Another wonderful Thanksgiving.....a day late.

Last year I didn’t do anything for Thanksgiving because I was recovering from eye surgery and on limited activity. This year Jeannette picked November 29, the day after Thanksgiving, for the seniors to come have a party at my house. Hopefully the rainy season would be letting up and they could enjoy their day in the country. I should still have fruit on the trees and they could look over the construction going on to change the bodega into a house.

I can’t have a party at Thanksgiving time without turkey so I bought two at WalMart and started picking up ingredients a couple weeks ahead of time. I cooked the turkeys and took the meat off the bone and froze it and then cooked the carcas with vegetables to make a turkey broth for the dressing and to put with the turkey when I reheated it to keep it moist.

I decided to do turkey and dressing, camote (sweet potatoes) a mixed salad with lots of stuff and cranberry sauce. I had to make a trip to Mayca for a bag of frozen cranberries. As an appetizer I did Ritz crackers with egg salad and Honey crackers with peanut butter and guayaba/strawberry jam. Dessert was Cocoa Krispie bars and a banana bar that is very much like budín or bread pudding.

Tuesday Ligia and Jeannette and Emilio came to decorate the deck. It looks quite wonderful. Thursday Jose was coming to put the tent canopy up by the deck. Adrian was having the yard cut and was bringing me all his extra chairs.  All of a sudden things changed.

Ligia’s brother died from a heart attack on Wednesday so I had to work in a funeral on Thursday. And, it has been raining so much my yard is full of puddles and soggy. I messaged Jeannette saying I was concerned about having the party here and could we have it at the Senior Center. She said yes so Jose came Thursday afternoon and we moved everything except the hot food. We picked up Jeannette and took everything to the Center. She and her granddaughter stayed and decorated and I came home to cook the camote. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do as they don’t have an oven at the Center, just burners. What I decided to do was put the dressing, which was cooked and I  might say very good, back in the crockpot so I could keep it plugged in to heat up. The camote I put in a stockpot and put it on a very low heat at the Center. The turkey I put in a turkey pan, put the broth on it and covered it with tinfoil. I put it in the oven for about an hour and when Jose came I wrapped it up good in heavy fabric. I ended up reheating it a bit on low on a burner but there was lots of liquid so it didn’t dry out.  A little more inconvenient than expected but it all worked out.

AND it was all a tremendous hit. Of the 28 people there, 15 had never had turkey before. They loved the dressing which had dried bread cubes I made from loaves of French bread, rice, chicken, chorizo, onions, carrots, celery, apples and the homemade turkey broth. They couldn’t get over the camote because it is different than the way they fix it. Even the salad was different. Lettuce, tomatoes, palmetto, cheese and my pickled cucumbers, carrots, onions and sweet peppers.  I even was asked for recipes. It could not have been a better compliment. Beverages were a guayaba refresco and Sangria. To make the refresco easy I had cooked and blended and strained the guayaba. It got thinned a bit more and sugar added for a good fruit drink. I didn’t try the sangria but they said it was really good.

Let’s see, what else. I brought fruit from my trees and I filled 6 Christmas stockings with little gifts to use for bingo prizes. The flower decorations they did for the deck are now on the tables at the Center. I was prayed over and given wonderful gifts. I was called family and felt like it.

Next party will be here December 12th with all the Chicas Buenas. Hopefully the rain will stop by
 then.

My gifts. The sun and moon and a chicken and egg and a chicken towel.

In a cramped area but this will give you an idea how the blanket is coming along.

The Senior Center 

The stocking winners

  

  

Oh what a week it has been

So last Thursday was Rain’s surgery. I planned to stay home for several days to get her over the worst part and apply her meds and salves which were all day long. She was driving me crazy wanting to go out and finally made a break for it on Thursday. Unfortunately that was also the day she quit eating and started acting different. I was very concerned so on Friday I stopped at the vet and we agreed I would bring her in today.

When I got back Friday from my trip to Orosi things seemed to have changed. She ate twice before bed, she ran around and chased bugs. She slept good and didn’t meow all the time to go out. This morning she ate twice and the doctor checked her out and cleared her for no more meds or creams and no cone and she can go outside. Turns out some cats have a problem with their stomach and the meds and I was putting it in her food to get her to take it. Once she quit eating it got out of her system.

My doors and shutters can now be open and I can concentrate on making jelly instead of her. Except the back door because the raccoon comes in. I have guayaba and strawberries and pineapple and peaches and mango and ginger and lemons. There should be some interesting combinations and I have so much I am sure I will use up every jar in the house. Heather!

The neighbor’s must think that silly gringa if they watch me getting guayaba. Since the long hook has a hook on the end and not a little basket to catch the fruit, I catch a branch with the hook and shake like mad to see what falls.  Or I hook a branch and pull it to me if it is low enough. Then I can just pick the fruit off the tree. I had a big bag full this morning. I have given 2 bags full to the neighbor and one to Luis. Some to Jose and  Otto. And I have what I cooked up and a full tub. AND the trees still have tons. Ticos mainly use them for refresco, cold drinks. I am not from an area of a lot of fruit trees so the idea of letting it go to waste just doesn’t sit well with me. There is a lot of that here though since there are so many fruit trees.

