Where’s the Turkey?

Tim and I sat down to eat some of the turkey stew he made today while I was at work and that was when Tim realized he forgot to add the turkey. At first I thought he was joking, but then he showed me the bowl full of turkey meat still in the fridge. This stew was supposed to help us get rid of all the turkey left over from Thanksgiving. Except that now we have a huge pot of vegetable stew, and an almost equally large container full of turkey in the fridge. And we don’t have a pot big enough to combine the two. I guess we’ll just have to combine the two in our individual bowls whenever we want some turkey stew.

We really did have a huge turkey this Thanksgiving. That was mainly because I wanted a free-range turkey and while Sprouts had a good deal on them, all the turkeys they had were enormous. But with my brother, sister-in-law and niece coming, we figured we’d get to eat plenty of it. As it turns out, Silvi doesn’t like turkey anyway, and considering how much other food we had for our Thanksgiving meal, the rest of us didn’t eat that much turkey either.

Our Thanksgiving weekend started last Wednesday when I came home early from work to finish straightening out the house while Tim started cooking. By midday on Thanksgiving Day my brother and family had arrived from Texas and we had a lunch of veggies and dip, crackers and cheese, and a couple of other snacks. In the meantime the huge turkey was cooking in the oven for the first few hours, and for the final 2.5 hours it in the grill. So then we had our huge Thanksgiving meal, complete with turkey (steak for Silvi), an amazing chili-chocolate mole that I continue to rave about even a week later, stuffing, potatoes and sweet potatoes, two different salads, and pumpkin pie with vanilla ice cream. And the only thing I put together for this meal were the salads. Everything else was prepared by Tim. I’m so lucky to have a husband that cooks so well! Really, the mole is delicious, and a perfect complement to the turkey. After dinner we all somehow rolled to our respective beds in a turkey-induced stupor.

The following day, Friday, we took our time getting out of the house and ended up having lunch at Old Chicago, which has become a regular spot for us since it opened here in Chandler toward the beginning of this month. The five of us then headed toward downtown Mesa afterward to get a change of scenery and walk down Main Street. We enjoyed all the sculptures on the sidewalks, spent a long time at a wonderful used book store, and then Silvi, Silvina and I spent some time wandering around Fiber Factory. We then came home and, while snacking on leftovers from the day before, watched “Dr. Strangelove” and “The Importance of Being Earnest.” That ended our second day together.

Saturday started out with another slow, relaxing morning, and then we headed downtown for lunch. We went to La Tolteca, where we had some delicious food. And Tim met his match—a burrito so huge even he couldn’t finish it! We were all impressed. As we were leaving La Tolteca, we also got some churros from their bakery section. Yummy! We then headed to the Arizona Science Center to see the exhibits and attend a couple of demos before catching an IMAX 3D showing of “The Polar Express.” We saw the cow eyeball dissection, and Silvi even dared to touch the eye parts afterwards! “The Polar Express” on 3D was quite an experience, and the 3D effect was very powerful. And there were a couple of very small children in the row behind us that provided us with some amusement during the film. I was impressed that during a scene where the characters are watching the northern lights, one of the young children behind us called them by their scientific name, aurora borealis. As we left the Science Center after the movie, we went into Heritage Square, which is all lit up with Christmas decorations and a towering Christmas tree. And finally we headed home so they could pack for the long drive back to Sweetwater.

We all got up very early on Sunday since my brother and family were planning on leaving by 5 am. They left a bit later than planned, but only made it 5 miles out before I called them to let them know that Silvi’s stuffed cat had been accidentally left behind. So they came to get him and then went on their way. They made it to Texas in a surprisingly short amount of time, and luckily this time they were mostly driving during the daytime.

This past weekend was a blast. I’m so glad my brother, Silvina and Silvi could make it. Their visit made for a very special Thanksgiving, since the 5 of us had never had Thanksgiving all together. Lena really enjoyed their visit too, since she got lots of extra attention (and treats!) from Silvi. Silvi even gave her her dinner each evening. I had been worried that Lena’s hair and dander would give my brother more trouble than they did in the end. My plan B was to set up the tent for him in the backyard if it became too unbearable in the house for him. Luckily that was not necessary, and somehow our guest room was de-catified enough to actually be comfortable. Silvi got to sleep on our wonderful couch, and I’m sure Lena cuddled up to her in the middle of the night. Lena will not pass up the opportunity to curl up on a soft blanket! Unfortunately the visit was too short and before we knew it, they were heading back to Texas and Tim and I were back to work. But it was fun while it lasted!

Raku Festival

Today we attended the Raku Festival in downtown Chandler. I’d been to a raku workshop about 9 or 10 years ago and was fascinated by the colors and textures that could be achieved with this firing technique, so I was excited to get to see some more raku pottery today. The event didn’t seem too well attended, which was a shame because the pieces for sale were gorgeous and there were also some interesting raku demonstrations as well as a variety of activities for children. I learned about horsehair raku, which involves placing strands of horsehair on a piece that has just been removed from the kiln. The horsehair burns on contact with the extremely hot piece of pottery, and leaves carbon lines behind. The resulting patterns left on the ceramic are beautiful. I also saw pieces of raku pottery that were more along the lines of what I’d seen before, some with rich metallic colors, and others with a light colored background covered in a network of darker cracks in the glaze.

