When we were in Italy, we stayed in a cute hotel in Florence where they served breakfast every morning. One of our favorite things to eat there was the soft-boiled egg that they would make for us and serve on a little egg holder. When we got back, Jes talked about it a few times and my mom remembered. So for Christmas, she bought Jes a pair of egg cups from Crate and Barrel. Thanks, Mommy! Last weekend I made a soft-boiled egg and overcooked it. Aw shucks.
On Tuesday, we had an impromptu lunch with the family including my parents, Jes’ parents, the Suminos, Jason and Jia, and Marie’s parents! Good thing we planned on having dim sum because they can accommodate a table for 13.
It was so much fun to see the boys again and Brandon sang “Joy to the World” for me.
I promised that they’d get a surprise if they ate all their food and were so excited to open their Christmas gifts. Cole even gave his Uncle Jesse a big thank-you hug.
After lunch, we took Jason and Jia to the airport and then spent the afternoon just kickin’ it in the Magical House. Later that evening, we met up with the Sokol-Juns who were sans children. We shared a big meal of Japanese BBQ with at a taste of almost every part of the cow. It’s a place called Tsuruhashi and it’s hidden away in Fountain Valley. Good times…
On Wednesday morning, we headed out for our drive back to SF. It started out pretty rainy and hit a little bit of traffic in Commerce but once we were out of the Grapevine, the rain stopped and the sun came out. I think we saw 4 rainbows on our way home! Too bad I was driving while it all happened so I have no photos to show for them.
Dog did a good job just hanging out in the backseat again but seemed relieved to be back in his bed again.
Here are photos from our Christmas Vacation in Southern California.
On Sunday, I picked up Holly and we spent the afternoon at Huntington Beach for a long walk and some catching up. Afterward, we headed to Irvine to visit Patty and Johnny’s new house where a bunch of old friends from Whitney were gathered with all their little children for the evening. It was a brief but very cool reunion.
For dinner, we drove back to Cerritos for a dinner gathering. We shared pitchers of Hite, chicken wings, and bulgogi pizza. It was so fun to have everyone together in one place. Times like this make me miss our Christmas parties in Irvine.
On Monday, I drove to El Segundo with Joy to pick up Brother for lunch at Simmzy’s. We spent a couple hours in Manhattan Beach where the sun was shining and it was pleasantly warm outside. We took Koa along for the ride and after sniffing and peeing along the beach, we had to tie him up outside of the restaurant. To minimize the barking that usually occurs when strangers try to pet him, I posted a sign on him.
I spent the rest of the afternoon in Cerritos at my parents’ house until it was time for dinner. We met up again that night and had some tasty Korean BBQ at Shik Do Rak.
We spent Christmas Day in the house with the exception of taking a preemptive 3-mile run in the morning. The brothers got matching outfits from their mom again and Jia and I each got another coat. We had leftovers from 3 different meals from the day before and hung out in our pjs playing games and making dinner.
Jes prepared a standing rib roast while we worked together to warm up the pre-cooked turkey and honey ham that his mom bought. For dinner, we had WAY too much food but it was still fun.
For Christmas, we drove down to LA on Thursday (12/23) and as soon as we arrived in Buena Park, I headed over to Yorba Linda where the UCLA girls met up at Linda and Shaun’s house. It was so fun to hang out with the babies. Linda’s youngest son, Christian, was just smitten with Sandy’s little girl, Mia, and followed her around with her sippy cup all night. Later that night I picked up Jes and Jason and we met up with Dayantha and Huy at Shipmates.
On Chirstmas Eve, we met up with the family for a big lunch at Thai Nakorn. We all got to catch up and opened a few presents. Brother and Joy bought me a stick blender and Jes got a currency colostomy bag. Awesome. Thanks guys!
For dinner, we had a big dinner at Ten Ten complete with Peking Duck and salt and pepper pork. Yum. Jia had just arrived Christmas Eve morning so it was great to have the family back together again.
“Top Chef Season 8: All Stars” started last Wednesday and Brother decided to do a Fantasy Top Chef draft. There are 4 of us playing: Brother, Joy, my friend Teresa, and yours truly. We each have 4 chefs on our team and our chefs score 5 points for winning an elimination challenge, 3 for a quickfire win, 1 for cursing, and 1 for crying. My team consists of Angelo, Spike, Jennifer, and Fabio. So far Angelo has been pulling through for me with two Elimination Challenge wins while Jennifer just got kicked off tonight. Fortunately she still scored me 2 points for cursing and crying on her way out the door.
It’s been fun watching this group of chefs again and it’s even more fun watching it every Wednesday night with the family over video chat. Brother bought Joy a new macbook so we’ve been able to use iChat and we get to call out who’s cursing while posting up the scores live with shared Google Docs. I [heart] technology.
When we were in Italy, we stayed in a cute hotel in Florence where they served breakfast every morning. One of our favorite things to eat there was the soft-boiled egg that they would make for us and serve on a little egg holder. When we got back, Jes talked about it a few times and my mom remembered. So for Christmas, she bought Jes a pair of egg cups from Crate and Barrel. Thanks, Mommy! Last weekend I made a soft-boiled egg and overcooked it. Aw shucks.
Maybe I need this iPad app.
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