It was a HUGE success!!!... there weren't even crumbs left! (they picked at the pastry!)...

sis said: "You know I almost never compliment you on your cooking, but, this time, you outdid yourself! this is superb!"...

Yesterday we had 1 and today we had the other one (which turned out even better, because yesterday I left the pie in the oven for 45 minutes, but the pastry was not fully done... so we had to put it back...today, we left it in for 1 hour, and it was perfect!)

Princess Perky asked for the recipe...

Puff pastry
===========
2 1/2 cups cold flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cup cold margarine, sliced
3/4 cup ice water

sift the cold flour and salt in a bowl. Add the margarine and mix with a wooden or plastic spoon. Little by little, add the ice water until forming a dough. (I did this with my hands...as quickly as possible, so as not to warm the dough!... they say this is part of the secret of the flakiness!) Place it on a floured work surface and roll out with a rolling pin. Fold in 3, turn over and roll out again. Fold again, turn over, and roll out again, fold again and chill for 30 minutes. (you'll roll out 3x)
Take out the dough, roll out 3 times as described above, chill again for another 30 minutes.
Take out, roll out... it's ready to use! (Mom used to say the secret for flakiness is in the folding and refolding!)

Filling
=======
Olive oil
3 garlic cloves- chopped
1 medium sized onion- chopped
1 medium sized cooking tomato- chopped
1 small sized green or red pepper- chopped
2 celery stalks, peeled and chopped
3 chicken breasts - boiled and diced/ make sure to save the broth!!!(used breasts just because that's what my family likes...)
1 medium sized carrot
canned peas - drained
canned mushrooms- sliced- drained
dry white wine (about 1/2 a cup?)
salt
pepper

Fry the garlic, onions, peppers, celery and tomatoes in the olive oil until tender, add the chicken. Then add the broth and the wine (sorry, I don't have exact measures, I just keep adding until it seems right!).
Let simmer for a while and add the carrots... again, let simmer for a while and add the peas and the mushrooms... let simmer until most of the liquid evaporates and the mix feels "mushy"... season with salt and pepper to taste.


Oh, we all agreed I need to make at least 3 pies for next time!!
Nanny told me she was always curious when Mom and Dora (she was mom's cook/maid) used to make pies, but was always hesitant to ask... so, with that, I let her watch the final stages... so I promised her next time I have a weekday off (she's off on weekends) we'll make one together, so she can learn!

Well, so far, so good...

the filling tastes good
...although, I think there's something missing, but I really couldn't figure what it was!... we'll see what the family thinks about it!

The dough turned out great... very good elasticity....
here are some pictures...

the pies DO look like mother's

...now let's see if they still do after coming out of the oven! (will try to take a picture before it's cut, and maybe one of a slice...to see how it turns out... (although mom never took a picture of anything she cooked, she insisted that food HAD to look good to be appetizing!)

went to some thrift stores accompanying sis and nephew (he got a job, but it's business casual...don't think his rocker t-shirts and tennis shoes would be appropriate)... she bought him 2 pairs of pants, 3 shirts and a pair of shoes... which he'll reimburse with his first salary in 21 days (send prayers!)... she spent $50 in total...so it's not bad.
Browsing through the store while they argued over a pair of pants (sis said the chocolate brown ones were better, nephew hated them, and wanted to get blue ones... it was a weird kind of blue, though cannot even describe it...I, personally, found both pairs ugly... I would have gone with the pair of tan ones they got and a pair of grey ones none of them liked, but, hey, ultimately, HE's going to wear them and SHE was going to pay for them, so I said nothing and went away!)... well, I found 2 pairs of pants for myself...1 pair tan ones and 1 pair dark grey... total cost was $12.50! yay!... I did need the tan ones, as the ones I have are so old (bought in 2001) that they are already looking HORRIBLE...and worn so thin, you don't have to guess what I'm wearing underneath, because you can practically see it!!
I do need/want to lose some weight, but, let's face it, I haven't lost 1 oz in the past 6 months...I might as well get the pants and then, if I DO manage to lose enough weight that they don't fit anymore, I can have them fixed!

