Thanksgiving 2020 With a Side of Pandemic

I know I'm not supposed to cuss or Google will penalize my post, but f*ck it! It's been one challenging year. So, I get to say and write whatever the hell I want! Now, last year we didn't invite anyone over for Thanksgiving because someone cloned one of our debit cards and used it to steal all of our money. So, we really couldn't afford to buy a turkey or any other items to make a nice Thanksgiving feast. I honestly thought that 2019 was the worst for us, but then, the pandemic struck and changed everything.

We aren't allowed to invite friends or family over for any reason by order of the Argentine government, which meant we couldn't celebrate Thanksgiving with our friends this year. It's why we opted not to buy a turkey in 2020 either. So, this is what we made and how we celebrated.

Chicken Breasts, potatoes, stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes, pumpkin mash and breadsticks

We watched NBC's Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade from 2019. The 2020 one wasn't available on YouTube on the 26th.

Homemade apple pie

Apple pie with ice cream

I also wanted to share that a day before Thanksgiving, the hubs and I celebrated our 19-year anniversary. Although we got married in 2012, our relationship began when we met at Valencia Community College in Orlando, Florida, in 2001. We've been together ever since (except for three brief separations). So, we talked it over and came up with a simple way to celebrate.

But we had to be mindful of the danger that lurked out there. And I'm not just saying this because of the recent hate crimes that have plagued the LGBT community in Cordoba City. Earlier this month, the pride flag in Parque Sarmiento was burned to a crisp. It's not the first time that homophobes have tried something like this. Over the past few months, they've managed to successfully take down the flag numerous times, but the city has always raised a new flag in its place. This time was no different.

And while going out during the pandemic is risky, the rate of infection has actually gone down significantly over the past few weeks in Cordoba City and Argentina in general. A couple of months back, Cordoba was seeing a rate of infection close to and up to 2,000 a day. Now the number of daily infections are limited to about 450 to 780 a day. I just hope the numbers continue to decrease until the vaccine becomes available.

Anyway, the hubs and I went to Tucson Steakhouse & Bar to celebrate because their menu is more in tune with the kind of meals we eat in the states. Here are some of the items we ordered. For those of you who have read my blog posts about Tucson earlier this year, you'll notice that we pretty much ordered items that we've had before. Thankfully, the prices haven't really gone up too much.

Chicken Rolls

Ribs

Their burgers are so delicious but very big!

Now, all we have to do is lay low, stay healthy, and prepare for Christmas. It's a safe bet that we're going to be celebrating the holidays on our own this year as a result of the health restrictions in place. But we've managed to pull off Halloween and Thanksgiving just fine. So I'm confident we'll be able to pull off Christmas 2020 without a hitch.

Spoiler alert! We already decorated the Christmas tree. Well, actually, three trees. But I'll show you what they look like in a later post. 

Walmart Stores Are Leaving Argentina (Or Are They?)

It's no secret that the Argentine economy has suffered a big hit over the past year, particularly because of the pandemic. And one of their many casualties is Walmart, which has sold their stores to a Latin American retail company called Grupo de Narvaez. 

Sadly, the means that the store, as we've known it, is likely going to change. So, many of the items we couldn't find in other Argentine food chains, may no longer be available. We're talking things like:

• Waffles, which they recently introduced here (only at Walmart as far as we know)
• Bacon (the real kind, not the one that some Argentine supermarkets are trying to pass off as bacon)
• Cheddar cheese (again, not the kind that local supermarkets are claiming is cheddar but is really just American cheese... AND YES! There's a difference!)

Some of the other items that we're going to miss include:

• Fried mushroom
• Fried broccoli
• Bagels (occasionally)
• Ginger Ale
• Microwavable food items that don't actually suck (like the items on the top shelf pictured below)

But we're also going to miss the fact that you could actually walk around the meat and poultry section without wanting to puke from the stench. Whenever we go to a Libertad or VEA supermarket in Cordoba City, the meat smells so rotten that it feels like we're in a morgue without air conditioner or refrigeration units. But Walmart's meat section is always fresh.

Another thing we're going to miss is how efficient the security guards are. While we were in line, they were telling people who had their masks down to their chin to put their masks on right and they only allowed one person to be in line at a time. By this I mean that when we tried going in, the security guard told one of us to wait outside in order to limit a crowd, which in this day and age is a health risk. You're definitely not going to find that level of efficiency in other supermarkets around here.

But I'll admit that the Argentine Walmart stores didn't always have what we were looking for either. For one thing, their DVD sections are limited to a handful of movies and no DVD boxes. But that's typical around here. It's why bootlegs are the norm in this country. 

