gobble gobble

Sorry, I know an up close and personal picture of raw poultry isn't particularly pleasing, but look at that bird! It looks like it actually lived a life! We picked up our fresh 18.25-pound turkey from the folks of Skyview Farm the Saturday before Thanksgiving. I beamed with pride every time I opened the fridge, and hoped to God it would taste as good as it looked or else I'd never hear the end of it from the financier of this operation: "When your dad and I moved to Kansas City we could buy a turkey for twenty cents a pound!" At $2.50 a pound, this was a significantly larger investment.

But, phew!, it was worth it. Not only did it look like an actual bird who breathed fresh air, its cavity was clean and the parts left inside were identifiable: why, yes, this does look exactly like a turkey's neck, and here's its liver, and heavens to Betsy, it even had a heart that presumably beat. In the pre-dinner frenzy I wasn't able to get away from my salad making to snap a picture out of the oven, but, it was beautiful. And tasted delicious.

The other turkey-oriented highlight was the Thanksgiving Eve gobbling contest that took place at Kelly's Pub: ten middle-aged women competing fiercely--in all seriousness--for a turkey hat and other poultry paraphernalia. The woman who won had won before, and informed my mom that she listened to turkeys online and then practiced in her car coming home from work.

gone in a flash

[loose park]

good bye, autumn

Yesterday morning started off breezy and 60 degrees. By lunchtime, the temperature had dropped at least fifteen degrees and by quittin' time the churning wind had whipped up winter. Gotta bundle up for that Plaza Light switch flipping. Thanksgiving night: 19. ohh boy!

The blue skies and vitamin D have surely done the mind & body good. Didn't realize how deficient we were on the latter in China; the sun really does crank up your disposition. May be why some of the happiest memories occurred on sunny days: track meet at school, bike ride to Bai Shan village outside Lijiang, Yunnan, the friendliness of the town Zhang Ye and the bumpy bus ride out to Mati Si in Gansu.

[mati si (buddhist mountain & temple), gansu province (western china)]

eid al-adha

Friday night UMKC hosted Saudi Arabia night to celebrate Eid al-Adha, the three-day "festival of sacrifice." The holiday honors Abraham and his faith & willingness to sacrifice his son (Muslims believe it was Ishmael that he brought up the mountain) and also marks the last day of the hajj (the pilgrimage to Mecca). Muslims sacrifice an animal on this day and give the meat to the poor. American Muslims usually send money to relatives abroad to contribute to purchasing the animal since you know, we don't really do animal sacrifices here.

Moh's friend tattooed me with what I'm told is a traditional Saudi design (I had the choice of Indian, tribal, Saudi, ... who knew henna had so many identities?) She also offered to come over for a touch-up in a few days if I want, and to arrange a cooking lesson sometime :D

citrus surprise

A recent trip to Costco brought back an exciting China memory from - was it springtime? That whole life feels like it didn't even happen, so the timeline is a little foggy.

The produce section at the supermarkets was always a surprise because the offerings rotated so frequently based on the season (imagine that! Eating food from where it's harvested, when it's harvested!) and if you liked something, you had to get it while you could and enjoy it while you could. (Strawberries started appearing in small batches of packages for 18RMB (~$3, really steep for fruit) and then as they became more widely available 6.5RMB (just under $1) and then they started showing up less red, less enticing, and then - they vanished.)

Anyway, at some point, small oranges flooded the produce section. They were so dainty, so pretty, so easy to peel, like a clementine, but like nothing I'd ever tasted before. Everyone loaded up on kilos and kilos, and they showed up in the classroom as kids snacked on them between classes. After a few days of devouring at least two at every meal, Megan and I once again asked each other, "What are these things??" and, then, in a flash of enlightenment from above, it came to us...

MANDARIN ORANGES

Omg, we said, MANDARIN!, liiiiike Chinese oranges! Mandarin oranges are from China! Have you ever seen or eaten a mandarin orange not in slimy, fructosey, canned form? Neither had we. Please, please do if you get the chance.

Which you might, because, as I started to mention, Costco was selling bags of them. Not nearly as thrilling as 'discovering' them fresh in their homeland, but almost as delicious, and you too, can stock up on kilos of them.

Mandarins, by the way, were officials in the Chinese empire. Mandarin oranges are possibly named such because the mandarin humans wore orange robes.

Also, by the way, as I have just learned, clementines and tangerines are types of mandarin oranges.

real nifty

Does this guy look like he's celebrating a life milestone or what?

I can only hope to ring in my half-century in such style, with copious friends and neighbors, superspecial surprise visitors, and the whole famndamily together.
"What a treat!"

remembering

On this Veteran's Day,
especially remembering
this stud to the left,
my favorite WWII vet;
and also studs
A. Mark
(Iraq AND currently, Afghanistan),
roommate Ron (Iraq),
Lizzie's future hub
(currently, Afghanistan),
and Colonel Clarke (everywhere).

As the Sheboyganites say: Come home good.


[hb, age 19.]

scary

happy halloween!