Mexican-American International Food Night

Every week my flat has an International Food Night, when it was my turn I decided to make Mexican (-American) food since I eat it so regularly. I made my mom's famous Mexican chicken casserole (everyone loves it!) I make it so often I almost have the recipe memorized.
I also made homemade refried beans, queso, and salsa for the first time. The beans took the longest to prepare. I really had no idea how they would turn out, or what they would taste like. Throughout the preparation, dinner time kept being extended. It was first supposed to be ready at 8 o'clock, then somehow we ended up eating around 9:15pm. In turn, I endured some whining : D I also cooked too many beans since it doesn't look like there are that many when the beans are dry. The trash can had a lovely feast.
We ate all of the queso, it was a hit; the recipe I found online was very delicious. It has spinach in it (i love spinach)! Jessa's intention was to eat the huge bowl of cheese due to her immense starvation from the four hour cooking ordeal. I also made cooked vegetables with taco seasoning, and other Mexican herbs for those who don't eat meat. It's so nice that all twelve of us eat together each week. It makes me feel more comfortable and at home to have "family dinners."

Halloween in Malta!

Halloween in Malta! The girl with face paint is my good friend named Jessa; she is from Northern California (she loves to face paint too!). The guy on my right is also from Germany, and his name is Martin (he is dressed like the main character from the movie "A Clockwork Orange." The blonde girls are from Germany, named Tina and Madeleine, and they live in my flat and are helping me improve my German. The girls dressed as cats are Maya and Yu from Japan. All the Japanese girls dressed like cats, and they were very cute.
This year I carved my very first pumpkin (without my dad). It worked out okay, however I could have used a smaller knife...but I worked with what I had. All the foreign people really enjoyed the jack-o-lantern since they don't celebrate Halloween like in the U.S. and some haven't even seen a pumpkin! (Grandma Betty) I made a homemade pumpkin pie, with real pumpkin! I had to guess the measurements since I don't know grams or milliliters. The pie tasted good but needed some sugar. I had to have a pumpkin pie though! I love Halloween : )

Pictures of Valletta

Brazilian Jazz Concert

On October 21, my Spanish friend Lucia and I went to Valletta to see Botafogu, a Brazilian jazz band. It was an intimate setting, and the sound was great. The concert featured a Brazilian singer named Catia Werneck; she has quite a voice! The music was great! They used an array of South American percussion instruments that make fun sounds. When we were looking for the venue we met this very nice Maltese couple, looking for it also. We sat at a table with them and it was very pleasant. After the show it was pouring down rain, and the public buses had already stopped. Winter is the rainy season in Malta. And since there are no sewers or storm drains, there is no place for the water to go, hence the streets get very flooded. I mean...it looks like a river. Some cars can't move because there's so much water. So, the Maltese couple told us we could not walk and gave us a ride home. This was also my first experience in a Maltese car. It was nice!

Futball Match!

I went to the Malta vs. Moldova 'futball match' on the seventeenth of October. My face glowed with the colors of the Maltese flag, and I found a few others who were interested in face painting! The entire time it was raining, which is a bummer, however I was standing in a crowd of rowdy Spanish people that made it hard to not have a good time. Unfortunately Malta lost 2-3, and I can't even say they put up a good fight, but it was all very exciting for me to be at a national soccer game. And of course I'm thrilled to be in a place that knows the term football, to mean soccer, not 'American football.' I don't mean to offend my parents! Boomer Sooner! Hooray!

First Posting

This is a test....i love hot air balloons!