I know a lot of you are having very cold weather. Here it is sprinkling on and off all day and it has been cool enough for long sleeves. Kinda like Oregon kind of rain.

When I stopped at the fruit and vegetable market yesterday the nice young lady asked me to bring some jelly and she would buy it. I had given her a jar before. I bet I could sell it there if I wanted to work that hard.

I guess sometimes all you have to do is ask.

I belong to a crochet and crochet pattern group on Facebook. I have posted about my group and what we do. I have gotten very positive responses.  When I posted about the cancer patient we gave a hat to who now wants to help make hats I got over 900 likes.

So, I decided to try something. As you know I supply all the yarn and the ladies use their time and talent to make the hats. Now that we have 12 ladies crocheting it takes a lot of yarn. I posted in the crochet group if anyone was planning to stop crocheting and was interested in getting rid of their cotton yarn they could send it to Heather and she would bring it in January.

AND, I now have 4 boxes of yarn coming! Can you believe it. 3 are going to Heather, coming from New York and Texas and Nebraska. One is a Tica and her husband works for DHL and that one is coming here. The generosity of people is so wonderful and this extra yarn will help so much. Thank heavens I also have Heather. Between us we watch for bargains and coupons and buy the yarn as reasonably as possible. JoAnn’s 60% off coupons are great. I do buy some very nice cotton yarn here - all the yarn for the blanket - but it is much more expensive so we don’t make many hats from it.  

It’s guayaba season and my trees are loaded. José and his helper were here yesterday and picked me a big tub full. I asked Adrian if he had a picker I could borrow. At first they thought I wanted someone to come pick but when I explained I would do it they brought me a long bamboo pole with a hook attached to the end. Today I washed and cleaned and cut up 2 stockpots full. You cover with water and boil about a half hour. Cool and put in the blender, then strain. You end up with the fruit pulp for the jelly. Wait till you see how much I have! I usually do a cup of pulp and 1/2 cup or a little more sugar. Maybe lemon juice. I have mora in the freezer. I may try adding some of that too since I have so much guayaba. I may also try freezing the pulp. I have frozen the fruit and that works.

Tomorrow or Friday I must make a trip to Cartago for macrame cord and cat food. My 3 cats, two strays and the raccoon are eating me out of house and home. I haven’t seen the raccoon in a while or one of the strays. I am in a stand off with the other stray, Pretty Kitty. I open the door and she hisses at me. Now why should I feed a cat that hisses at me?

It’s been pretty boring around here since I have been staying home with Rain. Sometimes she drives me crazy. She wants to go out so bad so she meows and meows and meows. This morning I let Domingo out at 3:30 and Rain started in meowing. I never did get back to sleep. I think it will be an early night tonight.

Few guayaba!

Fruit pulp 

Rain and Domingo. She needs the bigger basket because of the cone

My outside light was out. Works great now.

I have never seen it like this.

You know I have fruit trees. It isn’t like it is an orchard that is taken care of all the time. Just a fruit tree here and there. Some are old and covered with moss and barely have any fruit. Others have quite a few now and then. Nothing like now. It is a super duper harvest for the guayaba. Definitely means jelly time and a bag in the freezer.

José and his helper are coming to do some work tomorrow or Wednesday and I asked him to bring a long handled fruit picker so we can actually pick it and not have to wait for it to fall or an animal to knock it down. So much goes to waste because there is a bite out of it or it cracks when it falls. Or falls in an area I can’t get to it to pick it up. The fruit picker and the machete that is.

 José and his helper are coming to put guide lines up under the front overhang of the roof for my lantern tree to grow along. It has gotten so big it is taller than the house. I also have some things I want done to start getting ready for the seniors party on the 29th. Some tree trimming, moving fallen down banana plants, weeding, stuff like that. I want to start thinking about what should be planted along the little road for when the back house is finished and I can block my view a bit. It is an area 12-15 feet and I want something that will grow up but not spread out too much and need to be cut back often.

Rain (the cat) is doing pretty good but her regiment takes most of my day. Pill in her food every 12 hours. Spray to clean her incision 3 times a day. Wait an hour and put gel on the incision 3 times a day. Wait a half hour and put cream on the incision 3 times a day. She has adjusted to the cone and I take it off while she eats to make things easier. She hates being locked inside and if she isn’t sleeping she is meowing to go out. Domingo doesn’t seem to recognize her with the cone on and hisses at her when she gets close. This will be a long week.

Heather and Kent set their dates and will be here Jan 1-9. What fun. Ziomara has invited us for a Casado meal, the traditional Costa Rican dinner. We all love it in the sodas or small restaurants and this time it will be homemade.

The hospital visits are done until March or I get a call. Most of the ladies are done with their part of the blanket and are back to making hats. Ligia and I and Johanna still have work. I am hoping Johana will help with the embroidery. I found a design I really like and the names will be embroidered in the hearts. It will be worked into the outer border in 2 corners. There may be a few extra words too like Chicas Buenas and Pura Vida.

See all the fruit

The branch is so full it is hanging way down.

Not just the guayaba tree has tons of fruit. Even the little orange tree is loaded.

Another shot of all the fruit.

Rain wanted so bad to go outside so I put her in her carrier and put her on the table on the deck. Definitely not to her liking.

These are the hearts I like.