when it is in fact, one of the most delicious parts of Thanksgiving dinner.

Besides the turkey which EVERYONE liked, of all the dinner items I think the thing that got the most compliments was the cornbread casserole. Even Brenna was impressed with it as she's from Philly and the standard southern cornbread doesn't make it that far up north onto the plates of our Yankee friends. As far as desserts go, the brownies were the only thing to fully disappear. While even I will admit they they were quite literally the best brownies I've ever had, I was disappointed in how unadventurous people were in trying the pumpkin and apple pies. What can I say, Spaniards are not much for trying dishes when they know they contain strange ingredients. I've learned to make people try my creations BEFORE I tell them what's in them. While I was bummed some people didn't try my pies, I was NOT bummed about how much pie was leftover for me! I sent some home with Brenna (I could really only rationalize sending my leftovers to an American who I knew would truly appreciate the wonder that is Thanksgiving leftovers), and kept the rest for myself! I would even go so far as to say that I enjoyed my Thanksgiving dinner more the second time around!

More blogs coming your way soon since I fell behind this week! We've got a holiday Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday of the following week, so I'll get y'all all caught up on life over here! Have a good Friday!

Alsoooo, I'd like to wish a HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY DAD AND NANA!!! Love y'all and see you in less than 2 weeks :D

Today I'm hosting my SECOND ANNUAL THANKSGIVING DINNER IN SPAIN! It's going to be an international affair with 4 countries represented haha...the USA (obviously), Spain (also obvious), France (my friend Jenny who is a French auxiliar de conversación--same job as me but in French), and Holland (my roommate JuanFra's girlfriend was born in Holland but has lived in Spain her whole life...that counts right?).

This year I found a butcher shop to actually sell me a whole turkey! Welllll at least that's what was supposed to happen. On Tuesday, the butcher told me that I could come on Wednesday afternoon to pick up the turkey that he would have for me. However, yesterday at 6 when I went to pick it up, he informed me that instead of bringing him a small turkey as they usually do, they brought him a huge one...an 18-pounder. So, since he had estimated the day before that it would be about 4 kilos (about 9lbs), he had sold half of the big bird to another woman who had come by looking for turkey that morning. Sooo, I've got half a turkey. Last year I only had turkey breast and this year, half a turkey. Let's see if next year I'll be able to conquer a whole turkey, wherever I may be at that time.


I started preparations for the dinner last night and was up until 3am in hopes that today I won't be as rushed and I'll be able to dedicate more time to making sure the turkey comes out right. It's been soaking in a brine (a salt solution with a bunch of herbs) all night so it should come out really moist. I have already boiled and peeled a dozen eggs for deviled eggs, made the spinach-artichoke dip (only have to bake it), made 2 healthiER homemade pie crusts for the pumpkin pie and cinnamon apple crisp, made homemade creamed corn for the cornbread casserole since you can't buy canned creamed corn here, and started on the gravy by making stock with the turkey neck (that I personally had to cut off), the gizzards (I think I only used the heart and maybe the liver but it was hard to tell as I've never had to clean out or even seen the inside of a turkey before), and fresh chicken bones that my new friend, the butcher, gave me after I explained to him why on earth I needed a full turkey.

The remaining menu items include...

stuffing 

bacon-wrapped, glazed green bean bunches

and possibly 

either 

mashed potatoes or corn on the cob

depending on how much time I have.

Also, my American friend Brenna is bringing homemade brownies! I have only permitted Americans to make/bring food for the purpose of making the event more authentic. 

Should be quite the feast! I'm anxiously awaiting the end of this work day so I can get home and start cooking! I'll post more tomorrow on how it turns out.

Thanksgiving is a hard day to be away from home, family, friends, and America in general, but making a big meal and sharing the celebration with people here makes me feel a little more at home. While nothing can truly substitute for a good ol' American Thanksgiving celebration, I'm excited to share that I'll be home in EXACTLY 3 WEEKS! Until then, I miss y'all and...

HAPPY THANKSGIVING and HAPPY COOKING!

