flowers

this one is for you, Grandma,

the flowers outside our apartment... have grown well above my head!

a christmas party.

apparently i am getting caught up on posting today! i think this is the last... but i can't be sure.
i'm pretty sure that no matter where I go or where I teach, I end up with the best students. I have friends that I taught in SALI that I still go out for coffee with, students from the kindergarten that all out my name in the street (or the parent), and now I have students that own businesses that have Christmas parties with champagne, hot chocolate, and homemade paneton (think fruitcake... but then think sweat bread... and put a little less of the fruit cake combined with the sweet bread together and maybe you can imagine paneton... I'm actually, as of this year, a fan. and I don't even pick out the gummy fruits anymore.) all of those things plus christmas motivation and sharing gifts.. at 8 am! Actually, they started at 7... but they told me I could come at 8... tee hee... they know me pretty well. I had a great time, nothing like champagne at 8 am! It was fun, although a little embarrassing when they were going around giving their words someone (one of my students wife!) gave some for me too, what a surprise. she was so sweet and classy, and she did it all in English... it made me wonder if i could sound that good giving words like that in front of people, even in English. They all exchanged gifts in their secret friend game, and they even included me! I was so surprised... they are definitely ranking up there on the student meter... and not because they give me stuff. It was fun for me tha they invited me to their christmas party. so much fun. And one of my other students even made the paneton. She makes batches and batches of it every Christmas. She spends all day and then some of the night making ....40 a day! It was delicious.

(my gift.. a mug complete with step by step instructions for two coffee drinks.. quite handy)

christmas music

i've been meaning to share about some Christmas music that's been playing in our apartment... i mean other than the have yourself a merry little christmas or the all i want for christmas is you... or... last christmas... which i actually prefer to listen to in a mall. and i don't go to the mall often.


i'm talking about the music i've actually downloaded or seriously boost their number of views on itunes because i click replay so many times. 


i'm talking about....

You have come to save us.. y sons and daughters.. you can find that on noisetrade here.

I'm also talking about Omaha Collective...

which you can also find at noisetrade here. 

And I am also talking about the Walla Recovery's Christmas album which they just posted for free that you can get through their website (via noisetrade) here.

And that my friends, would be what I have been listening too, I hope you enjoy!

the blog with a ridiculous amount of kitten photos...

she's growing... she can barely keep her balance while sitting in one of my hands.. not that i usually try to juggle a pet in one hand..

she's also gotten used to her new home.. i can tell because she sleeps less and walks around like she owns things more. she also runs. fast. from one end of the apartment to the other. usually until she hits a wall, or any chairs or doors in between, since she hasn't figured out how to stop yet. she figured out how to cry but is still working on that whole meow thing... except for when she really wants the food i'm cooking.. then we fight a little until she finally settles for her kitty food. that has been soaked in water and warmed up in the microwave i might just add. she figured out that we come and go by  the door.. so if she hears anyone coming up the stairs she waits about a foot from the door, waiting to hop outside. she loves to sit in the sunshine, and she loves the ball of yarn i wrapped for her..almost as much as she loves jumping onto julton's lap.. but falling short.. and scratching him in the attempts at jumping. 

i kind of feel like i just wrote a personal ad for my kitten. so.. lets add some pictures for good measure. she really likes getting her picture taken, i swear its like she poses for the camera. and the flash fascinates her.  

in all seriousness... she loves getting her picture taken. can't you tell?

