Livingthedreamwithdiana.com

Tomas (toe-MAHS) arrived this morning, about 11am. Ugh!

Of course, we hadn’t been asleep but about 2 hours. Never fails.

HE’S HUGE. But gorgeous. This is what he looked like, squashed in the fridge.

Here he is in profile. We both said that we had never seen a turkey that wasn’t “unnaturally” yellowish white. (Batterball™ turkeys). Tomas is without anything natural, and doesn’t appear to have more than a few grams of fat on him. Plus, just look at that thigh. It’s actual dark meat; you can see it.

We are anxious to get him thawed, cooked, eaten, and stored. Will it happen Thursday, as we hope? Don’t know; don’t care. We have so many plans for this big guy that it really doesn’t matter.

Why living on the edge, you ask?

We are going to leave him on the stove top, covered nicely, for the night, and see how his is in the morning. Right now, it’s 11:37pm, and he is solid as a rock. As it is 56ºF here, I doubt salmonella will set in overnight. I’ll let you know if we get sick.

Plans are to cut off the leg, and thigh portions, and, the wings, leave the breasts, and back intact, brine everything in this wonderful sounding recipe we downloaded, then roast everything, at 350ºF for 13” per pound, according to the weight of each piece.

Figure it this way, if left whole, Tomas would take almost 5 hours to cook to completion. This way, however, when it’s time for the wings to come out, they come out properly cooked, not dry, and hard as rocks. Same with the thighs, the legs, and the breasts. The back/carcass will go into a vacuum sealed bag, the freezer, and then, to a stewing pot, or will be used for bone broth; to be decided at a later date.

Something to note; we have 4 different flavors of mole sauces, (really, do I have to do this? MO-ley), in the freezer, ready to be eaten with any leftover turkey pieces.

After it’s inception, moles were used, almost exclusively, with turkey as the meat source, for a meal of special importance. To make a mole sauce with turkey was not only time consuming, (the sauce), but expensive, (the turkey).

In the more recent past, however, mole has become more available to the masses in a paste form, which is used, more frequently, with chicken, (pollo- POY-jo) for any excuse available. This mass production of mole sauce has taken all of the 35+ ingredients, and the 2-3 day cooking/simmering time necessary to make a real mole sauce, out of the hands of the everyday home cook. If you find a good mole paste, it is hard not to want it more than once, or twice a year.

Mexican white rice, (arroz Mexicana- ah-ROS me-he-CAH-na), black beans, (frijoles negros- free-HO-les NE-grows), guacamole, and corn tortillas are the usual accompaniments to mole, especially when made with pollo.

We have decided that, for us, leaving Tomas on the stove tonight may frighten him, but, after cooking him at 350ºF for a few hours, it ought to kill any bacteria he may be harboring. We’ll let you know

One way, or the other. Hahahaha.

Enjoy your Thanksgiving in whatever way is good for you, and your families. But, please,

Stay happy, healthy, and safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect yourselves.

Post script: Tomas went into the fridge, forceably, about 5:30 this morning. He put up quite the fuss, struggled for about 3 minutes, and then succumbed. Ivan could move the wings; there was about a cm of skin depth felt, but nothing else moved. Looks like Thanksgiving for us will be on Saturday. Stay tuned.

For Thanksgiving; in Mexico.

It doesn’t matter where you are, the 4th Thursday in November happens all over the world. Not everyone makes the excuse to celebrate it however; their loss.

Look at how the US has embraced Cinco de Mayo, for goodness sake. That was a brain storm if ever there was one. We didn’t care what the Mexicans were celebrating, it became a day of celebration for everyone. Yay!!!!

We have a 10kg “natural” turkey arriving today before 5pm. (As it is 5:23am now, that’s only 12 hours away.) THERE ARE ONLY 2 OF US. THAT IS A 22 POUND TURKEY. Somebody, just shoot me.

HE ordered a 10k turkey, NOT doing the conversion, so we will have mole de Pavo for months. OR, those sandwiches that have the turkey, stuffing, cranberries, and gravy inside 2 pieces of bread. Either way, they’re both a win.

What’s not to like? There’s not going to be any room in the fridge, OR freezer after Thursday, for sure.

Don’t know what you’re going to be making, but, for the 2 of us, HE has paired it down to the following: the humongous turkey, (pavo- PAH-vo) brined for our first time; sweet potatoes, (camotes- ca-MO-tehs); green bean casserole, (cacerola de ejotes- ca-ser-OH-la deh ey-HO-tehs); jellied cranberry sauce, Stove Top turkey stuffing, (no translation is available at this time, however, we got both of them delivered just yesterday); there is a possibility of dinner rolls, (HE wants me to make buttermilk biscuits, as if I have nothing else to do. Oh, I’ll help you, he says); but there will definitely be pumpkin pie. Thank you Costco.