They also got rid of their international food section which I'm assuming is the result of the company finding it difficult to import certain items into the country, like Kraft Mac and Cheese. Either that, or people just weren't interested in international items and the corporate heads realized they were losing money.

Turkey slices, ginger ale, donuts, plantains

Cole Slaw

Flashback to when we found Mac and Cheese in 2013

Although it's a Great Value brand, it still tastes much better than the Argie's Knorr brand. Side note: I was a young man once. Wow!

But one thing we've noticed is that while the Walmart stores here have more food brand options, they don't come nearly close to what's offered back home. Take cereal for example. In the states, you can find Frosted Flakes, Lucky Charms, Trix, Honeycomb, Froot Loops, Cinnamon Toast Crunch and several other brands, each with their own unique flavors and twist. Argentine Walmart stores are limited to the basic like Corn Flakes, Froot Loops and a bunch of generic brands that are practically clones of the premium brands.

Despite some of the cons, we're going to miss Walmart in Argentina. The store's spacious floor set up is nearly identical to the one in the states. So, with the exception of the signs that are in Spanish, it felt like we were back home. Now this may not mean much to some of our fellow expats who are able to travel back and forth. But our budget is severely limited. We haven't been home in over eight years, and if I'm being honest, the odds of going back for a visit are a billion to one. It's why Walmart was such a big deal to us and why we're so bummed that they are leaving. 

As far as when this transition of power is going to occur remains to be seen. I asked a few store employees about how they felt about what was happening but only one of them seemed to know what was going on and he had no idea if people were going to lose their jobs or if they were all just going to change uniforms and continue working once the transition was complete. 

Regardless, we already said our goodbyes over the weekend just in case this really was the last time. BUT WAIT! There might be a silver lining! 

When I reached out to Walmart Argentina via e-mail, they claimed that their stores would continue operating the same as always and that their products and customer service would remain the same. So did we jump the gun? I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Here's How We Celebrated Our In-Home Spooktoberfest 2020

You’ve probably seen those memes on Instagram that say, “Why celebrate Halloween when I’ve been wearing a mask and eating candy all year long?” Well, Halloween is our favorite holiday, and there was no way we were letting the pandemic ruin it for us. So, here’s what we did for our in-home Spooktoberfest in 2020. And be sure to check out our list of top Halloween movies in this post!

To kick things off, we paid a visit to Smile Disfraces Cotillon in Córdoba City, which is packed with Halloween goodies like masks, plastic pumpkins, costumes, and decorations for your walls, tables, and even a Halloween tree.

We actually went there looking for a Face Hugger mask from the Alien film, but by the time we arrived, they had sold the last one. While we were pretty bummed about that, it didn’t stop us from spending a couple of thousand pesos on some extra decorations.

Once we got home, we pulled out our black Christmas tree and decorated it with spooky ornaments like Jack-O’-Lanterns, Halloween masks, and fake blood bags we’d collected over the years. We finished the look with some purple lights and Jack-O’-Lantern string lights from Smile Disfraces Cotillon. Now, I might be biased since it’s our tree, but I absolutely loved how it turned out!

Afterwards, we created a makeshift Halloween bar to die for. It had everything from skeleton shots to a glowing Jack-O’-Lantern, and even a spider web snack bowl full of candy, all being "watched" by the spirits. Beware of what you take!

The plan was to use this space for the Halloween snacks we intended to bake on the 31st. But first, we had to plan our menu, which we thought would be smaller since it was just the two of us this year. However, as you’ll soon see, it didn’t exactly turn out that way.

We baked sugar cookies in the shape of Jack-O’-Lanterns and witch hats, then ordered some donuts from American Donuts and dressed them up with spooky toppings.

We even used a Jack-O’-Lantern mold we bought from a store called Falabella to make this cake, adding orange food coloring to the cake mix for that perfect pumpkin hue. It helped us feel a little better since we weren’t able to carve pumpkins this year. But don’t worry, we carved this one out with our mouths later on!

And of course, our dessert bar wouldn’t have been complete without The Blob—or rather, a bowl full of Jell-O with gummy bone shapes. Don’t stick your hand in, or you’ll be sorry!

But the hubby really impressed me (get your mind out of the gutter) when he created bats using nothing but Oreo cookies and two white chocolate chips for the eyes.

Next, we brought back one of my favorites—dirt pudding. Don’t worry, we didn’t use real dirt! It’s made with vanilla pudding, crushed Oreos, and gummy worms. We dare you to take a bite! This isn’t Mary Poppins’ spoonful of sugar, honey!