Everybody knows the good ol' Christmas song about "chestnuts roasting on an open fire" but how many people have actually tried roasted chestnuts? I hadn't until this past Friday, but I can now count myself among the lucky few that have.

Friday afternoon we celebrated la fiesta de las castañas, literally "the chestnut party." It really wasn't much of a party, but it was cool to get to see a bit of local culture. All the kids brought their chestnuts to school on Thursday, and Friday morning a bunch of mom's showed up at the school with their little grills and got to roasting. With all the windows open in the classrooms, it smelled like fall all morning and I was excited to finally get to try the legendary roasted chestnuts.

Everybody knows the good ol' Christmas song about "chestnuts roasting on an open fire" but how many people have actually tried roasted chestnuts? I hadn't until this past Friday, but I can now count myself among the lucky few that have.

Friday afternoon we celebrated la fiesta de las castañas, literally "the chestnut party." It really wasn't much of a party, but it was cool to get to see a bit of local culture. All the kids brought their chestnuts to school on Thursday, and Friday morning a bunch of mom's showed up at the school with their little grills and got to roasting. With all the windows open in the classrooms, it smelled like fall all morning and I was excited to finally get to try the legendary roasted chestnuts.

At 11:30 during the break, all the kids and teachers went outside and got their chestnuts. Some of the kids actually ate their chestnuts while I think the majority used theirs as ammo in a chestnut throwing war. Yolanda, Valeria, Jose Luis and I, on the other hand, huddled around the trashcans and peeled and ate our chestnuts as the kids all ran wild around us.

At noonish the kids broke up into 3 groups and we started the second part of the party--the game. I had no idea what the game was all about. I only knew that it involved a trompo (pictured right) which is wooden top that you wrap a string around and then strategically chunk to the ground so that it spins on its little metal tip. I quickly learned that the game was not at all complicated. There was a square drawn on the ground with chalk and a pile of chestnuts in the middle. The object was to throw the top into the pile of chestnuts and get it to bailar (literally "dance" but in this context meaning "spin") so that it knocked as many chestnuts as possible out of the square. Some of the older kids were actually pretty good at it, but the little ones were awful. Most of them couldn't even get the top spin so they were essentially just hurling the top at the pile of chestnuts as hard as they could to knock them out haha. Not gonna lie, I couldn't get it to spin either...it's not nearly as easy as it looks.

After school, I came back home and started looking for info about the game on the internet so I could blog about it. Much to my surprise, I couldn't find anything. I guess this is only a traditional game in Rioja. Getting to see little pieces of local culture like this is one of the coolest things about my job and just about being in a foreign country in general. Also, a perk of working on Fridays is that I get to be a part of all the parties that I didn't get to participate in last year.

This Wednesday at school we had a guy come and give a really cool presentation to the whole school. I'm not exactly sure of who he was, what sort of business he came from, or where he gets the money to do what he does, but it was cool. 

Again, I'm unsure as to exactly how this all went down, but I think this guy donated little flower pots, dirt, and pine tree seeds for every single one of the students and teachers at the school...that's like 170ish! He handed out the stuff, gave a short presentation on how to correctly plant the seeds, and then the kids planted their seeds the following day after the seeds soaked overnight in water.

Following this part of the presentation, we left the school and walked over to the nearby sports complex. On the walk over, the guy stopped us to look at some trees. He then explained to us that his organization had been in Rioja 17 years before in 1994 and that they had planted these trees. He showed us the before picture of him standing next to the trees when they were newly-planted...

And here's the same trees (and the same guy haha) 17 years later...

Pretty cool, huh? But anyway, after that we continued over to the other side of the soccer field and we proceeded to plant a new tree that he donated...this time a granado, or pomegranate tree. One representative from each class as well as the principal, the mayor, the town's one policeman, and some others got to shovel dirt into the hole to help plant the tree. In response to chants of "ALI! ALI! ALI!" from the kids, I too got to participate. CLICK HERE to see more pictures from the tree planting and/or to learn more about this guy's organization (if you can read Spanish). Now let's see if I can get my little personal pine tree to grow...

