Christmas

Christmas was mostly a quiet affair for me this year. Traditionally people celebrate on Christmas Eve here. The Zócalo is filled with passerby. Each church builds a float to honor the birth of Christ. And the steadily march throw the town center, where fireworks and confetti explode in the crowd (no fear of litigation here!). Then people retire at the late hour of 11p to eat their Christmas feast with family and friends. It's not uncommon to stay up the whole night reveling together.

I was invited to a couple homes for Christmas Eve dinner. The Cordero's headed out of town to spend Christmas in Chiapas with friends. So I ventured over to Eugenia and Isaac's house at 11 for dinner. We didn't eat until after midnight. Turkey, salad, a bit of Christmas punch. Seven of us huddled around a small table to chat and enjoy the evening. I got home around 2:30a, which I'm told is early.

The next morning it was breakfast in bed. It's Christmas after all! Most of the town is shut down. Everyone is taking the day to rest from the celebration the night before. I take advantage of the calm to walk a bit. A friend invites me out for a morning smoothy. Later I trek over the Cordero's to feed the dogs, Oso (bear) and Era (a goddess' name). I have a nice chat with dad, thanks to the internet and Skype. And then I settle in to make MY Christmas feast.

First I make some carrot ginger soup. While it warms, I start to construct some dinner crepes. I whip up some crepe batter in the blender, and pool the batter in a shallow pan.


Inside each crepe I spread sautéed broccoli, sprinkled with salt and pepper.



I roll it into a pillow and layer on top a mushroom, brandy sauce. yum!




A friend comes over at 9, and we enjoy a quiet Christmas meal. He obliges by doing all 5,000 of the dirty dishes I created. Sucker!

Tomorrow Sarah and Aaron arrive in the morning from Chicago for a nice long visit. We'll spend a week here in Oaxaca, tooling around. Then we're off after the New Year to Cozumel!!!! I can't wait. More on that later. Happy Holidays, all!