We woke up to a beautiful, balmy Christmas Eve Day
--65 degrees by noon. Walked to the near-by Starbucks
for a morning coffee and then headed to Brad's so as not
to miss out on one minute of the preparations. My
intention was to get my pies in the oven early before
other people started coming, but Brad decided he
wanted to wait until Christmas Day. There are some
traditional desserts they have so that was fine.
They were expecting 35 or so people and he was afraid
there wouldn't be enough pie for him!!
The backyard was already decorated for Christmas. The
tables were set and all the decorations were out. Lisi
really knocked herself out for this. The pool area was
very inviting, however the water was too cold for
swimming. Certainly made for a beautiful scene, don't
you think?
This is what was waiting for us when we got there. The 65 pound hog was strung up to dry after Brad prepared it for cooking. Once Frank (Brad's brother-in-law) arrived they moved the hog to the roasting box and readied it for cooking. The insulated wooden box has a metal tray in the bottom that the hog rests on. Another tray is positioned on top and then another grate on top of that that holds the charcoal. They pile on 2 large bags of charcoal and light it. Another bag is added every hour until the meat reaches 180 degrees. The heat radiates down from the top and the hog cooks inside like an oven. Every hour another bag of charcoal is added. There is a thermometer that tracks the temperature of the meat and when the temp reaches 180 degrees the trays are taken off and the hog is inverted for another half hour to 'crisp' up the skin.
The roasting process took about 7 hours. That time was spent socializing and catching up with people we had met 3 years ago. Lisi has a very close knit family. Most of the day consisted of cousins and friends streaming in and out of the house, checking out the roasting hog and catching up. Natalie has a friend that is living in Manhattan, going to school and auditioning for operatic parts. She treated us all to an opera selection. What a powerful voice! It's unbelievable to hear someone sing like that in person.
The hog was finally done and carried into the kitchen. Then the process of stripping the meat from the carcass began. The veterans were in charge of that process with Maria (Lisi's mother) at the head and Frankie helping her. Everyone gathered around as the ribs were separated and up for grabs. What a delicious taste. The marinade consisted of a Cuban mixture out of a bottle with Maria's special spices and sour oranges mixed in. Unbelievable!!! When all the meat was separated we sat down to typical Cuban fare. Salad with olive oil & garlic dressing, yuca (sp?) which is a fibrous root like a turnip-very bland but cooked with olive oil and bacon on top, and black beans and rice. To me, their typical menu is very bland. They don't add many other spices. It's very filling. The desserts, on the other hand, are all very sweet and varied. Lisi made flan, a custard with a burnt sugar coating on top and lots of candies, cookies, etc. Very different from the traditional Midwest fare. Everyone has large appetites and eats a lot; for me it was pretty heavy food and Chuck and I filled up fast. It was fairly late when we ate so a quick game of 'pass the presents' was played and then everyone broke up and headed for home. The cleanup took about an hour and we headed back to our hotel. Exhausted from the day.
I've have tried for 2 days to upload my pictures, but am having no luck. Somehow I must have changed the settings on my camera as the picture files are about 3x larger than normal. The loading process gets so far and then it just quits. If I can't figure it out, I'll have to post the pictures on my Facebook page. I've saved some space here to add the pictures if I get it figured out.
That's it for now. Will recap Christmas Day next.
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