Being in Spain, I often find myself falling behind on American news...actually make that world news in general. I just don't spend much time in front of the TV or reading the newspaper. So, I don't claim to be anywhere near well-educated on current events. I was sifting through some emails this morning and I came across this article which was sent to me by Hillsdale College, which is probably my Dad's favorite institute of higher education EVER. They publish a monthly newsletter called Imprimis which has apparently been called by one source "the most influential conservative publication you've never heard of." Haha. Anyway, somehow or another I got on their mailing list (thanks Dad! haha) and I get occasional emails with articles they publish or conferences they are going to put  on.

Since I don't really know too much about the whole Occupy Wall Street movement that has swept America, I thought I would give this article a read. I found it quite interesting and difficult to refute. To clarify, I know next to nothing about the other side's argument and by posting this article, I do not intend to express that I could debate the issue. I merely thought that the information in the article was interesting and worth sharing. Give it a read and give yourself something to think about.  

"Occupy Wall Street Crowd Blind to Benefits of Capitalism"

By Gary Wolfram
William Simon Professor of Economics and Public Policy
Hillsdale College

Whenever I watch media coverage of another Occupy Wall Street event I am reminded of an exchange between Jewish protesters in the 1979 Monte Python movie Life of Brian. One of the protesters asks another what the Romans have brought to the area and the conversation goes like this:

Question: All right, but apart from the sanitation, medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, the fresh water system and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?
Answer: Brought peace?
Response: Oh, peace - shut up!

The point is that the Roman institutions brought a good deal to the area that was being overlooked by the protesters. The Wall Street protesters, in their hatred of capitalism, overlook things including the fact that over the last 100 years capitalism has reduced poverty more and increased life expectancy more than in the 100,000 years prior.

Every semester I ask my students: "What would you rather be? King of England in 1263 or you?" Turns out, students would rather be themselves. They enjoy using their iPhone, indoor plumbing, central heating, refrigerators and electric lighting. All of these things are available to the average person in America today and none of them were available to the aristocracy when the West operated under the feudal system.

How is it that for thousands of years mankind made very little progress in increasing the standard of living and yet today half of the goods and services you use in the next week did not exist when I was born? It wasn't that there was some change in the DNA such that we got smarter. The Greeks knew how to make a steam engine 3,000 years ago and never made one. The difference is in how we organize our economic system. The advent of market capitalism in the mid 18th century made all of the difference.

We need not just rely on historical data. Look at cross-section evidence. I try another experiment with my students. I tell them they are about to be born and they can choose whatever country in the world they would like to be born in. The only caveat is they will be the poorest person in that country. Every student picks a country that is primarily organized in a market capitalist system. No one picks a centrally planned state. No one says, "I want to be the poorest person in North Korea, Cuba, or Zimbabwe," countries which are at the bottom of the Heritage Foundation's Index of Economic Freedom.

What does it mean to be poor in our capitalist society that the Occupy Wall Street crowd so hates? Robert Rector of the Heritage Foundation has several studies of those classified as poor by the U.S. Census Bureau. He found that 80 percent of poor persons in the United States in 2010 had air conditioning, nearly three quarters of them had a car or truck, nearly two-thirds had satellite or cable television, half had a personal computer and more than two-thirds had at least two rooms per person.

Contrast this with what it means to be poor in Mumbai, India, a country that is moving rapidly towards market capitalism but was burdened for decades with a socialist system. A recent story in The Economist described Dharavi, a slum in Mumbai, where for many families half of the family members must sleep on their sides in order for the entire family to squeeze into its living space.

The Occupy Wall Street movement has shown a lack of understanding of how the market capitalist system works. They appear to think that the cell phones they use, food they eat, hotels they stay in, cars they drive, gasoline that powers the cars they drive and all the myriad goods and services they consume every day would be there under a different system, perhaps in more abundance.

But there is no evidence this could be or ever has been the case. The reason is that only market capitalism solves the two major problems that face any economy-how to provide an incentive to innovate and how to solve the problem of decentralized information. The reason there is so much innovation in a market system compared to socialism or other forms of central planning is that profit provides the incentive for innovators to take the risk needed to come up with new products.

