Episode 61: October-December 2012
Highlights of the quarter:
- Deb’s weekend in Houston;
- Halloween;
- Thanksgiving vacation in Spain;
- Girls weekend in Miami;
- International dinner – Portugal;
- Christmas in Oklahoma.
A constant theme throughout the quarter was a busy work schedule for
both of us. Still, we managed to fit in
a few fun adventures amidst the long hours in the office. In early October my friend, Stephanie, made
another trip to the U.S., this time to visit her mom in Houston, so I decided
to join them for a long weekend there.
We had a great time catching up, dancing NIA, shopping, and celebrating
Anna Mary’s birthday. Just prior to
flying home, Stephanie and I visited the Houstonian (a hotel and spa) for a relaxing
massage, which was a great way to finish off the weekend.
On the last day of October is Halloween, a much-anticipated day for
young and old alike in the U.S., with lots of excitement, elaborate costume
planning, and candy. This year, we
joined some friends and their kids for trick-or-treating through their
neighborhood. Although it was quite cold
outside, it was such a joy to see the kids having so much fun – running from
house to house in anticipation of their baskets getting filled with way more
candy than they can possibly eat before next Halloween. When we got back to our friends’ house, the
guys made a Halloween-inspired drink for everyone involving cotton candy and dry
ice called the Dreamsicle – doesn’t sound very good (and I did not think it was),
but I think they did it just to prove they could do it.
Thanksgiving was the next big event of the quarter. For the last five years, our friend, Susan,
has hosted a pre-Thanksgiving dinner, complete with all the trimmings, which we
look forward to every year. As usual,
she put on a huge dinner, with an equally large turkey as the main attraction. The following day, we flew out for a
spontaneous week-long vacation in Spain.
We landed in Madrid and spent our first few days exploring the sights there. We found Madrid to be a truly majestic city. We enjoyed touring the city on foot, visiting
the major sights, including the Royal Palace, Retiro Park, Plaza Mayor, the Prado
museum, and Corral de la Morriera where we saw traditional flamenco dancing.
From Madrid, we took the high speed train to Barcelona, where we spent
the second-half of our vacation exploring the old town, La Barcelonetta, and
Parc du Guell to name a few. We found Barcelona
to have an entirely different feel to Madrid – much less majestic, but in
contrast, a much more creative city. We
were delighted that my sister, Carol, could join us for a few days of the trip
– it was great to see her again and enjoy Barcelona together. Being the foodies that we are, our favorite
part of the trip was the delicious food everywhere we went. The Spanish definitely have got it
right. We discovered a few markets which
were our favorite spots for tapas and soaking in the local vibe. Our favorite restaurants were Pan de Lujo (Madrid)
and Passadis del Pep (Barcelona).
Overall, it was a great vacation, and just the getaway we needed.
On the heels of the Spain trip, I headed to Miami with a few of my
girlfriends for a long weekend away where we were graciously hosted by our
friend, Paula, who recently bought a beautiful apartment in the South Beach
area. We had planned the trip to
coincide with Art Basel, the largest art exhibition in the U.S. We spent the first day touring art
exhibitions and being awed by the extreme prices of some of the art (including
getting up close and personal with an original Picasso, priced at $18 million –
eek!). After working up quite the appetite,
we headed out to Michaels Genuine for a great tapas dinner. The following morning we headed back out to
the art fair, this time to see some more reasonably priced art (though still
out of our price range), and followed that up with dinner and a rather
spontaneous visit to a club/karaoke bar where we danced and sang the night
away. After a few hours of sleep, we
were on the early morning flight back to Michigan and a return to the cold
weather.
December brought on what we hope is a new tradition here in Midland:
international dinner night. This was a
tradition that we had with our group of friends in Switzerland, and we thought it
was time to try it out with our friends in Michigan. The idea behind international dinner night is
to select a country and then have each family cook something from that country
to share at the dinner. Courses are
delegated, and the menu is shared in advance so no duplicate dishes are made. In this case, our spotlight country was
chosen by our friends’ daughters. We
blindfolded the kids, and then put in front of them an iPad, loaded with a map
of the world, and asked the kids to randomly put their finger on the map. The youngest daughter, Alyssa, went first and
landed on Kazakhstan, which we collectively thought was a little too adventurous
for our first dinner night. So, we put
the blindfold on the older daughter, Ana, whose finger landed on Portgual, a
much more reasonable country to try. Luckily
for the ladies, the guys had already started the menu planning amongst themselves,
and on the day of the dinner, it became clear why this was the case. By noon, our backyard had been converted into
a barbecue pit, featuring an outdoor pop-up tent to protect from the rain, a
huge charcoal-heated box (a “Cuban Cajun microwave”) housing a whole baby pig and
large roast portions of lamb and beef, all sorts of seasonings, rubs and
marinades, and a fantastic set up of deck chairs and beers. The men basically spent the entire afternoon
around the fire box, making themselves comfortable and tending to the roasting meat.
The end product was amazing.
Along with the copious amounts of perfectly-cooked meat, we enjoyed some
homemade Portuguese salami; cheeses (store-bought…we have not started making
our own cheese…yet); salads; shepherd’s potatoes; fava beans; orange bread and
other baked deserts; and plenty of Portuguese wine and port. And as planned, the night ended with the men
vacuum sealing the remaining meat so that each family could take home a
portion. We all had a great time, and
while we were together, the kids selected our next spotlight country –
Ethiopia. Should be interesting!
We ended the year by spending the week of Christmas with Neal’s family
in Oklahoma. It was a nice, relaxing
week, with visits to the neighboring towns of Guthrie and Tulsa (neither of
which I had visited before). The
highlight of the week by far was spending quality time with family, and we
especially enjoyed our daily visits to Neal’s grandparents, where we would talk
over a cup of tea or join them in a game of cards. They have so many wonderful memories of their
lives back in India, as well as the life they have now created for themselves
in the U.S. over the last six years, which make for some fascinating stories.
We got back to Michigan just in time to celebrate the New Year with
some friends. It was a great close to a
busy and action-packed 2012, and a wonderful introduction to 2013. We wish you all a Happy New Year!