While all the pieces created by the various potters had their own beauty, I finally settled (with Tim’s help) on a large horsehair raku candleholder, using some of the money my mother gave me for my birthday. It’s something that she would have enjoyed getting for me since we took years of pottery lessons together, and in fact we went to that raku workshop together all those years ago. I can’t wait for her to see it when she comes to visit us this winter!

Cactus Transport

My usually boring evening commute was made more interesting by a truck transporting a large saguaro cactus, complete with nest holes and everything. I’d never seen a saguaro on a truck before, and it was clear that it was being transported to be planted elsewhere because it was positioned very carefully on the back of the truck. It was on an incline, and there were poles intersecting at various angles in order to provide support to the saguaro’s many arms. The base was wrapped in a blue tarp. I tried to read the company name on the truck’s door, but all I managed to see were some stenciled cacti and something about relocation. I’ve seen a lot of saguaros since moving here, but this is the first one I’ve seen traveling down the highway.

28th Birthday

Somehow my 28th birthday came and went—I’ve been so busy with work lately that I hardly had time to think about it and anticipate it. But I did have a very nice birthday with Tim. He had already given me a human osteology book last night after midnight, and had told me that he had something else to give me today. Sure enough, he gave me a lovely bird feeder, which I’m going to fill over the next couple of days and hang outside. He also asked me if the Tooth Fairy had brought me anything. Confused, I told him that unless he’d knocked out one of my teeth overnight I saw no reason why the Tooth Fairy would pay me a visit. So he wandered off and came back holding the Lego Star Wars game—it turns out that he had slipped it under my pillow when he gave me a hug this morning. He was grumbling that the one time that I didn’t arrange my pillows after I got out of bed was the day that he put a surprise under there.

I had also received a package from Silvi, Silvina and my brother, which contained several nice gifts, including a dream catcher that Silvi made herself. She had also made a card in which she wrote me a birthday poem! And later in the day I received a package from Tim’s brother and his family with a book and movie that I wanted. My mother had left a card for me several months ago when she left Phoenix and Tim’s mom sent a card as well. I have received birthday wishes in email form throughout the day and also yesterday—I feel so loved!

I convinced Tim to go to the movies and watch Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. I was expecting it to be funny, but it was far funnier than I had imagined. By the end I hurt from laughing so much and so hard. The whole movie is so incredibly politically incorrect that it is refreshing, and Borat’s blunders are all the more hilarious because he never has a clue that what he’s doing is not culturally acceptable. And I agree with the reviewer from the Globe about which is the funniest scene in the movie. It simply cannot (and probably should not) be described.

Afterwards we wandered over toward Ahwatukee for dinner. We had made a reservation at The Melting Pot, which is a fondue restaurant. I had heard from someone at work that it’s a great dining experience, and Tim had heard the same from a friend. We were not disappointed—in fact, we had an excellent dinner. The food was great and our server was friendly and provided us with very good service. We went for the full 4 course meal, starting out with a cheese fondue. We choose the traditional one with Gruyere and Emmentaler cheese, though there were several interesting options. My favorite things to dip into the cheese were the pieces of green apple. They then brought us salads (as if we weren’t going to have enough food throughout the meal!) and after that came the main course, which involved a variety of meats as well as some vegetables and a few ravioli that we cooked in what they call a Mojo style bouillon. Finally came the dessert fondue, which was a delicious mix of dark and white chocolate swirled in the shape of a yin yang. Between all the food and a nice bottle of wine, by the end we were full. We really enjoyed the whole experience and will be back at some point because we just don’t see ourselves preparing a fondue meal at home.

And now we’re back home. We’ve been playing Lego Star Wars, though unfortunately we can’t find our second controller, so we’ve been taking turns playing. The people who came up with that game definitely had a sense of humor!

Today isn’t just my birthday—it’s also Joe Czarnik’s birthday. He was my math teacher in high school and I’m glad I had him during the last 3 years that he taught before retiring. I didn’t just learn algebra, geometry and function analysis from him. He really taught us how to think and reason through problems so that we really understood what we were doing. He wanted to make sure that if we ever forgot a formula we could derive it on our own. We also learned lessons unrelated to math, but which a lot of us still remember. Many of us who had him over the decades he taught at our school still correspond with him and ask him for advice. At 84, he’s incredibly active and very sharp, and has the same sense of humor as always. He’s been retired now for a bit over 11 years, but that has simply given him more free time to do all the things he’s interested in doing, including playing tennis weekly (with younger opponents of course!) Mr. Czarnik—“Grandpa Joe” as he’s affectionately known—is a wonderful person and I’m lucky to have been his student. I got to visit him while I was in Buenos Aires in March—while my time in Buenos Aires was hectic with all the visits I needed to make, this was one that I didn’t want to miss out on. Happy birthday, Mr. Czarnik! (Or should I say King Tut? He has always joked that he is Tutankhamen’s reincarnation.)

Off to bed I go. I’ve had a wonderful birthday, but tomorrow is a new day and I must get up early for work!