Thursday, November 26, 2009

A Very Chinese Thanksgiving

After some good sleep, we left for my dad's house at about 10:30am.  He lives two hours away in LA County.  The traffic up wasn't too bad.  There were a few slow spots, but we made good time overall.  We haven't made this drive in a couple of months.  My favorite part about the drive up to my dad's (and Todd says it's his favorite too) is that we get to really tune out other things and talk to each other, just chat about what's on our minds.  Todd and I talked about what we're thankful for this year.

Todd said he's thankful for his health.  Even though he got a running injury this year, he has recovered from it and can aim for some fitness goals again.  He's thankful to have a good job, and one that is challenging him intellectually.  He's thankful to have friends at work.  He's thankful for the functional (as opposed to dysfunctional) relationship he has with his family.  He's thankful for the openness of our relationship, that we can talk to each other about everything on our hearts.

I'm thankful for God's grace.  Because I fail all the time, and He still loves me and wants me to get closer to Him.  I'm thankful that my dad is still around for us to enjoy his company.  Thankful that he has a companion in Shelly.  I'm thankful that I'm getting close to 40 years old, yet I still feel healthy and fit.  I can set fitness goals and try to achieve them.  I feel great on most days.  I'm thankful that I don't have anxiety attacks anymore, and I know the early signs that could lead to one and can avoid them.  I'm thankful that even with several years in the same job role, I can continue to grow and learn new processes and responsibilities.  I'm thankful for my friends both IRL and online.  I'm thankful for a hobby that's very fulfilling to me (yes, digital scrapbooking!).

Did you know that most Chinese restaurants and supermarkets are still open on Thanksgiving Day?  Yea!  When we got to my dad's house, we rested for only a few minutes.  Then we headed out for a Chinese Thanksgiving lunch.

Dad and Shelly enjoying some good Chinese food.
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The spread.
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Todd is really great with chopsticks, even compared to some Chinese people I know.
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On the way out from the restaurant, we saw this cute snowman cake in the bakery.
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His head is a little flat, but otherwise he's very cute. Todd wanted me to take a photo of him, but I was a little nervous. I had heard that ever since the Cake Wrecks blog came out, bakeries don't like it when people take photos of their creations. I snuck a photo, then ran away before anyone came after me. :|

After lunch we went back to my dad's house. Even though we were already full, my dad pushed more food on us. Isn't it funny how no matter how old you are, parents still push enormous amounts of food on you when you visit? My dad was the guava-pusher today.
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Can you believe that these delicious pink guava fruits just grows on the trees at my dad's office? Yum! The brown powdery stuff on there is some kind of tangy salt that you put on the guava and it makes them taste even better.

Shelly cooked a really great Chinese dinner that Todd even exclaimed that it was better than lunch.
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Shelly made marinated eggplants, seabass with garlic & green onion, and ribs.  Todd made Creamy Carrot and Sweet Potato Soup and Green Beans with Garlic Vinaigrette. It was all very yummy, and I ate too much.

After dinner we watched a DVD about the Forbidden City in Beijing.  It was interesting but we got tired.  (Maybe it was food coma, ha ha.)  We went to sleep around 11.

9 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing your Thanksgiving. The melting snowman cake was the cutest thing. I think it would be hard to carve into such a cute cake...but, I doubt I would struggle very long :D.

    OK, so I need some chopstick advice from Todd..I love to eat with them, but I can't seem to figure out sushi. Should I just give up and use my fork (or fingers ;) )??

    I'm so glad you were able to spend Thanksgiving with your Dad and Shelly.

    (I'm thankful for my online friends too..this year has been a blast!)...OK, off to decorate for Christmas.

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  2. very cool day! i love asian food! I even tried to convert to a japanese diet last year but only kept at it for about 3 or 4 months. The dinner spread looks gorgeous!! happy thanksgiving to ya'll!!

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  3. Chopsticks, huh? The key for me is to have the bottom chopstick be a solid base while the upper one moves.

    Here's the first video I found on the subject
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJrz8HYaOfA

    They mention that only the top stick should move but don't emphasize it. That's the key. The three bottom fingers and the base of the thumb have to keep that stick solid.

    Good luck.

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  4. I find it interesting to see what chinese food is eaten overseas, it's so different :)

    Btw, the 'salt' you ate with the guava is sourplum :) I love it with watermelon & sour oranges too.

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  5. We normally have a traditional Thanksgiving meal but I would love to have had Chinese food. Yummy. Thank you for sharing your day with us.

    You'll have to tell Todd that my dad gave me a bunch of Coke in bottles made the way it used to be made I guess. Everything was in spanish and it said it was made in Mexico so I'm not sure but it was awful. It just tasted like flat, sugar water. And there wasn't much sugar and no carbonation. Yuck! I was so excited when he gave be the bottles because I wanted to tell Todd about them. Imagine my horror when I took a drink and it was so horrible I threw it out. YUCK! Back to cans. LOL

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  6. Oh, that food looks so delicious! Glad that you got to spend your Thanksgiving with you dad :o)

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  7. We go out for Chinese too but we go on Christmas. We go to relatives in NYC, in Chelsea, and we always went to this great Chinese place around the corner, every Christmas day. The last couple of years we switched to a Vietnamese fusion place since our old place had new, bad, management.

    PS _ I LOVE Dad's MURSE!!!!!

    Oh, and I believe it IS ok to eat the cut up hand rolls with fingers.

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  8. I love chinese food and I can eat with chopsticks, too!! It´s a wonderful stuff

    Glad you all had such a wonderful thanksgiving day

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  9. Happy belated Thanksgiving to you and your family! Looks like you all had a wonderful time.

    We don't celebrate Thanksgiving in Sweden (for obvious reasons), but it is so interesting to read about how you celebrate it. I think all holidays are about food! :P

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