I bought an indigo-dye shirt for sis... and another one for me (couldn't resist it! I told you those fairs are dangerous for me!)... different styles!
I bought a present for a friend (a beautiful table runner). I bought a table runner for myself (bright red, beautiful!!! I know, another item NOT on the list)
I bought a ring for myself (beautiful 3 strings of colorful beads...cost me $1!)
I'm happy with my purchases... I'm missing niece's present, though... and nephew's I won't buy until the week before Xmas...just in case he decides to leave before then! (if he leaves, he's going back on the streets...no way I will buy him something he can sell!)
I saw a couple of paintings I'd like to buy (I also saw the most amazing hamper, wicker and fabric... BEAUTIFUL...I'd love to have one in pink for the girls' bedroom and one in blue for mine... but... well, NO. Not at the moment... )
I'm seriously thinking about the paintings, though...
Another plus, which I forgot to mention, is that all this stuff is bought directly from the crafters...
Ah, oh, and I saw the most amazing notecards made with a mixed technique of drawing + dried flowers... some were soooo beautiful, you'd rather frame them than give them away! LOL!... they will be selling at the Pottery Barn!!! you can take a peek here>

Ugh. I hate it. I have been buying lunch, mainly because there haven't been any leftovers lately (nephew is living with us, and I guess Nanny still hasn't learned to adjust portions properly... or maybe she hasn't at all, eventhough the last time I repackaged everything when I came from the grocery store-- 5 chicken breasts instead of 3, etc)
Not only is it expensive, it's also not that good (at least, not as good as home cooked!)... If I have to eat another sandwich this week, I'll cry! (sometimes the food doesn't look too appetizing and I end up buying a sandwich)

Well, the company says it will not buy a new car. However, they are offering to give her a loan so she can buy one, and they will pay for her gas and give her X amount for depreciation (this gas + depreciation scheme is the same one they proposed 7 years ago... sis went ahead and bought a car... 6 months later they decided it was not convenient for them, cancelled it, bought her a company car, and she had to sell her car because she could no longer make payments!!)...
Now, she really has next to no option, because she can't work without a car...my worry is that history will repeat itself, but... what can we really do? (or, rather, what can she really do?)... she's debating brand new vs used car (for sales, and if she's going to use the depreciation money to pay for the car, it needs to be something that will give her next to no problems!)... Her coworker suggested looking at cars that people drove for 1 year and are now trading in for new ones... my suggestion is look for repossessed cars that people drove about 6 months then had taken away from them! (I once found one like that...only 5,000 Kilometers on it....almost half price of a "new" one!)... it's a good time to look, because the new 2009 models are coming in, which means the 2008 ones are on sale, and also a lot of people are buying the 2009 ones so there should be a good selection on used ones... not to mention that most car dealerships had one of their "6 month interest free" deals back in February.... so there might be a few ones from people that can't afford to pay "full" payments...
We'll see...
Ah, incidentally, the company said this has nothing to do with her salary increase (you know, the one she asked for when she accepted about 30% more accounts, and that they promised to give her an answer no later than July??... the one for which they STILL haven't made a decision?? (they said they'd have an answer on Tuesday of this week)

Ale found my knitting bag (I use a grocery store bag whenever I'm knitting "in secret")... she didn't look into it, but she saw the needles sticking out!!!...she asked me, point blank: are you knitting something for me? Is it a blanket?

(

Niece sent me a text message yesterday:

Auntie, would you consider giving me a 2nd chace with letting me use the boom boom? I realize now what an important tool it is. I promise I will not fail you again.

So, starting tomorrow, she'll be picking up Ale at school...we'll see how that goes. Whe knows me, so she knows I'm "hard" and wouldn't hesitate to rescind our deal if she fails again (all she has to do is go pick up Ale and make sure the car is there at 5:00pm in case I want to use it!)

She's also making arrangements to try to continue her studies (difficult, since she can't even get a certification of her grades at the university, because her dad, who was in charge of paying, because he said he didn't trust her to actually make the payments, stopped paying before the end of the semester, so now the university demands that she pay those delinquent accounts before releasing any documentation!)...

That's my current monthly average...I need to go higher if I am to make my "steps to freedom" work according to plan...

Particularly because the car is making THAT noise.... from previous cars I learned to detect what it is...have no idea what the name is in English, but the last time they fixed that it cost about $200 (on the previous car, 2 year ago!) ...so, next translation payday, Little Boom Boom goes to the workshop! ((sigh)) Oh, well, it'll be paid in cash!

the rural "basic basket" has increased by 30%...ouch!
I think my family is doing fine because we have managed to maitain our grocery shopping at $80-$100/week...we could go lower if we were willing to eat only rice and beans...but, again...what about the people that were ALREADY eating just rice and beans?...What about the family of 6 that eats only 2x day, and that shares 4 eggs between all 6?...what are THEY going to do??
There was an article on the paper about this family, specifically, that there were 2 baby twins so malnourished they were taken by an org that takes in kids under 2 and "cures" them of malnourishment, then gives the kids back to the families...and how these twins had been out of the org for less a year and were already malnourished again!...no surprise, really!...and that the mother was afraid to bring them back to the org for fear of having the authorities take away the children...