I will be making the whipped cream, (crema para batir), with my heavy whipping cream, powdered sugar, (azúcar glas- a-SUE-car glass, and yes, I have to make that too), plus, a bit of vanilla. Can’t wait.

We hope your holiday season is starting out well, and that it continues to do so throughout. We will be trying to gut the living room, making room for our few Christmas decorations, so I’ll let you know how that proceeds.

Sorry the posts have been sparse lately. There is absolutely NOTHING to do here these days. Hopefully, after the new year, I will somehow be inspired to continue on with this blog. If not daily, then, possibly weekly. Surely I can find something to write about weekly.

Until next time, stay happy, healthy, and safe. Wash, cover, and protect yourselves.

Post script: today would have been Mom and Dad’s 70th wedding anniversary. Felicitaciones.

We are doing well. Just lazy.

Sorry about that. We have our days, and nights backwards, and are up all night, sleep all day. It is so incredibly

I couldn’t think of the right word to use so I left it.

We bought a beautiful slab of salmon, and 4 lovely chuck steaks, which have been in the freezer, and now the fridge, that need to be “processed”. Meaning, I need to cut them into our small serving sizes, and vacuum seal them, returning them to the freezer.

Our freezer is full again with two processed chickens, the carcasses, about 2 k. of ground beef, and 5 k. of pork leg. Pork is the most eaten protein here, but chicken is a very close second. Fortunately, we enjoy both of said proteins. Beef is plentiful, but so much tougher here that it is hardly worth trying to soften them up.

Back to the chuck steaks: they had the audacity to bleed all over the bottom shelf of the fridge last night. I had, without thinking, placed both of the styrofoam platters at an angle, still in their plastic wrap, and the plastic bag we put them in at the store.

Ugh!

Now, not only do I need to process them, and seal them up, but I have to clean the fridge, too.

Have I mentioned how much I really dislike cleaning the fridge? Fortunately for me, it’s been awhile, so the whole thing needs cleaning, and rearranging. Lucky for me I have a little spare time to do the very thing.

I’m not sure what time of the night I’m going to do that, but I hope it won’t make too much noise.

The other morning, about 3:40am., I cleaned the kitchen counters, the dishes, the outside of the fridge, the microwave, (what a blessing it is), and then the toilets in the 2 useable bathrooms.

Got to “sleep”, if one can call it that, about 10am. “Slept” until 2pm. That is my usual schedule. Once awake, I try to stay horizontal for at least another hour. Remember, mom called it “resting your eye”.

That’s about it for now. Wanted to make sure you all realize we’re still alive, and living the dream.

Stay happy, healthy, and safe. Wash, cover, and protect yourselves.

Our “forever home” is materializing at a wonderful speed. We are giving serious consideration to renting this apartment, but have not decided. The monetary climate right now, is not conducive to selling it, and receiving the amount of money we want for it. As it was paid for in cash, whatever we get will be a bonus.

Stop reading this. Go vote.

Stay happy, healthy, and safe. Wash, cover, and protect yourselves.

GO VOTE.

As I said the other day, I think, I have finally gotten to see both seasons of The Mandalorian, on Disney+.

This character has become a worldwide phenomenon. Grogu is his name, and he is of the same species as Yoda. Point of fact, many don’t remember his name, so he has become “Baby Yoda” the world over.

I wasn’t able to take a screen shot of him, as I had wished, so I took the photo of him from my iPad to my phone.

Isn’t he just the cutest little thing? Doesn’t he make you smile?

He’s as cute as our Brandon; the best I can recall anyway.

Liz is still not completely better yet, after her grandfather’s funeral. She has been with a stuffy, runny nose, sore throat, and now with blisters on her lip. I’m diagnosing the blisters as Herpes simplex. Not unusual after such an illness; it, too, is a virus. Hoping she is better soon.

We are, hopefully, going to the bank, and then to Costco, and Walmart. We are in desperate need of groceries. Actually, you won’t believe this, but the freezer bottom, is quite desolate. I decided this evening that I am going to bring all of the frozen fruit, and veg down to the bottom of the freezer, and put the meat that we will be buying, on the top shelf. Hopefully, that will allow me to be able to see what we have frozen, and use it more efficiently. Wish me luck.

I am feeling loads better; better than this time last week, for sure. Until next time, stay happy, healthy, and safe. Wash, cover, and protect yourselves.

