Pondering the world

as if I didn't have enough challenges....

... I've just signed up for blogging all 365 days next year (except for Leap Day, Feb. 29th, which is a day "off."  Gee, thanks.).   I had joined NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month) in November but thought I had to post every day on their website.  I got frustrated when their delayed posting mechanism didn't work.  Instead of setting up several posts to be published at a later date, thereby accomplishing a post every day, it actually deleted the post I had just written.  I tried that several times--but the definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting a different result, isn't it?  So my final post there said enough is enough, go read my blog on my site, not theirs.

But since I've been a very good girl about posting here every day--and Typepad's "publish at a later date" feature does work--I thought I would pick up that gauntlet once again and accept the challenge.  Why not?  What else do I have to do? 

Doesn't all bread come from an oven?

On Christmas Eve we visited our friend Bette at her shop in Old Town, and she gave us a round loaf of oven bread.  One of her Navajo friends had given her three loaves, way more than she could eat in a couple of days.

A couple of days later I was in the kitchen contemplating having some of this oven bread with leftover soup for lunch, and my random thought--you know, the kind you have when you're not really using your brain to think--was "why do they call it oven bread?  Where else is bread going to come from?"

That's a dumb question, at least in this part of the world.  The other type of bread is "fry bread."  Yep, you heard right.  Those are the two basic types of Navajo bread, and it goes way back, hence the simplistic nature of the naming.  Oven bread is a round loaf that uses yeast and rises in an oven, as opposed to fry bread (non-yeast) which is more like a flat flour tortilla that is deep-fried and puffs up.  Besides just being good to eat (isn't anything deep-fried?), they fold it around meat, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes and all those other fixings to make "Navajo tacos."  Yummy.

So when you think about the two basic types of bread that they made a hundred years ago and add the language barrier on top of it, it's not surprising that it's been reduced to its most basic concept.  Fry bread vs. oven bread.  Simple, right? 

Sometimes I make things more difficult than they really are.

Confession: I like to watch Ninja Warrior

Just about the time we drag our weary butts home and grab some dinner, Ninja Warrior comes on. It's a great mindless thing to watch. No plot to follow, just the same obstacle course run by various contenders.

One night it was a little different because there were a number of "contenders" who obviously weren't, like the flabby comedian with a pot belly, among others. Those guys got weeded out pretty fast, some of them at the very first obstacle. Only two of the 100 made it through the first stage and those two didn't make it through the second stage. The commentator was talking about how they had made the course tougher. That has a tendency to eliminate way more people--oops.

I'm not sure why I take interest in random sports. Australian rules football, the Tour de France and Ninja Warriors.

Three Kings Day--another gifting opportunity

I'd heard of Three Kings Day, which is January 6th.  It's an acknowledgment of the three wise men in Bethlehem at the stable on the night Jesus was born, along with shepherds, sheep, and a cast of thousands.  It's now one of those minor Christian religious holidays, quickly being overshadowed by Twelfth Night, also on January 6th and an excuse to keep the party going.

I wouldn't really have paid much attention to it except that this Wal-Mart flyer in the paper caught my eye:  "Dia de Reyes.  Encuentra en Wal-Mart todo lo que necesitas para celebrar el Dia de Reyes."  ("Find everything you need at Wal-Mart to celebrate 3 Kings Day.")  Click on the picture to make it bigger and see if you can read it.  It's in Spanish with English translations.  I especially like the "Disparador giratorio de redes Spider-Man Deluxe."  ("Spider-Man Deluxe Spinning Web Blaster.  Incredible motorized action.  Create awesome webs with web fluid and water.")  I think that has a lot to do with the three kings arriving in Bethlehem, don't you?

And, yes, there's the Rosca de Reyes, or 3 Kings Cake, right there in the ad.  Only $8.97 while they last.

Or how about Surtido de munecas Rebelde?  Rebelde is Barbie's name in Spanish.  Somehow it doesn't quite translate.  Rebelde doesn't sound quite as sophisticated as Barbie.  Sort of like if she had a sexy name in Spanish but in English it meant "Ethel."  Nah.

And what's the deal with Barbie, anyway?  Assuming she was a perky 20-something when she made her debut in 1962, after 45 years she would be a decidedly un-perky 60-something now.  But she remains young and beautiful with impossible proportions and more consumer possessions than all the Wal-Marts put together.  I love that bumper sticker:  "I want to be Barbie--that b**ch has everything!"

Christmas wreath has been lifted

Yesterday morning I discovered that our Christmas wreath that was hanging on the wall by the street has been taken.  It's the lovely one my brother-in-law made for me on my visit back to Delaware.  Not entirely unexpected but frustrating nonetheless.  It's a tough go in Old Town sometimes, which in the past has been a rough-and-tumble place and then cleaned up a lot.   We have tough ordinances on panhandling and soliciting, but that doesn't stop a certain element from wandering through and making off with anything unattended. 

After a moment of having my nose out of joint over yet another item being pilfered, I have to admit that I feel sorry for someone who's so hard up that they have to steal someone else's Christmas wreath.  And after all, it was a live wreath a month old that was shedding hundreds of needles every day and I would have disposed of it in a few more days, saving only the artificial holly berries and the bow.

