The Last Day of the Year

And this will more than likely be the last blog that I'll compose in the year 2008. Maybe some of you who knew me on 360 might remember some of the customs which are observed on this special day. If not, here's how people in Spain celebrate New Year's Eve.

The photo shows cava and grapes. 'Cava' is Spanish champagne, but, of course, because 'champagne' comes from France, what is produced in Spain has to be called cava. That doesn't stop people from calling it 'champan' though. First when the clock in the Puerta del Sol is nearing midnight, everybody gets ready to eat their 12 grapes, which signify good luck. Actually, this hasn't been a custom for a long time, but was begun as a way of selling a bumper crop of grapes one year. For every dong of the clock before we're officially in the new year, you must eat a grape. In theory each dong is one second, but I'm sure it's a bit longer. I might add that it's not easy to find seedless grapes in Spain, so people do whatever they think helps to get the 12 grapes down. Some people take out the pips; some peel the grapes; me, I choose the smallest ones. Then after the grapes, a bottle of cava is opened, or, as in my case, a bottle of delicious cider is opened and we toast to the new year and one another.

The dinner itself is more or less a repeat of the one prepared for Christmas. Most people prefer lots of seafood though I'm allergic to most, and, at my age, have three zits from Christmas Day to prove it. Fish and lamb are also very big and, in recent years, turkey. Just to be different, I'm going to serve chicken.

After, the meal, the grapes and cava, lots of young people go out to parties or cotillions. Another custom is to wear red underwear. Well, I'm going to wear red socks and a new scarf. Then the next morning, it's chocolate and churros time. I'm not going out and won't go out just to have chocolate. Besides, it's a night of fireworks and annoying bangers which my poor dog hates. Christmas holidays are nice for the chance to rest and blog a bit. However, it's not a good time of the year for lots of animals. I always wonder how the animals in the circus that is in the Plaza de Toros fare.

Well, I'm off to start the ball rolling and hopefully have time for a short siesta. Can't fall asleep before the new year. LOL. Have an enjoyable and safe New Year's Eve. Happy 2009!

P.S. The video that I posted yesterday speaks of celebrating the 31st in the Puerta del Sol, celebrating with family and also missing those who are no longer with us. Today is my mother's birthday and, needless to say, I miss her a lot.
 

Super Kid

 

8 Year Old Shredder @ Yahoo! Video

Need I elaborate?

Greetings From Aliens

This is the first time I've ever made contact with E.T.'s. I mean this is the first time I've received a Christmas card from them. Last night I opened my e-mail and found this. Actually, the message was sent twice because they forgot to attach the card to the first one. Mr. Heric (pronounced Eric) is a true Man in Black - always chasing after some alien. The synopsis of the film is 'Two tough guys, brothers, in crisis. But at Christmastime they share the bride'. Heric is the father of one my students and aliens are his favourite topic of conversation and he sure can talk. A couple of years ago, he wrote a TV ad for a car and, of course, there was an alien in it similar to the 'bride' in this 'Men in Black' film.

Hope you enjoy this 'Christmas' card as much as I did. Well, I'm off to do some more preparation for New Year's Eve dinner. Hope everybody has a good send off of the old year and a wonderful start to the new one.

Firefox Woes and All's Quiet on the Western Front

I know just about everybody has complained about having some kind of posting problems here recently. On the 22nd I think it was, pages were loading so slowly that I gave up trying to read or comment on anybody's page. That's the day that the newest version of Firefox, which happens to be 3.0.5, decided it didn't like any of my add-ons and crashed. The only way I could open a page was using FF in safe mode, so what I did in the end was to go back and use a beta version which I haven't done since Mozilla came out. Knocking on wood, so far so good. I lost all my bookmarks (don't know if I can get them back, but that's not a big loss). I was able to re-load some of the add-ons like AdBlock Plus, McAfee Site Advisor and the StumbleUpon toolbar. However, the Multiply toolbar isn't compatible. I've sent a report to Mozilla but who knows when the incompatibilities will be fixed, so if you haven't upgraded your version yet, I'd advise you to wait or maybe you'll be lucky and won't have any problems.