...yes, I'm going...I don't NEED a new book, but I do desperately WANT one...it might be that I don't find one I like, or that I'm not willing to pay as much (happened last time, I found a book I WANT, WANT, WANT...part 8 of a series, but it was $23...er, no. I'll wait for it to come out in paperback.)

ok, last Friday I was working on 2 files. One I sent via email and the other one (a translation for someone in my office) was not finished, so I just filed it in my computer....
Now I cannot find any of them!!!! No problem with the one I emailed, I just have to retrieve it from the sent items box...but, the other one I cannot find! I've looked everywhere!!! I even used the SEARCH function for a name included in the file that was so strange that it HAD to show up, not even then....

LOL! my landlady is crazy, or too naive...or else she thinks I am...
A little over a month ago she brought a new contract to our house (technically, we need an amendment to the old contract we have - "renewable automatically if none of the parties gives written notice to the other of their intention to terminate the contract"- because of the increase in rent.... What's wrong with that?
#1- she brought me a NEW contract, not an ammendment/extension
#2- the contract states I have to pay her 1 month deposit at new rent rate (no, I gave her a month's deposit when we signed the old one. I will gladly pay the difference for the new rent rate if she wants to, but I will NOT give her ANOTHER full month's rent...)
#3- As far as I know, lease contracts include reponsibilities for both lessor and lesee...this ones included MY responsibilities, but very conveniently left out hers!....

I read the contract and called her and told her so. She didn't do anything. Today she went to my house to collect the docs and was upset that they were not signed. I repeated to her what was wrong with it and the reasons I will not sign.
She tells me:
A. "you should have told me before!" (I DID, she just chose to ignore me!)
B. "I have already paid the lawyer for drafting the papers, but I really hadn't read them" (hmmm, that's really not intelligent at all, besides, It's not MY fault! - and, personally, my lawyer would skin me alive if I ever accepted a document from her without reading it!...cannot tell you what she'd do to me if I signed something without reading it, or without actually agreeing to it)
C. "It's not really binding, you know, you've rented the house for so long and we've always had a good relationship, you know we would never really enforce it"...(excuse me, last I checked a SIGNED contract IS binding!)

She took the documents, and was not too happy about it, but I hope she realizes she cannot try to pull this sort of thing on me! ugh!

I'm so mad!...I forgot my USB at the office...the USB where I had the ONLY copy of the file I was translating...well, the only UPDATED copy...I found a copy I sent myself yesterday morning (translated up to page 8/29!!!...yesterday night I translated up to 23/29!!!)...((sigh))...so, I watched the video and input the time codes, and translated the pages I KNEW I was missing...I could be done already, do you realize? Instead, I have to piece the puzzle together tomorrow (time codes and new translation into the old file...)... it may not sound like much, but, trust me, it's more complicated than it sounds (If I mess up the time codes/dialogue correlation, I mess everyone else's preparation! aaargh!!) All I had to to was remember to put it into my bag...you'd think I could handle THAT, wouldn't you??

Oh, well, what's done is done!...I'm off to bed now...I already sent myself the file, so that I can have a back up and not just the one in the computer...what makes me madder is I'm usually very good at doing that...emailing myself files so I have updated copies available no matter what....

Well, I just paid $390 for preventive maintenance in my car...well, no, not entirely, I could SMELL something...there was some sort of oil leak, it turns out...caught right on time, too, before it could do any real damage...
I had them change all the belts, too...
Oh, and they had to work on the brakes, too..
and did a couple other things, which I don't know how to say in English. LOL!...

I showed niece the bill. She almost fell off her chair...I told her: See why I'm constantly telling you there's more to having a car and driving your friends around than gas money?? (I have a list of friends of hers that I have asked her NOT to give rides back home, unless extremely necessary, because they live too far away!...mean, I know!...and, I'm sure she's done it anyway, but I figure at least she's not doing it on a daily basis!)....

At least, now I know they (niece and Ale, and yes, even all the others) are safer when driving/riding THAT car!

Not in order of importance, just as they come to mind!

Mind you, I guess I should list them as ways to improve your mastery of a Second of Foreign language, LOL!

1. cable TV! - don't laugh! back when we first got cable here in ES, there was ONE cable company, and they had SEVEN channels only...all in English and no subtitles!...Grandma had it installed in our house...if we wanted to watch the "cool" programs, we had to make an effort to understand them!...it certainly helps train your ear!

