Cinco (y Seis) de Mayo

You start a blog, and people start reading it, and pretty soon you get into this mindset:


This mentality--this incessant urge "to blog" about daily occurrences, no matter how mundane--leads me to think that even weather and food are suitable topics for detailed blog posts. You have been warned.

Saturday was Cinco de Mayo, a day for blond, blue-eyed Scandinavians such as me to celebrate the military history of Mexico. Actually, to me Cinco de Mayo is a holiday because it's my friend Darin's birthday. We are now six hours away from him, but in his honor, we had a supper that suggested the kind of late-night snacks Darin and I used to have regularly while catching up on our regularly VCRed TV shows. Yes, we had nacho chips and queso con carne for supper (which we called "deluxe nacho plate" and served with black olives, tomatoes, sour cream, and homemade guacamole) (which itself was so delicious that we pretty much just filled up on chips and guacamole, since it doesn't "keep" long, whereas the queso reheats well) (oh, and Susan made a dessert of tortillas stuffed with cherries and baked with cinnamon and honey). ¡Feliz cumpleaños, Darin!

Sunday was Seis de Mayo, which to the best of my knowledge is the anniversary of nothing in particular in Mexico. In Dickinson, it was a good day for the anniversary of nothing: the morning was overcast and rainy--a beautiful sight in its own way, really, greening up the lawn and making the air smell wonderfully fresh. Susan made homemade borscht and homemade wheat and honey beer bread with homemade garlic butter (she likes to make things from scratch--and we like that about her), thinking a hot meal would be perfect for dinner at noon. By that time, however, the rain had stopped, and the sun was out. Still, it was a delicious meal.

We cleaned the house, and Susan and the girls did laundry, and for supper we planned a meal for the grill. By that time, however, the sky had clouded over again, and the cold wind had picked up. Still, I stood outside and shivered and grilled onion-soup-mix hamburgers. I also grilled an entire package of bacon (and the rest of the night, I smelled like bacon grease from the smoke) and topped the burgers with American cheese, barbecue sauce, and the crispy bacon. Susan smeared buns with the garlic butter, and I grilled them until slightly crispy. Susan made chocolate malts and onion rings and served peas on the side. Another dee-licious meal.

P.S. The girls enjoyed visiting with Grandpa Moberg on the phone last night. While I was talking to Beverly and to Dad, though, there was a tragic fingernail polish accident in the upstairs bathroom (I'm not naming names, but let it be known that I was not even in the room)--tragic in that it led to the untimely deaths of several pairs of pajama pants and a couple bathroom rugs, irreparably stained a glossy purple.

P.P.S. In a rather unamazing ending, The Amazing Race ended last night, and we crossed that off the three-item list of shows that our family has been watching together (the other two being Dancing with the Stars and Planet Earth).