It's very quiet on here. Hope that means that everybody is recovering from Christmas or very busy. For Christmas lunch, which we don't usually have until about 5 PM, we had a de-boned turkey. To tell you the truth, it didn't taste that much like turkey and all the meat looked the same. Oh well, we enjoyed ourselves and the rolls I made turned out nicely. I've also posted the recipe that I used. It's one of the easiest and stickiest bread recipes I've tried.

I had to clean the windows before I decorated them and naturally we've had rain in the forecast for the last two or three days. Today we're supposed to get a snow-rain mixture. Can you believe on Christmas Day it was beautifully sunny in Madrid? Anyway, hope everybody has a good week ahead.

Icebox Rolls

Description:
Despite being extremely sticky to handle (and I added a bit more than the 6 cups which the recipe calls for), these rolls came out lovely and light.

Ingredients:
1 package dry yeast
1 3/4 cup lukewarm water
1/2 cup sugar
2 beaten eggs
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup melted shortening
6 cups sifted flour (see my introductory note)

Directions:
Dissolve yeast in water. Add sugar, eggs, salt and shortening (vegetable oil may be used for shortening). Mix well and add flour. The dough will be sticky. Knead for a few times on a floured board, keeping your hands floured. Put dough in well-greased bowl and cover with waxed paper and a damp cloth. Place in fridge. Let stand at least two hours before using. Shape into rolls and let rise about 1 1/2 hours; bake at 400º F for 15 minutes.

Twas the Week Before Christmas

And I live in a big city, so it was anything but quiet. There's always something going on to make me use one of my grandmother's favourite 'what is this world coming to'. The police evacuated a department store in Paris earlier in the week, and on Wednesday the American Embassy in Madrid received a suspicious package containing some type of powder which turned out to be just flour. One of the most expensive streets for shopping in Madrid was closed or over 4 hours as police, fire brigade and all kinds of emergency services were called out. The persons who had come into contact with the mysterious substance were taken to hospital. As I said, it turned out to be nothing more than flour. However, several other embassies and places have received similar packages. Is this a warning or just a sick joke? The Spanish version of April Fool's Day falls on the 28th of December.

I'm a bit late posting today because I was out most of the afternoon yesterday celebrating Christmas with my former workmates. A few people couldn't make it this year and they were missed. We sang our traditional carols. The food and drink were good and plentiful, but I think more subdued than past years. I imagine the same will be true in lots of places.

As for Post Secret, I didn't copy any of the secrets this time either. There was one secret that reminded me of Donna though. I was visitor 202,316,696 - an even number for once.

Today is our beloved friend Kath's (angelcakes) birthday. She is missed by so many. Tomorrow is the Christmas Lottery in Spain - a day of illusions, which is commonly called the 'Day of Health'. I've already resigned myself to continue giving classes and just hope that I can continue doing so.

The graphic with this post is dedicated to all those under the snow. We had an almost springlike day today - not too cold. Hope everyone who celebrates it has a wonderful Christmas. The mother of my friend from New Jersey is gravely ill in hospital, so please keep her in your prayers.

Advice From DogAge.com

I thought this might help our furry friends have a good holiday too. I've added a comment here and there.

DogAge® Tip of the Week Table-Scrap Scares    

 Sure, you'd like Fifi to share in the joys of the holiday table, but resist the urge to be generous.  Foods and drinks you digest easily, like the following, can cause trouble for your pooch:

Dinner rolls -- Dough expands in the stomach, creating distressing gas.(also distressing for those who are in the same room as the poor animal)

Onions and garlic -- These flavor enhancers contain a compound that could damage a dog's red blood cells, causing anemia.

Rich sauces -- Gravy upsets the stomach and may lead to pancreatitis.

Bones -- Sharp pieces of bone can choke a dog or pierce or block her gastrointestinal tract. (I would never give my dog any type of bone - large or small. Bones kill dogs so if you love your dog don't give him/her bones) 

Alcohol -- Even slightly spiked eggnog can be toxic, so don't leave any drinks unattended.

Molida

'Molida' (molido, the masculine form) is Spanish for 'beat', 'wiped out', 'to pooped to party', 'bushed' or whatever you say in a polite way when you feel like you've been run over by a cement mixer.