2. books - At school they gave us summarized versions of books geared towards ESL (English as a Second Language) or EFL (English as a Foreign Language) students...but I also had my father's book case replete with "real" books...and he let me choose whichever I wanted!

3. Magazines- if you finished your work fast, our teacher would give you either a National Geographic or Time Magazine to read quietly while the rest of the people finished theirs.

4. Friends/family - when you have friends/ family members that don't speak your mother tounge, you tend to learn pretty quickly!

5. Getting rid of the shame- NO ONE speaks perfectly...I consider myself well educated and, still, will sometimes say things like "imprimido" (instead of "impreso") or "morido" instead of "muerto) ...I generally recognize the horror the minute those words leave my mouth, turn beet red and correct myself, but, the point is I DON'T speak perfect Spanish (not to mention there are probably 100,000 mistakes I make that I don't catch!)...so, if I'm not perfect in my own language...how can I be expected to be in another one? We all make mistakes...live with it!(plus, as a foreigner, one should get some credit just for TRYING!)

6. Etymology and phonetics classes- which I took at the university...knowing where a word came from really helps!
those funny little markings next to the dictionary made sense after that!...

9. Composition lessons- one writes as one thinks, if you're thinking is disorganized, like mine, you really need this!

8. Practice, practice, practice! - I've been blessed that I've had the opportunity to practice my English on a daily basis for the past 20 years!! ...unfortunately, my German is almost "lost", since I HAVEN'T had this opportunity!

It doesn't fit anywhere on the list, but one of the things I find fascinating about learning/ practicing a foreign language is that it gives you wonderful insight into other cultures!

he said there's no indication of anything neurological wrong with me (yay!)...but, he said my blood pressure is high...he prescribed some blood tests to check for the usual (cholesterol, tryglicerids, etc)...gave me some gynko biloba (sp?) and some b-6 vitamins and told me to come see him again in 1 month...
he said I could be suffering from chronic fatigue...Yep, I'd say that's a possibility! LOL!..

I had a migraine again today, and slept most of the afternoon...

I'm going to try to have a more regular sleep schedule!

As I was saying, seeing all those numbers made my head swim, and it was actually kind of scary... so I went into Excel and tried to "map" it...here's what I came up with:

YEAR 1

This helped me realize, for example, that I cannot stop saving for taxes after the 2008 taxes are covered...because it's not like I won't have to pay taxes in the followin years! (if anything, I'd have to pay MORE!)

YEAR 2


YEAR 3


YEAR 4

Found a great deal on tires! woo-hoo!

I had to explain to Ale this morning that the fact that the school is allowing them NOT to wear their uniforms the last 3 days of school does NOT mean students can wear whatever they want... she wasn't too happy about it, but, I know she now probably thanks me (as it seems some of her schoolmates had to be told this AT SCHOOL, BY THE TEACHERS!!)

What bothered me about Ale's clothes this morning:

1. mini-skirt: she was wearing what used to be a mini skirt 2 years ago...it barely covered her while sitting down, even with shorts underneath it!
2. shoes: black ballerina flats that were pretty when bought, but after almost 1 year of abuse look like she rescued them from the city dump...it's a miracle they don't have holes in them, but look very worn and ratty...AND, they make her feet smell if worn without socks!!!
3. shoes: she changed into crocks...definetely not a choice of footwear my grandmother would have thought appropriate for school! - it's as if she had worn sandals: too casual!

So I sent her to change again and she found a skirt that was about 3 inches above her knees and she decided to wear her Hush-puppy sandals...

She gave me an evil look...and I explained to her...I asked her if she had noticed that I never wore my work-clothes on the weekends, or viceversa...

I told her that is because eventhough I don't wear a uniform, there are certain rules we are required to follow when at certain places (no bare shoulders at church, no jeans at certain offices, etc)...

She seemed to have accepted it by the time we left for school and, coming back from lunch I got a message in my voicemail that said: "Mom, we can wear our normal clothes to school today, but we cannot wear 'ycras'...do you know what 'lycras' are?" (they mean short biking pants)...I'm guessing there's a long list of other stuff as well!

I had to go to the supermarket today...didn't intend to, but none of the corner stores had powdered milk, and we ran out...I went there on an empty stomach- bad, I know!...but, the one thing I craved was a salad with yogurt dressing...so I bought a lettuce and some tomatoes (no salmonella here!- or maybe we are just inmume already! LOL!), a cup of plain yogurt and a bottle of nutmeg (not used in this recipe, just one of those "basic" spices that we didn't have at home!...)

