Holidays for real
The Holidays this year were hectic. Adult responsibilities and such, you know?
Long shifts at work nearly every day started to get very draining towards the end. Even so, I'm finding this week far more difficult than even the week of Christmas ever was.
Maybe it's because we're hemorrhaging money now as compared to actually making profit.
Enough work chatter, though.
I was actually pretty excited for Christmas this year, the whole festive spirit kept me looking forward to the day the house would be filled with relatives. There would be great food and amazing amounts of it. The house is decorated and smelling sweetly of pine. The tree looked dazzling this year (I refused to use the colored lights this year and actually strove to make the tree match).
Like last year, I picked out the wrapping paper (from work, lulz, but we have niiiiice gift wrap) and my mom and I spent an evening making all the packages look like they were just hoarked out of Martha Stewart magazine. I loves to make things pretty. Too bad the little kids don't appreciate our hard work :P Ah well. I liked how they looked all together.
Snackies: Mini hoddeok (korean pan fried cakes filled with molten brown sugar, cinnamon and peanuts)
Dinner:
Seafood gumbo (we must have this every year, people get cranky if we don't)
Grilled prime steaks with a pineapple sauce
Roasted duck with apricot glaze
Curry stir fried mei fun (rice noodles) with shrimp, chicken and nuts
Sticky rice with shitake mushrooms, pork and dried shrimp (a celebratory dish for my one month old baby niece)
Crap dip with a crispy broiled crust
Fried head on shrimp rolled in spices
Bok choy and tofu stuffed with shrimp and chicken
Stir fried baby gai lan with frizzled shallots
GINORMOUS sushi/sashimi plate
Lobster salad (with whole chunks of fresh lobster)
Dessert:
Pannetone (brought by a guest. We Chinese, we don't do Pannetone)
Cantonese style strawberry cake
Flan (also a much demanded Christmas standby)
Peanut tong shui (a warm Chinese dessert soup, this version had peanuts, chewy mochi bits infused with taro and kabocha pumpkin and a bits of a gelatin-like substance not unlike agar or konnyaku)
Giant fruit plates of doom
Then there was present time. Despite everyone saying they weren't going to buy presents for anyone this year, there ended up being something for everyone under the tree. So much for that, eh?
It worked out nicely though since everyone present got a little something. Except for the kids, the kids got mountains. That's just how we roll.
The Haul:
MONEY ENVELOPES <3
Mariebelle hot chocolate sample box - Aztec, dark chocolate, mocha and spicy hot chocolate
BIG tin of Mariebelle Aztec hot chocolate from my sister
2010 Cute Overload desk calendar
Macy's gift cards
Visa gift card
---------
Today I actually braved the malls to attempt to spend my gift cards because I will never actively enter a brick and mortar store looking to buy something for myself unless I make a pointed effort to be capitalistic. The cards will inevitably sit around somewhere for two years and expire unless I burn through them now.
I tried to find some nice boots, maybe a new bag or wallet to replace the ratty-looking ones I've been using up until now. Massive failure on that front, I'm just pretty impossible to shop for. The boots with either too hoochy mama with all kinds of studs and chains dripping from them with 5 inch spike heels, or they were paper bags in the spirit of the hideous UGG.
You can't buy a purse or bag these days that isn't tackily screaming its brand name in some way. I can't handle that, I've never been a girl who needed to wear status on my sleeve and I won't start now.
In true nerd fashion I found love and success in Williams & Sonoma. Probably spent half an hour in there just gazing starry-eyed at the frivolous food products and gadgets gleaming and sweet-scented on their walls. Finally came away with a microplane grater sharp enough to shred a hand and a silicone heat proof pastry brush with removable bristles for easy washing!
I can't wait to grate something :B
I also had the loveliest lunch at Grato, a newish Italian restaurant that opened up near us. I was pleasantly surprised. It's got a gorgeous interior, all natural stone and wood. We were seated in some prime seats, a plush booth in front of a roaring wood-burning fireplace.
I ordered their hot buttered apple cider with cinnamon (feeling festive!) and penne bolognese.
Mum got their wood-fired pizza with ricotta, fontina, pancetta, pumpkin and sage.
Dad had the herbed orrechiete with sausage, broccoli and chicken. We also got the grilled octopus and fennel for all of us to fight over. Dad sopped up the sauce with the crust of his bread it was that good.
It makes me so happy to find a good restaurant nearby. In NJ, such a feat can be a little like digging up gems from dirt. And of course nothing makes me happier than a good meal.
