PREPARING FOR CHRISTMAS

This year will be our first year that we have spent Christmas in San Miguel de Allende.  Last year we were in Oaxaca.  We are renting a house from our friends, Tom and Linda, for the month of December.  Linda told Sam that there was a collapsable Christmas tree in storage.  The other day Sam looked but couldn't find it.  She emailed Linda and Linda emailed back and said it looked like a hula hoop.  Sam thought it was a wreath.  Here's a look at our Christmas tree.  All we had to do was put the stand together and pull up the tree.  It was already decorated with lights and ornaments.  How cool is that?

The other day, we walked about 1 1/2 miles (could be further...who knows) to Plaza Civica and purchased three pointsettias and walked home with them.  The cost of the three pointsettias was 85 pesos or $7.08 or $2.36 each.  Only in Mexico!  And there was no tax.  Now we have our house decorated, it was time to make some Christmas cookies.

Sam really is not much of a baker.  She really doesn't bake a lot back in Michigan especially during the holidays because our sister-in-law, Sue, always takes care of the entire family with Christmas cookies.  We do miss them. 

However this year Sam thought she would give it a try.  She made a list of ingredients that she would need to make two different types of cookies.  Yesterday, we walked to the main grocery store, Mega.  Mega is a couple of miles.  Both of us had our backpacks with us.  With everything purchased and our backpacks full, we walked back.  Of course on the way home, Bob had to stop at El Maple bakery, his favorite, for a bolillo (roll) for lunch. 

Sam was up early this morning.  She was all excited to make the cookies.  When Bob got up, he saw Sam working away at the computer trying to figure out the conversion of liquid and solid measurements for US to metric.  Sam had a surprised look on her face when she figured out that she needed more butter and cream cheese.  You see...the package of Philadelphia cream cheese in Mexico is 190 grams and Sam needed 8 ounces.  Eight ounces is equivalent to 225 grams.  Also when you buy a pound of butter at home (4 sticks), it is 1/2 cup per stick.  Here in Mexico what looks like a pound of butter (4 sticks) is only 360 grams or a little over 12 ounces.  Are you confused yet?  So luckily there is a tienda about two blocks away.  Sam got dressed and headed to the tienda for another stick of butter (90 grams) and a small package of Philadelphia cream cheese (95 grams).

Sam was working away in the kitchen measuring all of her ingredients.  She was making two different types of cookies.  She has never made these before in her life and this is the first time ever that she has attempted to bake in Mexico. 

Besides the difference in the measurements, there is a difference in baking times due to the high altitude.  It took almost 50% more time to bake than the recipe states.  We'll save you from the calculus to convert baking tempuatures from farhenheit to celsius.  Sam was really worried.  The two types of cookies were Rugelach Cookies and Mexican Wedding Cookies.  It took Sam all day to make the cookies.  Here are the results:

RUGELACH COOKIES

MEXICAN WEDDING COOKIES

HOW LONG WILL THESE LAST?

The house manager, Javier, came over just as Sam was finishing the Rugelach Cookies.  Javier sampled the cookies and reached for another.  He said she could sell them on the calle (street) to make some money.  Sam told him she would have to charge way too much money!  We guess they were good (well we know they are good because we sampled them too).

After baking all day, Sam offered to go to the local markets to pick up groceries to make dinner tonight.  Bob said she had worked very hard today, and he would take her to dinner.  Now it is time to have a glass of wine, relax by the fire place, listen to Christmas music on our computer and admire our beautiful tree before going to dinner.  Sam is also emploring Bob to give her a foot rub!  Do you think it will happen?