My mother never once complained that we did not have access to the latest Soviet washing machine. We never desired a new Soviet car. The socialist system relies on what Adam Smith referred to as the benevolent butcher and while there will undoubtedly be benevolent butchers out there, clearly a system that provides monetary rewards for innovators is much more dynamic and successful. The profit that the Occupy Wall Street protesters decry is the reason the world has access to clean water and anti-viral drugs.

The other major problem that must be solved by any economic system is how to deal with the fact that information is so decentralized. There is no way for a central planner to know how many hot dogs 300 million Americans are going to want at every moment in time. A central planner cannot know the relative value of resources in the production of various goods and services. Market capitalism solves that problem through the price system. If there are too few hot dogs, the price of hot dogs will rise and more hot dogs will be produced. If too many hot dogs are produced, the price of hot dogs will fall and fewer will be produced.

Market capitalism is the key to the wealth of the masses. As Ludwig von Mises wrote in his 1920 book, Socialism, only market capitalism can make the poor wealthy. Nobel Laureate Friedrich Hayek in his famous 1945 paper, The Use of Knowledge in Society, showed that only the price system in capitalism can create the spontaneous order that ensures that goods will be allocated in a way that ensures consumers determine the use of resources. The Occupy Wall Street movement would make best use of its time and energy in protesting the encroachment of the centrally planned state that led to the disaster of the Soviet Union, fascist Germany, and dictatorial North Korea.

This article was originally posted at the Media Research Center's Business and Media Institute blog.

Copyright 2011 Hillsdale College. All Rights Reserved.

Hillsdale College
33 East College St. | Hillsdale, MI 49242

The Allan P. Kirby, Jr. Center for Constitutional Studies and Citizenship
227 Massachusetts Avenue, NE | Washington, D.C. 20002

Today's "Refrán del día" is a simple one that Endika taught me last year. I've got this one memorized already but I stumbled across it in looking for a new one and thought I'd share it.

Literal Translation: If you wake up early, God will help you.

English Equivalent: The early bird gets the worm.

It's kind of ironic that Endika taught me this one as he almost NEVER gets up early haha

Since I've started my Spanish class, I've been learning tons of expressions and sayings in Spanish. Learning them, however, is actually a bit challenging as they often don't really make a whole lot of sense literally. As such, I've decided to start a section for my blog called the "REFRÁN DEL DÍA," or the saying of the day. I figure if I start posting them and explaining the translation, I'll remember them better.

Of the ones I've learned so far, some are exactly the same as in English, some have the same meaning but are stated differently, and others are completely different. Hopefully y'all will find this interesting and who knows, maybe you'll even be able to put one to use one day!

On that note, I'll post my first one today! Juanmi taught me this one yesterday...

The literal translation: "I start a circus and the midgets go and grow on me."

What does it mean?: "Man, I've got bad luck."

The logic: I guess here, midgets are/were at one point in time considered to be a spectacle of some sort at the circus. So, if someone says that they start a circus and then their little people grow, I guess no one would want to go see their circus. Thus, they've got bad luck. Interesting logic.

I know just the place to get my iPhone fixed next time it breaks haha...NOT.

I've just been looking back on old pictures from last spring and I stumbled on this picture in an album from when I visited Rodalquilar, one of the beautiful little beaches in Cabo de Gata Natural Park. Absolutely GORGEOUS. Winter hasn't even started and I'm ready for it to be spring again so I can go back!

First off, it has come to my attention that some of you don't like reading my recipe blogs. Well guess what? Too bad. You're gonna have to deal with it. I've currently become addicted to cooking and with Thanksgiving coming up and with me planning a dinner like last year for probably around 15 people, I'm even more obsessed. So if you have a problem with my recipe blogs, just don't read em. On the other hand, I only post the most delectable of the things I make, so I encourage you to try them out if you're patient enough to read my entries bout how to make them.

Now that we've gotten that out of the way, I'd like to share my latest creation, kolokithokeftedes. While I have made them, I am just as clueless as the rest of you about how you actually pronounce that name. Kolokithokeftedes is a Greek word and this dish, also Greek, is what I would consider a "Zucchini, Feta, and Herb Meatless Meatball." Haha. While I wish I could take credit for coming up with this dish, like all of my other recipes, I actually found it HERE on the internet.

