HEARTC♡RE

Hey y'all! I am so excited to say I'll be traveling next week, I'm going south of the border for the holidays. I am so grateful and thankful that I can go see all of my extended family, especially in such a special time of the year. I have been to Europe twice and the Arabian Peninsula twice (I'm being extra/pretentious with the peninsula talk but I just hate "Middle East") since the last time I've gone to Mexico (three and a half years ago). So it didn't feel right going anywhere else until I saw my family. (Added to the fact that my parents and siblings have been a few times since I have). Pretty much my entire family, but my aunt and her family, are in Mexico so I really miss them and miss out.

I've started packing (terribly) and will finish up in the coming days. I have a few things left on the to-do list, but I am ready to hop on the plane Tuesday afternoon. We'll land at night, so we'll be arriving to our town the next morning or early afternoon. We'll be in town for about a month, so I am definitely looking forward to a lot of quality time and memories to be made. This time around it will be only my younger sister and I, so this will be different and 100% fun.

Christmas, New Years, and Dia de Los Reyes (three kings day/epiphany which lands on Jan 6th) will be celebrated while we're there. The epiphany is a much greater deal in Mexico than it is in the U.S. If you're not familiar, this holiday is in remembrance of the Three Wise Men/Magi visiting baby Jesus and bearing gifts: gold, frankincense (Omani King? 😉), and myrrh. It is mostly practiced/recognized in the Hispanic world as it is originally Spanish. The night before the morning of the 6th, children will put their shoes under the Christmas tree and wake up to gifts. This makes more sense to me than Santa if you want to follow a more Jesus-centered Christmas narrative.

The point is simple: food. I am more into food than your regular *I love food person*, because isn't that really the majority? I seriously love food.

I hope everyone had a fun, family filled and drama free thanksgiving! In light of the election, and other controversial issues in the political and social sphere, tensions can run high during the holidays. Especially during Thanksgiving, when the focus is eating and spending time together.

Unlike in the majority of American homes who have their Thanksgiving meal in the early afternoon, Mexican homes have Thanksgiving dinner during. well, dinner time. In past years, my mom would make traditional Mexican dishes and we (my siblings and I) were in charge of the more American dishes. Of course this involved mostly boxed/pre made sides but we really enjoyed them regardless (they make them for a reason right? 😉). We also enjoyed our mother's and aunt's cooking, but from watching TV and knowing what traditional Thanksgiving food consisted of, we really craved having that Classic American aspect.

We spent Thanksgiving (Thursday) at my cousin's home, where he and his wife smoked a pig (in an impressive home built smoker) and had all the trimmings! We got there a little late, after the majority had finished their dinner, but it was good for eating shifts. After dinner, we sat around the table criticized, argued, and exchanged some banter like any other family. My parents then left for someone else's place (around 11pm) for an after party with live music and dancing. My siblings and I decided to stay home.

my cousin's set up (pic stolen from his FB)

we brought a ham to share, it was so yummy because the glaze baked with a nice crisp

we also ordered a tres leches cake and it was so moist and perfectly done, definitely a winner and everyone enjoyed

Friday morning around lunch time we went back to my cousin's place for leftovers (el recalentado). Everyone from the day before made it eventually. It was just as fun, especially because I don't see my family as often as I should, and they live within a 5 minute radius 🙈.

On Saturday, we did a small Thanksgiving lunch for my immediate family at home. When we went thanksgiving grocery shopping, my cousin's house wasn't in the plans so we bought a small turkey. We actually marinated it on Wednesday night, and baked it on Thursday, so it was now or never. It was in the fridge so it needed to go in the oven all over again for a bit. My mom decided last minute to rub it with a chilli blend, I stuffed it, and we began making a few sides.


I made sure to buy canned cranberry jelly, it is one of my favorite things during this holiday. We had mashed potatoes, saffron rice, turkey gravy, King's Hawaiian bread rolls, pecan pie and vanilla bean ice cream.

look at that steam

Hope everyone had a yummy Thanksgiving 2016! The year is flying by and I have some exciting news for my winter break that I'll share in the coming weeks.

Melissa 🐝

 

We celebrated by going to my host dad's extended family's home for lunch. It was about a 40 minute drive out of Muscat to Barka.

🌵 Nosotros fuimos a la casa de un familiar como unos 40 minutos de la capital.



I really liked my dress in theory but OMG I was not feeling it on, it was not flattering and I look like I am six months pregnant! WAH lol. But really. The food was soo good (and got actually pregnant with food baby) and I wanted to swim in that (cooked) goat, sorry Mackenzie. It was so funny last night at 2am Yuri and I were like exfoliating, moisturizing, fixing our nails, etc. When Omani girls have probably been getting ready a week beforehand.

some guys waiting till 1am, day before, to get that Eid haircut

as you've noticed we eat on the floor, as Yuri said when we see the plastic laid out you know food is not too far.

Anyways. It was fun spending Ramadan in Oman. But I am excited to be able to hope over to the coffee shop at any time, have lunch out, catch a tan, show below my knee without guilt (jk). Also, in these next few days we are due to enjoy some evening salsa dance (I will watch haha), maybe have a margarita. That kind of atmosphere is well deserved.💃

🌵 Me encanto mi vestido, pero ya puesto no se sentia muy bien. Siento que me miraba embarazada haha. La comida estaba rica, mucha carne y arroz. Que son los platillos mas comunes aqui.

Estuvo divertido pasar Ramadan aqui pero estamos emocionadas para ir al cafe a cualquier hora, desayunar por la playa, o agarrar un poquito de color. En unos dias vamos a salir a bailar, o en mi caso ver la gente bailar, salsa. 

Hey all, so disappointed I haven't been able to post on my blog for so long. As I say every two weeks, time is flying by and I can't process. I got in trouble with my mom about my last blog post about Tinder. LOL. Not in trouble really, but you know.

Last week we came back from out week at the Shangri-La. As I said in a previous post, HD was a (succesful) guest chef at one of the restaurants at the resort. Honestly I can't believe that we were there for seven days, like that's a lot of time. Of course it was serene, but not so much for me LOL. Still beautiful and an experience.

A couple days before there was also a celebration at the hotel itself. There were many beautiful performances, food, drinks, and fun. Would post more pictures of it all, but they are not so great quality.