Christmas Traditions, Traditions from your part of the world

Hi again,

We're just a few hours away now. Tonight I will start smoking the pernil (a pig leg). It has been soaking for the last day in a mixture of salt and sugar in the refrigerator, and late tonight when I finally make it to the house it will go on the old barbecuer with a low fire down below and some wood that has been soaking to make lots of smoke. This will go all night tonight and all day tomorrow until about 6 pm, when the fire will be built up and it will then be roasted. (Looking forward to how the old neighboorhood smells in the morning with that piece of meat cooking all night behind the house.)

The ham will be fixed tomorrow as well as arroz con pollo (or arroz con guandu, can't remember which we decided on, but then that is women's work anyway). Then later the tamales will be warmed up and the potato salad brought out, bollos heated up and sliced, and all of the other little tidbits.

We're saving the turkey for Christmas day.

yum.

Leo

Herrerano,

I figured rice with chicken (I hope) but I do not know guandu?

Guandu is a sort of bean thing that grows on a little tree. You can see a picture of one of the plants by clicking here http://www.chagres.com/Photos-88.html.

A picture of arroz con guandu here, notice the chicharones (fried pork skin). I don't know who took this picture, but that's definitely the stuff. http://gallery.future-i.com/panfeb02/pic:arroz/

And finally, since I went off on a websearch trying to figure out how to describe guandu, I came across this which has a bunch of synonyms and health benefits of guandu. http://www.rain-tree.com/guandu.htm

Leo

Dude, don't hog it ! Pass it around !

Herrerano,

Thank you, I learned two things today maybe this will mean I can have tomorrow off.

Hey Raven!!! Don't forget about the traditional Christmas Eve Video Shoot with the band. Isn't it snowing right now??? Peck

Gee! Whose house do I want to crash for Christmas? I had thought seriously about Arianrhod's, but then remembered I am having my own thing at my house!

We have Mexican dishes for Christmas eve here in the southwest with lots of family and then PRESENTS! Then for Christmas Day we have barbeque for lunch with more family and then MORE PRESENTS! Yippee!

I am getting really hungry, the pernil de puerco was slowly cooking this morning when I got up and had turned a beautiful dark reddish color. The aroma of the smoke wafting out of the barbecuer was incredible, some of it stuck to me as I looked at that gorgeous hunk of meat slowly cooking to perfection.

I am now at work, but lack only an hour before leaving here. Help had shown up at the house before I left this morning to get started on the rice and the salad and some of the other things. I understand that one of the most prolific family eaters will not be showing up this year so that will leave more for me.

ahhh, I love the anticipation.

Leo

More is good! I love it when someone says they don't like something I fix, means more for me. Now I really don't need second helpings but I just can't resist sometimes.

Has anyone ever loss weight during the holiday season? Not me. I'll have to work this off after Jan 1.

My Dad is coming to my house for Christmas dinner from Fla, so the bourbon will be like salt and pepper for me during the day. Now my brother will probably be told his sister has a drinking problem. I wonder why when you have someone whom invites themself to your house and they are arguementative. I feel like I'm doing the Christmas Vacation thing here. Oh well. Wonder if I could go back up into the attic and stay there til it's over...

Annabelle