I made only minor modifications to the original recipe. I grated one average sized zucchini (the yield was almost exactly 2 cups before squeezing), and then I squeezed out the excess water using regular-old paper towels. There's probably a legitimate kitchen tool out there intended for doing this, but my kitchen here is limited, so I stuck with paper towels. I omitted the ouzo, an anise (licorice) flavored liquor, because 1. I didn't have it and 2. I hate the taste of black licorice. To get an idea of quantity, I used a tad more than a tablespoon of each of the whole wheat flour and the bread crumbs. And lastly, to eliminate the slight unhealthiness of this recipe, I baked them instead of frying them. The benefit of frying them would be that they would be crunchier on the outside, but I found that by using a glass baking dish and flipping them over halfway through, you could manage to get some crunch. I ate mine without dipping sauce, but pairing them with the recipe for Homemade Tzatziki that I wrote about earlier in the year would definitely be a good choice.

Feedback is always welcome! 

This weekend marked the 7th year in a row that the Southwestern University volleyball team has played in the NCAA Division III National tournament. It was also the last weekend of the season and of the collegiate careers of the senior class of 2012. Christina, Lindsay, Jill, Sarai, Taylor, Julie, and Mariad, I'm SO PROUD of y'all. I know the season didn't end on the note you would've liked, but you had an incredible season and an incredible four years. Audra, Reese, LB, Sam, and I (OS4L!! haha) never really had a class directly underneath us so y'all were the ones we were closest with. I don't think we could've found a group with whom we got along better. We had the same retarded sense of humor. You guys seemed to like all the same movies and youtube videos as all of us and I'm pretty sure the whole world knew it considering how much time we spent shouting out quotes from them. Let's be honest, pretty much all the one-liners we had were from movies and youtube videos.

On that note, I would like to make a list of some of my favorite SU volleyball moments. Sorry for anyone who's reading this who was not a part of SU volleyball as this will probably not make any sense or be funny. In fact, you should probably just scroll down to the next section and click on the links to our favorite youtube vids.

In no particular order...

• Our retarded pregame warmup games that made everyone in the stands laugh at us
• Having a friend who spent just as much time wiping sweat off the floor as I did...thanks Christopher!
• "Excuse me, have you seen the concession stand?" /moustaches
• Competitive practices/the point system/"I HATE YOU."
• Team handball
•  "Maybe if you weren't so rude I'd tell you you had something green in your teeth!"
• The Stormy Petrels/getting petrelled/My petrel family/eeeEEEEEE
• ZWIGINGTON/strategically placing our water bottles on the railing above the handicapped sign/chest bumping
• OH HELLOOOOO!
• Being a "beautiful Egyptian woman"
• The Pants Party
• Lucky socks, sports bras, unwashed kneepads,and of course leg hairs
• Fabio
• Show and Throws
• Making "That's what she said" jokes at inappropriate times and then holding back laughter so as not to interrupt the instruction of drills/"It's not about how fast it goes, it's about how deep you can push it" HAHAHAHHA
• Sitting in the back of the van
• Listening to the same stories over and over and OVER again
• Watching Audra become a pro at Coach-on-one's right before our eyes
• The Amazing Race conditioning day...the second time around just wasn't quite as fun as I remembered it being the first time haha
• Middle parts and deep voices
• Boots with the fur
• Eating wayyy too much/commons recruitment lunches/y'all always sneaking me into the commons for dinner
• Nike shorts and white T's
• Rock, paper, scissors
• Failing at cooperative drills and only wanting competitive drills
• Paper plate awards at the end of season
• The quote wall
• My photoshopped picture of LB's face on Carmen Electra's body (in a thong) taped to her locker which she couldn't take off haha
• Being first-hand witnesses to how smelly the soccer girls were
• Olga & Gretta...& Hans
• YEAH BUCS!

...and soooo many more that I didn't write down!

