Happy New Year!

We had SUCH a great time New Year's Eve. Not as many people showed up as we were hoping for, but the people who did come were SO much fun! Doing everything BYOB worked out great - there was lots of 'here, try this!' going on. We had a fun mix of expats and Peruvians, dancing and singing, and just general merry making until the sun came up. I really want to say 'Thanks!!' to all the folks who came by, and we are absolutely doing this again next year.

It was full daylight by the time the last guest left and the music was turned off. I hit the pillow around 7am, and we slept until about 2pm. We woke up ravenous, and decided that it was a great day for ceviche. So Johnny and I went out - just the two of us! Hooray! We went out to El Fayke Piurano, which is one of our favorite ceviche restaurants. It was so nice, having our own car to drive, too. We had a plate of ceviche mixta (fish, shrimp, calamari, octopus, mussels) and jalea mixta (same mixture - but jalea is battered and fried) , and a nice tall glass of 'leche de tigre' - tiger's milk. That's the 'juice' from the ceviche - spicy and lemony, supposed to be great for a hangover. Neither one of us had a hangover, but it just seemed like a great combination for the day. I love the leche de tigre with my chifles - fried plantain chips - and cancha. The salt, citrus and spice is such a great taste combination. It really hit the spot!

The plan was then to go home, and chill out and watch a movie - we've got about a dozen DVD's that we haven't watched yet. Well - poor old Johnny never made it past the couch! He walked in, sat down... laid down... and that was it. He was out for the night. He did manage to crawl into bed around 11pm, and snuggled in while I watched reruns of CSI and Law and Order (my favorite late night activities ;))

All in all, I don't think I could have asked for a better New Years.

Image by pellis via Flickr

We ended up with a holiday worthy of 'A Christmas Story'.

Christmas Eve, I'm expected my husband's family to show up, as they have every year for the last 5, with all the food - my mother in law cooks every thing, and I typically make a side dish or two.

Around 6pm, i ask my husband who all is coming - and he casually replies 'Oh, didn't I tell you? Everyone is going over to my aunt's for Xmas eve, because she's sick and can't get out' .

For some reason, it had never been mentioned, although I'd been asking for 3 weeks what the plans were for Xmas eve.

Well, we had company in the house, backpackers from Venezuela and Ecuador, that we had invited to stay for Xmas with us instead of going on to Bolivia on the 23rd as they'd planned, so it would have been bad form for us to slide off to someone else's house. So we rushed off to Wong and got a pre-cooked turkey part, a couple boxes of salads and cookies, and what not.

Unbeknownst to me, the Venezuelan had also gone off shopping, and came home with enough food to feed a small army - lechon, more salads, more what not.

I started cooking scalloped potatoes (I had to have one favorite side dish of my own), and at about 10 pm (about the time I'm inviting people over - sadly, no one showed :() my husband says, 'I'll be back in a few minutes, I'm going to run to my aunt's house and say Merry Xmas to everyone - no more than half an hour. I looked at him and said... 'Do NOT leave me all alone on Xmas eve.'

At 10 minutes to midnight (!!!) I'm calling my husband on the cellphone - 'Where the heck are you?? it's almost time to eat?? He walked in at midnight, calmly mentioning 'I'm not really hungry, I already ate over there'.

I punched him in the arm. :oops:

The guests had gotten tired and gone to bed, but the fireworks woke them up.

Well, the fireworks and our dogs, who went absolutely berserk when the fireworks started up.

So - the food turned out being delicious, and we all ate until we were stuffed, then talked for a while, drank a bunch of wine, and finally fell into bed around 3am.

Hope your Christmas was as exciting as mine!!

What Are You Eating For Christmas?

Image via Wikipedia

Christmas in Peru takes place on Christmas Eve. My mother in law is doing the turkey, and most of the rest of the food. I'm going to make a couple casseroles full of scalloped potatoes - if I'm lucky enough to find cheddar cheese in the market, I'll make that au gratin. I think I might make a pot of green beans too - There never seem to be enough vegetables to make me happy.

Everyone will start coming over around 10 or 11 pm, and we'll listen to music, talk or watch a movie. Cartoon Network is showing all Christmas specials, so maybe I'll get lucky and there will be a Rudolph or Frosty - Or a Charlie Brown Christmas!

At midnight, all around us we'll hear fireworks and firecrackers shooting off. They aren't supposed to be permitted anymore, yet everyone still does it.

Then, we'll all come inside and eat. Turkey, potatoes, salad, zarsa, and of course at the end, paneton and hot chocolate.

After the food, we'll sit around and talk some more - if anyone has gifts to open, this is when we'll do it.

And then, probably no early than 2 or 3 am, everyone will go home. Anyone who doesn't have transportation will spend the night.

Tomorrow, Christmas Day, isn't much different from any other day - a lot of stores and restaurants will be open as usual. Hopefully, I can go to the black market and get some deals on 'filler' toys for the boys. David is getting a camping trip, Franco is getting some Hot Wheels, and they're both getting a telescope to share. But I want to get some smaller, less expensive toys for filler - and for their stockings - things like little green army men, a deck of cards, a checker's set... things I can get for less than 10 soles. Because when you're a kid at Christmas, no matter what anyone else says, quantity DOES count!

So - to all my readers (all 25 of you!) I wish you the most joyous of holiday seasons, what ever holiday you may celebrate. And I'll see you later in the week!