It’s all I want for Christmas this year.

A functioning jet pack, like the one bing used in the Star Wars TV series,“The Mandalorian”.

It is the neatest invention to date, as teleportation has not been invented yet.

Just think, if we had them we wouldn’t have to find a parking space, and, there’d be less traffic, on the ground at least. Not quite sure what emissions they have, or the atmospheric damage they might cause, but, come on, it’s a jet pack.

We have, just recently, been able to watch the Mandalorian series down here, and I have been taking full advantage of its availability before it’s gone.

That’s one problem we can’t seem to fix here; TV, and movie availability. It takes at least a year, sometimes longer, for a TV series, or movie to be available, and then, only for a limited time. Take the entire Chicago series- Fire, Med, and PD. We are light years behind the US, but at least we can watch them. In fact, I watched the 2020 season of Chicago Fire just a month, or so, ago. Can’t wait to see Chicago PD.

As a follow up, I am feeling a bit better these past 2 days, so have foregone the doctor visit. I know that I am taking somewhat of a risk, but am also very uninterested in taking antibiotics as I believe my body is still able to fight infections on its own. If that no longer is the case, then, I will have to go. Until then, I will ask my body to heal itself.

While that is going on, please, remain happy, healthy, and safe. Wash, cover, and protect yourselves.

You know, I wouldn’t turn down either a speeder bike, or a land cruiser. Just a thought.

I’m going to do it; I’m going to go see a doctor tomorrow for what I believe to be either a bladder, or a kidney infection.

I have put it off for over a week, thinking, incorrectly, that when I get up tomorrow, it will be gone; or at least better.

But, noooooo. That hasn’t happened, so I’m done with it.

I’m tired of being in pain, only worsening in the evening. Not to mention the fact that I’ve been out of my happy pills for almost a week, so all I do is cry.

So, Ivan, Liz, and I will be off to the doctors office at 4pm tomorrow. He’s over at the Plaza Taxqueña, where we can all walk to, and need no appointment. I hope he takes old, retired women, and is not an obstetrician. That would be comical, to say the least.

I doubt it will be anything of import, but I’ll let you know the results.

Until then, stay happy, healthy, and safe. Wash, cover, and protect yourselves.

I have had to buy yet another keyboard for this iPad Pro.

I seem to be hard on them, though I don’t know how that is happening.

I have lost my most recent one, a Brydge keyboard, to the last earthquake; it was closed, but upside down, (no rubber bumps were touching the tray) on my plastic TV tray/desk, so it shimmied off, onto the floor. It was never very operational after that, poor thing.

I have never spent very much money on portable keyboards, until recently that is. I didn’t spend all that much on the current Logitech, but it is the best one I’ve had in quite awhile.

The keys are easy, and quiet, to use. The special function keys, control, option, and command, all function the same as any keyboard, so, now that I am used to using them, it makes me a happier camper.

Not much else to be excited about, really. It’s been raining, frequently, for the past 2 months, so that is getting a bit old. As much as I love rain, it is getting a bit much even for me. Plus, I think I have a bladder infection. Lovely.

Stay happy, healthy, and safe. Wash, cover, and protect yourselves. This virus is not quite finished yet.

My iPhone XR died the other day. It was a horrible death, but died it did.

Thank the Lord for Amazon.com.

Today, I received my new, refurbished, iPhone 11 Pro Max, with 256GB, blah, blah, blah. It works. End of story.

Is it better than the XR?

Absolutely. Is it worth the price?

Absolutely.

The unfortunate thing is that my XR was so damaged, I could only transfer the chip,not the data. It will take me several hours/days to download all of the apps I need to make our lives easier here.

I will not bore you with the details of its demise; suffice it to say it was ugly. This one is slightly bigger, longer, actually, but definitely better. If you are in the mood for an upgrade, consider the 11 Pro Max.

Stay happy, healthy, and safe. Wash, cover, and protect yourselves.

(Rome-peh-ca-BEH-sas)

Puzzles.

Loosely translated, it means ”broken minds”.

EXACTLY.

You know that I really enjoy doing online puzzles. Here is one that took me, with only 441 pieces, over 6 1/2 hours.

The tiny red pieces were so alike in color that it was difficult, until I got many minutes into each day’s worth of piecing. Once the pattern, if one could call it that, kicked in, I was able to get quite a bit accomplished each time.

Of course, I didn’t do it continuously; it took me about 3 evenings to finish. I really don’t think I could have it any faster.

While I put together my puzzles, stay happy, healthy, and safe. Wash, cover, and protect yourselves.