And just in case y'all have forgotten about these gems, I would like to include a list of some of our favorite and most quoted youtube videos. Hope they bring back as many memories for y'all as they do for me bahahaha

• To all my friends on my friends list on my Stickam. Peace out and Rock on *hold pose for 15 seconds* I regret to inform you that this video is no longer available :( "I found you Miss MAGOO! Booty booty booty booty rockin' in a well"...HAHA
• Latarian Milton
  
• The grape lady
  
• Fat kid loves bacon
• Dog Lover
• Kittens inspired by kittens
• Trekkies
• Beyonce clown 
• Ginger kid dancing to "Apple Bottom Jeans"
• It's so cold in the D

I just laughed so hard from watching those that I made myself cry. AAHAHAHAHAHAHAH! Thank you, class of 2012, for making the two years we spent together as a part of SU volleyball so memorable. I hope your last two were just as great as your first two with us! Again, congrats on an amazing 4 years and I miss y'all SO much! LOVE YOU MEAN IT :)  

I have little experience cooking/eating lentils, but it only takes one attempt to realize that it's darn near impossible to make a lentil dish that is visually appealing. As such, I have chosen not to include a picture of what the end result of this recipe looked like, but instead a picture of different types of raw lentils haha. Despite their ugly appearance, lentils are actually quite tasty and nutritious. Here's some stuff you might not know about them...

  

• There is no cholesterol content in lentils.
• At the same time, they are very low in saturated fat.
• The sugar content in lentils is also very low.
• Lentils are rich in dietary soluble fiber.
• Lentils are high in iron, and hence are an important part of a vegetarian diet. About 60% of recommended dietary allowance of iron can be got from 100 grams of lentils.
• Phosphorous is also found in high amounts in lentils.
• The other important nutrient that lentils are rich in, is thiamin. One hundred grams of lentils contain 67% of the recommended dietary allowance of thiamin.
• Very few people are aware that lentils are also high in Vitamin C.
• Along with the above mentioned nutrients, lentils are also high in folic acid.
• Lentils provide Vitamin B to the body as well.
• Lentils are also packed with antioxidants necessary for the body.

I found this recipe for Turkey-Lentil Chili on the AllRecipes website one day when I was feeling especially poor (before payday when I had 1 euro in my bank account and like 10 in my wallet haha) and wanted to whip up a dish for which I already had most of the ingredients lying around. Luckily for me, all I had to buy were the lentils which cost next to nothing.

I have made this chili twice now, and ingredients-wise, I followed the recipe pretty closely with only a few minor changes. Once I used regular turkey breast, shredded and the second time I used ground turkey. Both turned out well, but for a more "chili-like" feel, I'd go with the ground turkey. Instead of turmeric, I used curry powder. Not gonna lie, I have never even heard of turmeric, but Wikipedia told me it's the primary ingredient in most curry powders, so I just decided to use that since I already had it. The only other change that I made was that I didn't peel the tomatoes, 1. because I couldn't figure out how to do it easily and 2. because I'm lazy. Lastly, I halved the recipe because I am one person and obviously don't need to eat for 12 (though I probably could). After halving the recipe I had enough to eat this dish 4 times so I'd really say the original recipe is for 8 instead of 12.

The prep time for this recipe isn't too bad and the relatively short cook time was especially surprising considering that with dried beans and lentils you typically have to soak them overnight before cooking them. This dish uses dried lentils and is ready after a mere 30ish minutes of cooking in the broth. Even though I've made this twice, I have yet to try topping it with yogurt. If anybody tries it, I'd love some feedback! Enjoy!

Since the first and second graders are currently working on the "food" unit in both science and English classes, this past Friday at school, Valeria, Jose Luis, all the 1st & 2nd graders, and I spent the entire day preparing healthy snacks! We'll use the term "healthy" loosely here. The foods on our "healthy menu" were fresh-squeezed lemonade (that one fits the category), homemade pizza (a stretch considering that all the ingredients we used were prepackaged, but I s'pose this one could pass for healthy), a chocolate "milkshake" (milk + Cola Cao + more sugar...getting less healthy still), and cake (get outta here...this one's not even close).

