Saturday Stirrings (Shrimp Spread) and a little meandering thrown in for free

Speaking of FREE, we went to a FREE concert "From Mozart to the Beatles" at the municipality last night. Lovely, lovely music! If I'd answered the Random Dozen questions AFTER the concert I may have had to change my answer to #4. Food sustains but music transports us. *sigh* Can you tell I enjoyed the concert?

We don't have to stop enjoying the music because we bought their CD, "Viena: Ciudad de mis sueños". You can enjoy their music too, because the Ensamble del Sur is on MySpace with a few of their pieces available for your listening pleasure. You're welcome.

It was the first concert of this nature I've been to since we moved. Not to say we've been lacking in culture. There have been the occasional peñas (folklore festivals) and a free dance performance by the ballet company from Buenos Aires, but I just hadnt been up to going to other ones before this. Ivan's gone and thoroughly enjoyed them, so I knew we were in for a treat.

Surprising that in a town this size (roughly 80,000) only a handful turn out for these FREE concerts. Maybe around 100. They don't even bother setting up many chairs. I guess experience has shown them how many to expect and rather than have a bunch of empty seats, they just set up a smaller number that get filled. Ivan went to one by a fairly famous guitarist a while back and only a dozen people showed up to listen. Granted, that one had not been advertised well at all by the municipality, but still....word-of-mouth is how most people learn about what's happening here. I've never seen a grapevine work so fast and efficiently (except maybe my hometown in southeastern Kentucky when it seemed my mom knew what I was up to before I did). We had no less than three people inform us about the concert this week. And our pool of acquaintances is still fairly small.

Our co-workers had to make a quick trip to Bs. As. so we are enjoying the company of their two youngest. Who aren't so young at ages 11 and almost 15. The almost-15-year-old stayed with us a while back and we taught her the ins-and-outs of playing Hand & Foot (which has as many versions as people who play, so don't think this link is the last word; our version is significantly different) and today we'll be teaching the 11-year-old and then having a good old-fashioned tournament. Winners: get ice cream. Losers: get ice cream too :-)

I cleaned house yesterday, knowing we'd have the girls over the weekend and I didn't want to have to clean while they were here. I swept the entire house and mopped those rooms that needed it. And do you know what had the audacity to show up not two hours after I finished? A HUGE, GINORMOUS, REALLY BIG dust bunny! Ivan built wonderful bed platforms that allow us to store bins underneath on both sides (helps tremendously with the storage problem) but I'll admit I rarely bother to sweep under there, preferring to let the bedskirts do their job: look pretty and hide the junk. BUT I think that's where the dust bunnies have a production factory running 24/7.

Have been thinking about the whole furniture arrangement thing too. The bedrooms are TINY so we can basically fit a bed in there and not much more. The guest room currently houses a nightstand, bed, small bookshelf and a tall chest of drawers. It.Is.Crowded. I'd like to move the chest of drawers to the kitchen where I could use it for napkins, tableclothes, tupperware-like containers and lids, food items that come in packets (put them in baskets and into drawers), and all the miscellaneous items that accumulate in that room.

Then the dresser that now sits in the living room would get moved to the guest room.

(I know this isn't the most exciting stuff. But it's my life, and that's what I share on this blog.)

We're going to put all the bookshelves Ivan built, including the one now in the study, in a corner of the living room.

All this so there will be room for the futon. For whenever we finally get it. Next week we might go into Cordoba and take a fabric swatch (from what I'm using to cover the IKEA chair cushions) so we can coordinate the fabric on the futon. Don't want it all matchy-matchy but we also don't want it to clash.

Normally we go to Cordoba once a month, to check on DNIs and do the monthly-shopping-marathon. But we've gone five times in the past 10 days. A trip to the airport, twice to take the girls to piano lessons, one time to pick up household items from a missionary who's leaving the country, and Ivan went in one evening to a Bible conference. And with all those trips there was a time element involved (as in, didn't have time for anything else) so we really want to go back and visit our friends, the Colles, and swing by the futon place.

Oh, and check out frames at Walmart. They have a HUGE selection. Yes, I am still waffling on the frame selection. Haven't seen anything yet that I really like. Normally I'm a pretty decisive person but for some reason this process has left me with a serious case of DMD (decision-making disorder). I do know what I DON'T want though! That's half the battle, isn't it?!

For those of you patient enough to hang in there while I rambled on and on and on.....here's a recipe that is totally worth the trouble. Because Dee is hosting Saturday Stirrings and has posted her (in)famous holiday recipe which means I have to come up with something equally spectacular so as not to embarrass myself.

(To be honest, it's a little hard to think Thanksgiving or even Christmas when it's ninety eleven degrees outside, but I'm trying. )

Holiday Shrimp Spread

(serve with water crackers)

• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 3 (4 ounce) cans shrimp
• 1 cup cocktail sauce
• 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 3 green onions, chopped
• 1 medium tomato - peeled, seeded and chopped
• bag of frozen medium-size or jumbo shrimp, already deveined
  

Mix cream cheese, sour cream and mayonnaise until well blended. Spread on large plate or platter. Drain and rinse canned shrimp. Spread over cream cheese mixture. Pour cocktail sauce over top. Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese, then the chopped bell pepper, onion and tomato.
(The green of the bell pepper and red tomato make it quite festive and Christmasy so it's especially good to serve this at parties in December.)
Thaw frozen shrimp and then artfully arrange around edge of plate. Use generous amounts of clear wrap to cover the dish so it doesn't stink up your refrigerator while you chill it at least a few hours before serving.
Doesn't get much easier than this!
Serve with water wafers which serve as a vehicle for the shrimp spread rather than competing with the flavors as other crackers are wont to do. Some crackers just want all the attention! Use those on a different party tray.

Have a wonderful weekend!