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!