I made recipe posters for the pizza and the cake so that they could learn the ingredients and how to follow a recipe. For the lemonade and the "milkshake," Jose Luis simply explained how to do it. While I am a little skeptical about the message we sent them about healthy and unhealthy foods, they are, after all, just kids and can pretty much get away with eating whatever they want. Plus, judging from what they normally bring to school for snacks, the things we made were a step closer to healthy for most. Overall, the kids had a really good time with the activity. They were pretty rowdy all morning and at times even unruly, but we made it through the day and I like to think they walked away from it with what little you might hope for a 5-, 6-, or 7-year-old to retain with all the excitement and distractions of food, cool cooking gadgets, and most importantly, way too much sugar!

Endika, Rafa (one of the new roomies), and I just had our first joint study session in the living room. 2 straight hours of studying for me and I was surprisingly productive...can't really speak for the others haha. 

I'm still obsessed with my Spanish class. I'm surprised how much I'm learning even in going over stuff that I "already know." The amount of new vocabulary I'm being exposed to and attempting to learn is ridiculous, but even if I learn a fraction of it, I'll have learned a TON of new words. Hoping I can keep this motivation all year...

Since we don't have AC or heat in the piso and it has started getting "cold" here (it never even hit freezing once last year so cold is a relative term), this weekend I bought myself a new down comforter! SO warm and comfy. Definitely my new favorite thing about my room and the best purchase I've made since being here.

 

Chocolate and good advice. What more could you ask for?

In the last week, it has rained more days than it's been sunny. I thought this was Almería? This NEVER happens. 

Fall weather is officially here, complete with rain and cold weather. No more leaving the windows open all day and night and adiós flip-flops. I think I'm gonna have to go shoe shopping today because I've realized my wardrobe severely lacks closed-toed footwear.

...and I'm not talking about the candy bar! Today was my first pay day since getting here nearly 3 months ago...muchhh needed! And they paid me in cash because I told them I have to pay my rent like ASAP and the transfer usually takes a couple days. I thoroughly enjoyed being able to go to the grocery store today and actually stock up on some of the stuff I've been needing for a while but haven't bought because I've been trying to save money. Now to pay back the people I owe... 


Side note, I got back from running not too long ago only to find out that our water has, for some reason or another, been cut off. It better come back on tonight so I don't have to sleep in my bed all dirty. And if not by tonight, it definitely better be back on by the morning because I will not be making an appearance at school looking like I do right now haha

The scarecrow Alberto made to try and scare people once it got dark. Orange trees in the background

A witch (Lulu), the girl from The Exorcist (Ceci), a vampire (Barby), another witch (Patri), and a zombie (me)

Zombie again (me), a skeleton (Alberto), a ghost (Juan), and the Exorcist girl again (Ceci)

Note the low ceilings of the cave house behind us...saw quite a few head bumps that night

You'll notice that Halloween here is still all about scary costumes. If you're going to dress up, you pretty much dress up either as one of the above "scary" things or you paint your face white and red to make yourself look dead and bloody. Spaniards haven't yet arrived at the point that we Americans have where your costume can be anything you want and young people typically make their costumes with as little clothing as possible. I actually kinda prefer the Spanish version...

After last Friday's Halloween Carnival at school, Lulu, Luis, and Alberto came to pick me up from school so that we could clean up/decorate for the Halloween party we were going to have on Saturday at Alberto's cortijo. Not sure if I've explained what a cortijo is before or not, so I'll explain now. The literal translation is "cottage" or "country house," and it's usually one that is situated on a good chunk of land that used for farming. Alberto's family's cortijo is located on a citrus farm. They grow oranges, tangerines/mandarin oranges, lemons, and grapefruits. Also, they've got some chickens and rabbits which they raise for their own personal consumption.

Taking advantage of that fact, Alberto made us a lunch of fried eggs, fresh from the chickens, and homemade french fries. Yummm. While Alberto was snagging the eggs from the chicken coup, I managed to get some cool pictures of the chickens. I also concluded it would BLOW to be a chicken haha.