The dressing: yogurt, mustard, ground pepper, salt, vinegar (tiny amount) and basil leaves...simply divine!

yum!...and Nanny had cooked some chicken with a red sauce that was delicious, and some rice w/veggies...so I had a VERY nice dinner!

ugh! I was looking at the office's travel budget (we need to send an update on projected vs. budget) and, we had "left over" money ....we KNEW there had to be a problem, and thought maybe I had left out some trips or something...I went over the trip allocation twice....and then proceeded to re-check the other numbers...ah-ha! turns out the "remaining available funds" figure I used were NOT ours, but another country's!!

Ok, I just finished one translation work. It was a 2 hour job, and it will bring in $40! yay!

As is the case with many Catholic rites in Latin America, this originally was an indian rite adopted/adapted by the Catholic Church: at the beginning of the rainy season, to ask the gods for a bountiful harvest, the pipiles used to make offerings of fruit. Now those offerings are made on May 3rd (Day of the Cross in the Catholic calendar) and placed at the feet of a cross. People put up these little crosses in their yards, with garlands and fruit. We put ours in the living room (to guard the fruit against Tonio and Fiona)

The cross in El Salvador is made of a special wood called "palo de jiote" (don't ask! I don't know!)... the peculiarity is that the bark peels off and leaves behind a very smooth surface. It is believed that the indians saw in this wood a representation of the Xipe Totec - an important Mayan god who wore the skin of the dead

There's some information here: http://espanol.groups.yahoo.com/group/sanromero/message/39

The top of the page is in Spanish, but if you scroll down, you'll find the info in English.

I will deposit the cheque on Monday...
Yay!- and they still owe me $258!

Niece got her Dad to give her giftcards to a clothing store instead of him buying the clothes for her! so all 5 pieces she bought fit/ she likes them! yay!

It's "official"! we both said yes!...they don't have any work for me right now, but they are expecting some soon!...it's a very nice project translating scripts...yay! Pay is not much, but, it is light work (they sent me some samples of a job they just delivered, also the corrections made by the end customer)

I am happy, because a friend had scared me a bit about putting my $40 towards savings, quoting the inflation and rent increases...but I had already decided I was going to try to make it at least for 6 moths, figuring I could offset the increases through translation money.

sis and I are constantly teasing Niece about her having 1,0000 shoes, while we only see her wear the same pair....same with clothes...

I guess anticipating getting a ton of new stuff for her b-day, she decided to clean her closet last weekend...

I got a pair of shoes, as did sis... (please note sis wears a size 4, I wear a size 5 and niece wears a size 7!....)

What niece discovered was that:
she has 14 pairs of shoes (after the ones she gave away)...but of those, 5 she "absolutely loves" and were "total bargains at half off"...but they hurt her feet so she doesn't wear them.... hmmm...

Of her many blouses....some are too loose for her taste (bought by her father, LOL!), some are already too small and others are not really her taste (gifts)...she gave some of the ones that are too loose to my sis...and I asked her to pass the ones that are too small to Ale...I suggested giving away the ones she doesn't like (plenty of people will be more than happy to have those!)

She has 13 pants, between jeans and "regular" pants...but "can only wear 1 pair"...the other ones...you guessed! either they don't fit (too loose) or she doesn't like the way they fit! ...ok, keep those that can be fixed and fix them, give the other ones away!...

I think she finally understood that we WERE right, that she DID have a closetful of stuff she wasn't wearing...I also hope she realizes how silly it is to keep a closetful of stuff that doesn't fit or that you don't like!...

is April 30. As long as she remains in El Salvador, she will ALWAYS be able to have a party ON her birthday...See, May 1st is Labor Day here, and a National Holiday!!!

We had an early dinner here last night (7pm), so she could then go for another dinner with her father and then go clubbing with her friends!....

Sis got her a watch (she has a boxfull of watches that she never uses- yes, I've given her quite a few myself....her excuse? 1. She likes to be able to color coordinate her watches with her outfits, and 2. Most need new batteries!)...
Ale and I got her a picture frame (in purple, her favorite color) and a teddy bear (which I suspect Ale is hoping wil end up sitting on her own bed instead of Niece's!)- just to make it financial: I spent a total of $6.50 on both presents!

I had thought I'd be getting about $20 more per pay period...but the payroll stubs came today and I will be getting $43 more per pay period!...I will splurge this pay period (Friday) and buy a ticket to go see a Mi guel B ose in concert ("general" locations are $20)...and I will make arrangements to have $40 withheld towards my savings account with the co-op starting the next pay period (May 16th)