There will only be a few pictures, because there's almost nothing to tell. I apologize in advance for the quality — my parents' old camera still shoots pretty poorly. I would have bought myself the "DSLR alternative" Panasonic Lumix G1, which I like for some inexplicable reason, but there's no money allocated for it in my budget this year.
I made burritos from ready-made ingredients. It's not rocket science. You take Santa Maria tortillas (available in any supermarket), put in any filling (I followed a recipe on their site), pour Santa Maria taco sauce over it, and pop it into the oven. You could probably do it in a pan too; fried flatbreads taste better in my opinion, even if they are unhealthier. To my mind, it came out a bit dry — next time I'll use meat with some fat. It also turned out not spicy at all, because the taco sauce was mild, and there was no guacamole at all. The only thing that saved the day was my stashed Tabasco sauce, even though it was mild too.
Macho Valera polished off a bottle of rum all by himself. As usual, he entertained us enough for three with his jokes and banter. And when he wasn't entertaining us, we watched all sorts of New Year's crap. The Russian channels were showing Comedy Club and the like, while the highly spiritual Latvian ones had either dancing or an Intars Busulis concert. For those who, like me, don't follow the mighty Latvian pop scene, I offer a music video for one of his popular songs — Gonki (Races).
Intars's concert left an impression that was rather favorable than the opposite. You can hear and see that originally he is a jazz musician. As for the dancing, that was funny too. The thing is, rk13 used to be seriously into it back in the day, so whenever he saw the participants, he would exclaim things like: “Oh, remember when Violka and I drank vodka back then” (not addressing me). And I, in turn, would react: “You actually know the talking heads from the TV!”.
Here, for example, are the winners of the “Dance with a Star” contest, Viola Abramova and Raivis Vidzis. (I hope the analogies between this contest and Russian TV projects are clear). Raivis seems to be a bodybuilder or a powerlifter, so they look hilarious together. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a normal video of their dance, let alone the exact one we watched. So here's one filmed from a distance by an amateur.
There's also some in the news broadcast: Viola and Raivis up close
This was in a bag of groceries. What it is, where it came from, and why it has such a funny inscription — is shrouded in mystery.
Looks impressive, and is quite amazing really. It spins around, and you're allowed to grab whatever you want.
And here I am, already leaving.
Before leaving, I had a spot of tea at the railway terminal in the “Divi turki” tea and coffee shop-cafe. I didn't like the tea, they brewed it way too strong, it became bitter and tart, and you can only drink that kind of tea with sugar or sweets. I had to break off a piece of the chocolate bar I bought at Stockmann, and it got a bit better.