After lunch, we were just sitting in the living room and it started to absolutely POUR down rain. It hardly ever rains in Almería so it was weird enough that it was raining, but the amount that it was raining was insane. We went out on the porch and just watched it for a little while. I can't remember the last time I saw that much rain...I'm sure all you Texans are in the same boat considering all the wildfires and the miniscule amount of rain we saw this summer.

When the rain finally did stop, we had to put on rain boots to get over to the other little house on the opposite side of the road where we would be having the party. Wanna know the cool thing about that house? It's a cave! Since this area of Spain is "mountainous" (they're pretty small this close to the coast but they're still mountains), people used to carve their homes in caves on the faces of mountains. Probably the coolest thing about these cave houses is that no matter what time of year it is, the temperature stays roughly the same inside the cave, between like 65 and 75 degrees. Check out my next post for more on the Halloween party and to see some pictures from inside the cave!

The storm clouds rolling in over the mountains before lunch

After two long annoying weeks of preparation, we finally had our Halloween party at school this past Friday. I spent the morning doing my Wild Things presentation and then at 12:00, after recess, all the kids put on their costumes and we had a little mini Halloween carnival. The PE teacher, Paco, and I had organized some games for them...ok, truth is he came up with most of them. I only came up with 2. Paco had the 8th graders be in charge of running the games and the classes took turns rotating through each of the stations.

Thanks to my friend Kelli's idea, my station was a hit! I did sort of like a mad-scientist's lab kinda thing. I woke up at 6AM to boil spaghetti, cauliflower, and eggs and then when I got to school, I put them in bowls and covered the table with a layer of black paper. As the different classes came through my station, they had to reach their hands into the various bowls and touch the "intestines," "brains," and "eyeballs." It was hilarious. Some of the kids screamed, most jerked their hands away quickly, and some even refused to participate.

Then, of course, there were the obnoxious kids. The ones who felt compelled to pull noodles and bits and pieces of cauliflower and egg out of the bowls so that they could ruin it for everyone else. The ones who tried to sneak behind the table to see what was in the bowls. The ones who figured it out and then ran to tell the other classes before they got to my station. That's one thing I've learned...no matter whether you're in the US or in Spain, there's little asshole kids all over the world haha.






The other game that surprisingly was actually really awesome was our modified version of bobbing for apples. I proposed doing it for real, but Paco thought it wasn't sanitary. Fun sucker. But anyway, he got plastic bowls and put one apple and a little water in each bowl. I was mad at first because the apples weren't even able to float because the bowls were so small. "How stupid," I thought. However, when I actually watched the kids do it, it was a riot. They had to put their hands behind their backs and the first person to eat the apple without using their hands was the winner. I stood there for a good 5 minutes straight just laughing at how ridiculous these kids looked!

Last week at school they asked me to do cuentacuentos, i.e. storytime with all the different classes with a Halloween story. I looked forever for a Halloween story that I remembered from when I was little and was unimpressed with what I found. The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything, The Teacher from the Black Lagoon, and It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown were among them, but I wasn't particularly enthused about using any of those. The Little Old Lady was too simple for the older kids and the other two would probably have been too complicated for the little ones. With all the other stuff I was already in charge of for Halloween, I really didn't want to have to do 2 different presentations.








The night before I had to give the presentation, I stumbled across the classic Where the Wild Things Are. I LOVED this book when I was little and although I had to change all my plans the night before, I decided I would much rather use that story than any of the others. Plus, since they recently made it into a movie, I could use scenes from the movie for the older kids since the book itself is pretty simple.

The story accompanied by a short Powerpoint presentation with vocabulary worked well for the little kids. Also, when I had finished telling them the story, I showed them the movie trailer and gave them some great MASKS to color. By the way, those took FOREVER to find so thanks to whoever drew them for making this resource free to me...much appreciated!

For the older kids, I read them the story and then showed them a 5-minute long scene from the movie where Max meets the Wild Things for the first time. I then had them act out the scene while reading the script. Although I don't really think they had any idea what they were saying, they had fun with it.

Overall, the presentation was definitely a success. And although I didn't want to see the movie before because I thought it would ruin the book for me, after watching that scene from the movie, I've decided I'm gonna watch the movie. It looks cute! Let's hope it does the book justice.