On the other hand, it could be someone who's just so morally bankrupt that they'll steal anything, whether they need it or not.   In that case, I can be grumpy if I want.

the "citos" of New Mexico

As we were driving up I-25, we passed a car with "Los Suavecitos en Los Lunas" in big white letters on the back window.  If you know about "low riders" in the Southwest, you can picture the car--an old Monte Carlo or Cadillac, snazzy paint job, low to the ground, fake fur on the dash, etc., and generally with a 20-something guy driving it.

I speculated about what Los Suavecitos meant.  I don't know that much Spanish but I know that "cito" on the end of a word makes it a diminutive, "little" something or other.  Little suave guys?  A gang from Los Lunas?  Undoubtedly.  I giggled at why guys would put a diminutive on their gang name.  Little suave guys.  That's right up there with calling yourself a MACHOcito.  Little macho guy.  Doesn't really go together. 

Later, after we came out of Lowe's and saw a young Hispanic guy sitting in the back of the car looking bored, obviously waiting for someone to come out and drive home, I put on my best redneck accent and said, "Yew just wait out cheer in the car, Bubba."

Wait, that would be "Bubbacito."

a quiet Christmas Day

After all the hustle and bustle of Christmas Eve in Old Town, which is a very big deal, Christmas Day by comparison was delightfully quiet.  Our guests enjoyed sparkling apple cider with breakfast, snapped their Christmas crackers and wore their crowns.  Most of them were here to visit family, so they all disappeared after breakfast. 

I took advantage of a clear, sunny and warm morning to clean up the luminaria leftovers on our property and neighbors on either side.  I dumped the sand through a mesh screen to sift out the candle wax, collected the sand in buckets to use again next year, and recycled the paper bags.  Minimizing impact on the environment is good.  The forecast called for possible rain/snow showers, and experience has taught me that trying to pick up wet paper bags full of sand just doesn't work.

Neighbors on both sides are businesses, so we don't have much interaction with them but do try to be good neighbors.  Cleaning up luminarias can be a tedious and thankless chore, so I hope that our neighbors will be delighted not to have to do it and will enjoy a leisurely cup of coffee instead.

Meanwhile, Steve made a big pot of posole (hominy and chili stew traditionally eaten at Christmas), so that was simmering on the stove for most of the day.  We shared it with Steve's parents along with tamales, and finished the meal with pecan pie.

Nothing fancy, just simple food and a quiet day.  Our kind of Christmas

Christmas Eve in Old Town

We just had a terrific evening that turned out great entirely by accident.  It all started with a leftover chicken carcass that I put in the pot this morning to make soup for dinner.  As guests started to arrive and I found that they had not made reservations for dinner--and at that late hour would not be able to get any--I thought, "well, I've got soup, so I'll just offer them some soup and make biscuits."  More guests arrived with no dinner plans, so I started making chili as well.  And because I got involved in making dinner, I was behind in getting the luminarias out, so they offered to help with that.  What a wonderful time--I eventually had six guests helping to build, set out and light the luminarias.  And just about the time they were all lit and it was getting dark, the soup and biscuits were ready.  We had a lovely time enjoying a simple meal together, then everyone went into Old Town to stroll among the luminarias.

Thousands of people come to Old Town on Christmas Eve, and it's a real party atmosphere.  Many of the shops stay open late into the evening, and they put out bizcochitos (traditional New Mexican cookies) and apple cider or hot chocolate.  Tonight there were carolers and singers all around.  And the luminarias were spectacular since it's cold but not windy at all, a clear night with a full moon.

And the best part?  Since many of the shop owners are friends, we get to go behind the scenes to get the "good stuff."  It's party night for their employees and friends as well, so we get invited to sample the barbecue buffet in the back room, or the shrimp platter, or the bottle of something really great under the counter.  Of course, we didn't go empty-handed.  We took some chicken soup to Bette, who was minding the store by herself, and a pitcher of Merry Margaritas.  Be careful--they really pack a punch!

And a very merry Christmas (Eve) was had by all!

Gotta love those 12 Days of Christmas

Writer Vixen's post was about the 12 Days of Christmas article she wrote that was published in the San Francisco Chronicle in 1991.  It's similar to the one I wrote about but probably not the same one since my experience with it was in about 1985.

In the meantime, everything has turned for the better since Christmas gifts have now been ordered over the internet and sent by email.  Just like email birthday cards--on time.  Ta-da!

Handy Andrea at Christmas

One of the things I was looking for on my ill-fated visit to the mall the other day was a good tree topper for the small Christmas tree downstairs.  I was hoping for either a star or a snowflake but couldn't find any that looked nice.  The few I found were too sparkly, too tacky, whatever.  So I came home empty-handed.

Now it's the 22nd and time is getting short.  I'm not about to make yet another foray out into Christmas shopper's hell.  I remembered I had a clear plastic "finial" out in my storage building.  You know, one of those ornaments with a really long pointy tip.  In reality, a finial is the "end" of something.  They usually have a fairly large open end and are meant to just get stuck on top of the Christmas tree.

Mine, however, has a narrow open end with an ornament hanger in it.  So I got to work with tools:  coat hanger, wire cutters, pliers, glue gun, long bolt, florist wire.

Okay, so it's not an angel or a snowflake, but it is now a nice-looking top on the Christmas tree.