food food food

it's funny the things that you start to miss when they aren't so readily available for you... since i have been living in Peru I have had that thought strike me.. lets just say a few times. and for me its usually those things that i never even really liked - or thought i liked - or gave much care to it's existence for that matter, until one day i realized i wasn't surrounded by it... and suddenly i wanted it. the other stuff  (that i did care existed) i think i knew i wasn't going to be able to have once I moved here.. and I prepared myself for it. i remember how much my mom would laugh at me when i went home for Christmas the past couple years, because well.. I love grocery stores. And we could have (probably did) spent an hour getting things that should have only taken 10 minutes. Because what else can you do when you go into a Kroger's (a well stocked Kroger's) but stand in each isle for at least 10 minutes just gawking at... everything. look at that! hey did you know they made this?! hey look at what's ready made in this box... just.. add.. water. by the end of it all i caught myself saying hey i could make that, for a lot cheaper too.. and without all those words you can't pronounce in the ingredients. that's what i've learned about things that i have missed about being readily available, i've made them myself.. and had more fun doing it. 
i'm currently trying to figure out why i started to miss eggnog. eggnog.. i don't know if i ever even drank it but one year in college when a friend made me try it. but this year... when its not sitting on each grocery shelf i pass.. quite out of nowhere i developed a craving for it. and i'm currently looking for a recipe so i can make it myself. although i'm a little nervous about it since you use eggs... any suggestions are very welcome!


speaking of food.... we've been i think i saved up a lot of cooking energy all that time that Julton's grandma was here, and cooking lunch everyday... and I've started sending Julton's lunch with him to work... since I found out that he was ordering his lunch from the restaurant all the others there order from.. but he didn't like it/wasn't eating it. new plan: get up early (for me) to make it... but its actually working out well, i don't like mornings but i like to cook so the cooking is slowly turning my mornings around :)

 i found a website that i really like for peruvian dishes... yanuq they have everything! although its in spanish so if you want to make something let me know and i will help! i used it for this lomo saltado recipe. but.. it doesnt usually come with broccoli, and i would never put broccoli in jultons lomo saltado, that was my dish, the broccoli in his plate would just return in the same box i sent it in anyway... its basically stirfried onions/pepper/meat/tomato on rice with fries. yum. oh, and i dont want to forget to mention pineapple water, which is what is pictured there also. jultons grandma taught me to make it... well... she didn't go into detail.. we had several conversations over the measurements (i'm beginning to think all grandmas are that way...!) and i nervously tried it out. you boil the pineapple... skin? then strain it and add sugar. 

 shrimp and grits! another thing i strangely had a craving for... although i never ate it much in the states. i used this recipe. but actually i added mushrooms.. i'm not sure if that's against the rules in making shrimp and grits, but if it is, i probably wont do it again anyway because i think it changed the flavor too much. but.. julton was a fan! he was a little weary about the grits though. he had to have everything separated... which i'm pretty sure means he just set himself up not to like them to begin with. after we ate he said.. you know.. i loved, loved the food.. but you know what would maybe make it better? fried potatoes!!! i couldnt help but laugh... of course adding another starch to a starch would make the starch taste better!  (ps i definitely saw that one coming... as i was cooking it i was already considering if i should make some rice or potatoes too...) and you can see in that picture... we got our oven! i am beyond exited about it... since we've been married we've been cooking with the top of a stove, never an oven. the first stove we had it didnt work, then when we moved jultons family gave us the stovetop... actually a lot of families here only have the top portion. i'm not even going to tell you how long the list is of things i have been wanting to make since we decided to get one. i have been... waiting! the only tricky thing about is that the oven dial doesn't have degrees.. in F or C it just says high and low. so i've got some figuring out to do on that part.. but.. we have an oven!!!!

and... surprisingly.... one of the first things i made with that oven was... meatloaf. i can't even remember the last time i ate meatloaf.. its had to have been years. and then a few more years. but when i was trying to think of something from home that julton would like... this was at the top of my list. and it was a winner.

christmas trees (tree)

i figured out how to use Picasa!! and to demonstrate... our christmas tree journey... from lights to ornaments to popcorn to homemade/us. :) i hope you enjoy!

k is for...

she still doesnt have a name... although i think maybe she thinks her name is kitty kitty or mishi mishi or a mix of both... or maybe she thinks her name is my name since thats all she hears from Julton every time she gets close enough to try to jump into his lap... or like today scale his legs to reach him... to which he responded quite urgently julie!!! julie!!! the cat!!! julie!!! ahhh its climbing me!!! i had to teach him that he could touch her to pick her up and shoo her away himself. hmmm

she so wants him to give her some attention.