 My beating began on Friday evening when I went to help my friend Chris set up her stuff for the annual Christmas Fair of the Madrid Handcrafters, of which I used to be a member but had to give up because I just didn't have the time and still don't. It took us nearly 4 hours to get everything set up, and that was that we had another person helping us a couple of those hours. We didn't get home until about 12.30 AM. I quickly took my dog out, drank a glass of milk for dinner and crashed so tired that it took me ages to fall asleep. Once I finally did, I woke up with horrible leg cramps. Chris said she did too. Then yesterday afternoon I went and stayed until the fair finished and helped her pack up the stock that she hadn't sold (BTW, Chris knits and beautifully). Despite the pouring rain the whole day long, most everybody did fairly well. I got some 'different' Christmas cards for my friends and students. And, of course, the brownies that I made for everybody were a hit. Now I've told Chris I'd make her some more 'buckeyes' for Thursday. Question: Where am I going to find the time?

Another one of those bittersweet Sundays on Post Secret and I had to copy a few. Loretta, and probably others, aren't sure what this site is about. It's been around for at least 4 years that I know of. People send in, preferably homemade, postcards with their secret on them. Diana (dianahopeless) said she has sent in a secret. I've already said that I'd love to slip a secret of my own into one of the books and buy another with the hope that a secret or more fall out when I open the book. It was the first link I put on my page here, and it's a Sunday habit for me to read the secrets just as I usually post something on this day - probably so I can mention that I'm visitor such-and-such. LOL. Today I was number 200,846,967.

Hope everybody has a good week. I'll post my recipe for brownies whenever I have time. I also have a Spanish dessert that I want to post.   

Traditional Sugar Cookies For Christmas

Description:
Here's the recipe that I use for making sugar cookies. The only change I make is that I use butter as shortening is difficult to find in Spain. This is a little package I'm giving a friend for a Christmas basket in the photo.

Ingredients:
3/4 cup shortening (part butter)
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla or 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract (I prefer vanilla)
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt


Directions:
Mix thoroughly shortening, sugar, eggs and flavouring. Blend in flour, baking powder and salt. Cover; chill at least an hour.
Heat oven to 400º F. Roll dough 1/8 inch thick on a lightly floured cloth-covered board. Cut into desired shapes. Place on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake 6 to 8 minutes or until very light brown.

* I roll my dough out on a Tupperware board. I think that's much cleaner than a cloth, but this is the recipe that I've used for years. I also like to use photographs that I've taken of the food too.

P.S. As seen in the photo, I also decorate with coloured sugar.

Another Black Week and Apple Butter

This time because of ETA, the so-named Basque Separatist Group. Every time any members of this infamous band of cowards (not to say anything stronger) are caught there is always some type of retaliation. It was the director of a company's turn to die this time. His company is (was?) involved in the construction of the railways for the high-speed train to the Basque country. Now some more members have been found and arrested, so who will be the next victims?

On a lighter note, this past week we had a long weekend which I spent cleaning (all except the windows), decorating and cooking The weather was lousy - rain the entire three days. Well, it also rained yesterday, but it was back to work as usual. I really didn't mind the rain as I had lots to keep me busy inside. This blog I had planned to write and post on Monday. Wouldn't you know there were problems on Multiply most of Monday until it was too late for me to think of writing anything. I did enjoy the extra day off though, because we haven't had a holiday since September.

I just wanted to share some of the things that I'd made like some apple butter that you see in the above photo. I got the recipe for the jam from my friend Joann. It turned out lovely. The only problem is that I'll have to make more as I'm giving these as gifts. I suppose either later on this evening or tomorrow I'll make some more brownies for a Christmas fair I'm going to on Saturday. I'm going to help my friend set up the tables on Friday after work.

If you think the news is depressing, well so was Post Secret on Sunday. There were numerous messages posted about how if sales of the books don't pick up there will have to be paid ads on the pages. I can think of worse things than ads (at least I think I can). I was visitor 199,275,825.

For once, I'll have to say that I'm not ready for Christmas meaning that I haven't bought all my presents yet. At least I hope to get some Christmas cards for my friends here on Saturday. Have a good rest of the week all and good luck with your preparation for the holidays.