En Casa

Solo por dos días gracias a la helada esa, pero se siente rico estar en casa. Probablemente nunca regrese en la semana de Thanksgiving. Lo bueno es que aunque fueron dos días menos de lo planeado, los pendientes urgentes quedaron resueltos.

Es curioso esperar a comer una hamburguesa Del Río con las mismas ansias con las que antes esperaba comer una Whataburger.  

Es increíble el ver que es difícil encontrar restaurants mexicanos auténticos en Texas, siendo estado vecino a México.

A veces las ideas salen de la cabeza a la computadora para no aburrirse tanto en lo que se espera la salida del avión. 

A Winter Storm Kept me Grounded in Odessa, but not for long

It was about a week ago when I talked about how hopeful I was about leaving today. A cold spell was expected, but nothing really serious, right? Wrong! 

When a shallow layer of freezing air is overrun by warmer air (above freezing) it causes rain to freeze upon impact with the ground, especially on leaves, grass, and cars. But the worst thing is that bridges are the first to freeze. Occasionally, rain may freeze before reaching the ground. This is known as ice or sleet, as shown on the picture above. This only lasted a few minutes, as most of the time all I saw was plain rain that froze:

Update November 24th: It was mainly freezing rain, but sleet (ice pellets) and a few snow flurries fell at times. Pictures are worth more than 1000 words, so here they are:

November 25th: I must say that the most beautiful pictures were not taken due to safety reasons (hey, you don't stop to take pictures in the middle of a busy highway then you're driving over snow!). It all began like this:

After temperatures reached the mid 30s (about 1-2 degrees Celsius) and the sun began coming out I took the car and drove away from Odessa. Southern Ector county was buried in snow, and a gray purple sky made it look like a true winter wonder shrub-land. There was snow on the highway, in between the two lanes, and right in the edges. After Crane there were white hills, but on the other side, after having a gray-purple sky and a white ground it turned to yellow-orange ground, green-yellow shrubs, blue skies and white clouds in 5 minutes!

There were a few spots of ice and snow all the way up to Ozona, as the semi-desert slowly changed into a forest. Fall colors began showing up around Junction, and they were even better in Kerrville (where H-E-B began), but it was too dark to take pictures. Cowboy Steakhouse (in Kerrville) was really nice and cozy:

I'm safe and sound in San Antonio, I'll be in Monterrey tomorrow.

Not Homesick, but...

It is not homesickness, but I really wish I could bring my friends and family here, as long as they're happy. Since late August, every day, every hour, every minute, every second sets a new record in time spent away from Monterrey, away from Mexico, and in the US. I really, really miss this place in which I will be sleeping next Sunday, however, I would not go back to work there, no. I am thankful for this opportunity that has come after waiting for three years. 

I wish we had Thanksgiving in Mexico, as it is perhaps the only man made holiday worthy of celebrating, as it unites families. And then again, I am thankful for this opportunity of being able to work here in the US, and living in a city where people are nice and friendly. 

Fall 2013, part 2

It is the end of October, less than a month away from my first visit to Monterrey. Trees have begun losing their green color, even though they're still green. All trees except for this one might be about a month away from their peak fall color. They're not from the Midessa area, not with this little rain we get here, but they remind me of the Fall Hill Country I expect to witness right before Thanksgiving. Hopefully, the Hill Country will be showing its best fall colors once I'm on my way to Monterrey. I might have to wait until I retire in order to witness this in New England, but I might take personal days in order to do so in a couple of years.

Antojos y "Novedades"

Todavía parece que era ayer cuando esperaba con muchas ganas el entrar a un H-E-B Plus!, un Target, un Walmart, o a las 3 tiendas para buscar los dulces que no encuentras en México, así como algunos otros antojos y “novedades”. Los antojos son los dulces ya conocidos, inclusive algunos dulces nutritivos como las cerezas deshidratadas y arándanos azules deshidratados. Las novedades vienen siendo todo lo nuevo: Sour Patch de un sabor nuevo, jelly beans de Sweet Tarts o de Life Savers, harina para hacer quequitos (o magdalenas, como le dicen los Españoles) de chocolate rellenos con chocolate líquido, etc.

Normalmente tenía que ir a varias tiendas para conseguir de todo lo que quería llevar. Estando ya en Odessa no hay necesidad de hacer lo que hacía antes, de poquito en poquito puedo decir que ya probé todas las novedades ACTUALES. Falta ver con qué salen ahora con los dulces navideños. Después de haber probado todo lo congelado que no podía llevarme a México puedo decir que las nieves más ricas de la Blue Bell son las de vainilla sabor casero, chocolate holandés, “dessert trio” (esa de vainilla con jarabe de chocolate, brownies, galletas (y quien sabe que más). La nieve de Butterfinger marca Dreyers la regó al ponerle mantequilla de cacahuate, porque eso le quita sabor al Butterfinger.

La clave es siempre buscar el balance entre la comida rica saludable y la comida rica chatarra. En el sentido estrictamente alimenticio, no hay nada mejor que tener todos los antojos lo suficientemente cerca para ir a comprarlos cuando quieras, y lo suficientemente lejos que no te quede la tentación de tener todo al alcance de la mano como en tu despensa.