Long shifts at work nearly every day started to get very draining towards the end. Even so, I'm finding this week far more difficult than even the week of Christmas ever was.
Maybe it's because we're hemorrhaging money now as compared to actually making profit.
Enough work chatter, though.
I was actually pretty excited for Christmas this year, the whole festive spirit kept me looking forward to the day the house would be filled with relatives. There would be great food and amazing amounts of it. The house is decorated and smelling sweetly of pine. The tree looked dazzling this year (I refused to use the colored lights this year and actually strove to make the tree match).
Like last year, I picked out the wrapping paper (from work, lulz, but we have niiiiice gift wrap) and my mom and I spent an evening making all the packages look like they were just hoarked out of Martha Stewart magazine. I loves to make things pretty. Too bad the little kids don't appreciate our hard work :P Ah well. I liked how they looked all together.
Snackies: Mini hoddeok (korean pan fried cakes filled with molten brown sugar, cinnamon and peanuts)
Dinner:
Seafood gumbo (we must have this every year, people get cranky if we don't)
Grilled prime steaks with a pineapple sauce
Roasted duck with apricot glaze
Curry stir fried mei fun (rice noodles) with shrimp, chicken and nuts
Sticky rice with shitake mushrooms, pork and dried shrimp (a celebratory dish for my one month old baby niece)
Crap dip with a crispy broiled crust
Fried head on shrimp rolled in spices
Bok choy and tofu stuffed with shrimp and chicken
Stir fried baby gai lan with frizzled shallots
GINORMOUS sushi/sashimi plate
Lobster salad (with whole chunks of fresh lobster)
Dessert:
Pannetone (brought by a guest. We Chinese, we don't do Pannetone)
Cantonese style strawberry cake
Flan (also a much demanded Christmas standby)
Peanut tong shui (a warm Chinese dessert soup, this version had peanuts, chewy mochi bits infused with taro and kabocha pumpkin and a bits of a gelatin-like substance not unlike agar or konnyaku)
Giant fruit plates of doom
Then there was present time. Despite everyone saying they weren't going to buy presents for anyone this year, there ended up being something for everyone under the tree. So much for that, eh?
It worked out nicely though since everyone present got a little something. Except for the kids, the kids got mountains. That's just how we roll.
The Haul:
MONEY ENVELOPES <3
Mariebelle hot chocolate sample box - Aztec, dark chocolate, mocha and spicy hot chocolate
BIG tin of Mariebelle Aztec hot chocolate from my sister
2010 Cute Overload desk calendar
Macy's gift cards
Visa gift card
---------
Today I actually braved the malls to attempt to spend my gift cards because I will never actively enter a brick and mortar store looking to buy something for myself unless I make a pointed effort to be capitalistic. The cards will inevitably sit around somewhere for two years and expire unless I burn through them now.
I tried to find some nice boots, maybe a new bag or wallet to replace the ratty-looking ones I've been using up until now. Massive failure on that front, I'm just pretty impossible to shop for. The boots with either too hoochy mama with all kinds of studs and chains dripping from them with 5 inch spike heels, or they were paper bags in the spirit of the hideous UGG.
You can't buy a purse or bag these days that isn't tackily screaming its brand name in some way. I can't handle that, I've never been a girl who needed to wear status on my sleeve and I won't start now.
In true nerd fashion I found love and success in Williams & Sonoma. Probably spent half an hour in there just gazing starry-eyed at the frivolous food products and gadgets gleaming and sweet-scented on their walls. Finally came away with a microplane grater sharp enough to shred a hand and a silicone heat proof pastry brush with removable bristles for easy washing!
I can't wait to grate something :B
I also had the loveliest lunch at Grato, a newish Italian restaurant that opened up near us. I was pleasantly surprised. It's got a gorgeous interior, all natural stone and wood. We were seated in some prime seats, a plush booth in front of a roaring wood-burning fireplace.
I ordered their hot buttered apple cider with cinnamon (feeling festive!) and penne bolognese.
Mum got their wood-fired pizza with ricotta, fontina, pancetta, pumpkin and sage.
Dad had the herbed orrechiete with sausage, broccoli and chicken. We also got the grilled octopus and fennel for all of us to fight over. Dad sopped up the sauce with the crust of his bread it was that good.
It makes me so happy to find a good restaurant nearby. In NJ, such a feat can be a little like digging up gems from dirt. And of course nothing makes me happier than a good meal.