Halloween wouldn’t be the same without a bloody syringe on a cupcake and someone’s brains saying hello. I have to say, the hubby really outdid himself this year.

But we were worried about going into a diabetic coma, so we balanced things out with a couple of salty treats, like these ghost nuggets and mummy potatoes. The ghost nuggets were the easiest—just add eyes with barbecue sauce. For the mummy potatoes, we cut a potato in half, baked it, and then sliced mozzarella cheese to create the illusion of bandages before adding the eyes with barbecue sauce. And we didn’t stop there.

We also made witch hats out of Dorito 3D chips, guacamole cheese spread, and Ritz crackers (or rather, the Argentine equivalent of Ritz). Then, we created Frankenstein crackers using guacamole cheese spread for the face, olives for the nose, and red peppers for the mouth.

But we always aim to go above and beyond each year to make our food look even creepier. And that’s where these next creations came in.

We gave our boiled eggs a Halloween makeover using black food coloring. To get that webbed effect, we gently cracked the shells, placed the eggs in a Zip-Lock bag with the food coloring, and gave it a good shake. After letting them sit for a bit, we peeled off the shells—and voilà! This was the end result. And yes, they’re totally edible... but beware—a Face Hugger might be lurking inside.

Now, I’m not going to lie—we usually prepare this much food for ourselves and our friends. But this time, we definitely lost our heads and went overboard. As of this post, we’re still working through the leftovers, and our candy basket is still full.

Now, on to the fun part: wearing our masks and other Halloween accessories.

We bought this Face Hugger ring from the Alien film franchise at Foto Caja in Córdoba City. The store has tons of items that are perfect for sci-fi enthusiasts, and I highly recommend checking it out if you’re living here.

As for those orange skull Jell-O shot glasses—I picked them up at Smile Disfraces Cotillon. And let me tell you, a little rum and a cherry inside does the body good!

Of course, I wore my Jason Voorhees ring from Friday the 13th, and I’ll probably wear it again for the upcoming Friday the 13th this November. Unfortunately, I’m barred from slashing anyone—my husband says it’s unkind (just kidding, he fully approves!).

We got our masks at Smile Disfraces Cotillon, too. They were decent, but I’m hoping to find spookier masks and accessories next year to level things up.

Another one of our favorite Halloween traditions is our 31-day Halloween movie countdown. Every October, we watch one scary movie each day—and this year was no exception. Some of the newer films we checked out included:

• Alone (starring Tyler Posey)

• Follow Me

• The Witches (the remake—not a favorite)

• The Craft: Legacy (also not a favorite)

We also revisited some old favorites:

• Resident Evil (starring Milla Jovovich)

• The Conjuring (1 and 2)

• Hostel (1, 2, and 3)

• Insidious (1 and 2—we skipped 3 and 4 because, well... they sucked)

• Dead Silence

And to top it all off, we played Hunter: The Reckoning – Wayward. Somehow, we had this game sitting around and had never played it—turns out, it’s actually pretty scary. I swear, I had to go wipe myself three times, and my husband screamed like he was getting mugged in a subway station. Ironically, that’s exactly where we were—fighting monsters in a subway station.

Despite the pandemic and social distancing restrictions, we still managed to have a lot of fun. We loved our Halloween decorations so much that we’re probably going to keep most of them up until New Year’s—or maybe even a bit into next year. You would too if you’d spent as much time putting them up as we did!

Next up: Thanksgiving Feast 2020! My husband promised not to go overboard with the dishes this year... but a part of me doesn’t believe him—and honestly, my stomach’s okay with that.

Goodbye House of Donas

So there's a bit of bad news for us donut loving expats and locals here in Cordoba City. A few days ago, House of Donas posted on Instagram that Friday and Saturday (November 6 and 7) were the last days customers could order some of their delicious donuts.

Obviously, I was upset because the hubs and I love their donuts. But we couldn't let House of Donas leave without ordering from them one last time, which we did.

So here are some of the tasty flavors that we got, which included blueberry, jelly, lemon glazed, cinnamon, pink, and of course, my favorite, the Boston Cream donuts.

House of Donas might be gone for now, but fortunately, there is a silver lining as they've told me that they might return for special events. I'm assuming they were referring to things like Mother's Day or Valentine's Day. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed that like the Terminator, they'll be back!

In the meantime, there's another donut shop called Gregory's Donuts in Nueva Cordoba that offers a variety of flavors, and we're look forward to trying them out in the near future.