Archive for "Family"
Thanksgiving 2015: All is Well That Ends Well
Posted on December 5, 2015 by Ching under Events, Family, Games.
It was a little stressful this year but it turned out alright overall.
The days leading up to Thanksgiving were hectic. We found a car for Brian, which we paid for on Monday. Then we sold Bebot on Wednesday. That didn’t really leave much time to get ready for Thanksgiving specially since Brian worked Monday and Tuesday.
Luckily, we don’t really have to do much to prepare for the meal. We just buy the deluxe holiday meal from Fresh Market as we’ve done the last few years and follow the reheating instructions. The nice thing is we’ve done this a few times that we have it down. We just pull up our Thanksgiving project timeline year after year and follow the schedule.
The only hitch this year was that we didn’t get everything that was supposed to be in the box. Didn’t realize it until we were planning where everything was to go. I was like, “Turkey will go here. Ham will go here. Stuffing will go here…” And then Brian interrupts and tells me we don’t have any stuffing.
I was like, “What do you mean we don’t have any stuffing?”
“They didn’t give us any,” was Brian’s reply.
I opened the fridge in disbelief. Sure enough, no stuffing. Brian didn’t think we were supposed to get any and was rather calm about it. I don’t really care for stuffing but I was quite upset. We paid for the deluxe holiday meal package and three pounds of stuffing was part of the deal. Not only is stuffing a big part of Thanksgiving, but it was on the list of things we were supposed to get. I had to show Brian this picture to prove to him that we got gypped.
I called Fresh Market at least three times but there was no answer each time. I don’t know why I bothered or why I kept trying other than I was desperate. I knew that they would be closed for the day and there was nothing we could do. We had to go without stuffing for Thanksgiving this year.
On the bright side, I really don’t like stuffing so it’s not like we were missing anything important. Had they gypped us on the corn soufflé then I probably would have gone completely ballistic. LOL.
Here are some pictures from Thanksgiving.
Mom made lumpia so we just put it in place of where we were going to put the stuffing so there wasn’t an empty slot. It turned out alright. I don’t think anyone really cares for stuffing either, and I’d rather have lumpia any day.
Since we had lumpia, we had to bust out the bottle of Silver Swan soy sauce and Datu Puti suka. Mom brought a bottle of banana ketchup for also.
This is our turkey.
We got two different kind of bread to go with our meal. Fresh Market’s bread is yummy!
We also had ham because that was part of the deal.
The mashed potatoes were delicious. Don’t know what’s so different about these, but the mashed potatoes made by Fresh Market are just better than others I think.
We had way too much green beans.
This is the corn shuffle, which is my favorite dish out of all the items that the deluxe holiday meal includes. It doesn’t look like much but it is delicious. We usually have leftovers of everything else but this always gets wiped out.
We were expecting a few more people to join us but things came up and it was just us.
We still had a great time, though.
Brian made these decadent “adult chocolate pudding” desserts with Rumchata and Godiva. Everyone else thought it was too strong but I liked it.
Afterwards grandma taught mom and dad how to play Skip Bo.
And then it was time to video chat with Brian’s folks in Oklahoma.
Here are some pictures of Brian getting everything set up.
Don’t mind the bored look on Brian’s face. That’s how normally looks.
Isn’t technology great? You don’t even need to visit people anymore. 😉
Later that evening our awesome neighbors came by and brought their dogs Nikki and Ellie over. Jim is working is Orlando now and he was home for the holidays. Their house just went on the market because Karen will be following him shortly.
These guys are hands down the best neighbors we’ve ever had. We are really going to miss them.
So that was our Thanksgiving in a nutshell. Even though I was a little stressed out about the whole stuffing situation. It all turned out okay.
Brian called Fresh Market the next day to complain about missing a vital part of our deluxe holiday meal package. They asked him if he still wanted the stuffing. It was pointless at that point since we had already eaten the rest of the food and so we had no more need for it. They offered us a gift card to compensate us for the missing item and that was fine with us.
How about you? How as your Thanksgiving? Anything interesting happen?
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Happy Belated Birthday to My Sister
Posted on November 28, 2015 by Ching under Events, Family.
We had a family dinner in celebration of Jenni’s birthday the other day at Oh Yeah! China Bistro the other day. Here are some pics…
Jen Cannady and QQ
Eli, Jenni, and Mom (background)
Mom, Dad, and Logan
It was really nice to have the entire family together, including the Cannadys. It’s not all the time that everyone can be together in the same place so I’m very grateful for the opportunity to see everyone and celebrate Jenni’s birthday.
Happy belated birthday, Jenni!
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Family Time
Posted on October 21, 2015 by Ching under Family.
Brian and I had the pleasure of having dinner with his parents and his grandmother when his parents were up from Oklahoma a couple of weeks ago. We went to Stroud’s where we hadn’t been for a long time. We had a nice dinner and look forward to their next visit.
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Mom’s Birthday Surprise
Posted on October 20, 2015 by Ching under Events, Family, Life.
We’d been so busy that I hadn’t seen my mom for a while. Usually I’m really good about organizing some sort family dinner or other get together to celebrate birthdays and such. We have had absolutely no time for anything lately. Despite that, we wanted to make sure that she knew that we didn’t forget about her birthday.
I was scheduled to sub for her bowling team on October 7, the day after her birthday, so we decided to surprise her. For her birthday present this year, I got her bowling jewelry. She got earrings and a matching necklace.
Brian and I ordered ice cream cake from Dairy Queen, which Brian picked up on his way to the bowling alley. She totally didn’t expect it. We shared the cake with the opposing team and still had some left over which we ended up giving to the concession employees at the bowling alley.
Happy belated birthday, mom!
Speaking of birthdays, guess whose birthday is coming up in ten days? 😉
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Saturdates with Grandma
Posted on August 23, 2015 by Ching under Family, Games, Things to Do.
Brian and I hung out with grandma two Saturdays in a row. Last Saturday we took her bowling with us at Derby Bowl. For months now she’d been asking to watch us bowl. We talked about taking her on league night one evening but it’s just so late for her and there’s way too many people. We finally just decided to hold a bowling match up between the two of us and grandma could come and watch us compete.
Here are a couple of pictures of Brian explaining the contest rules to grandma.
The contest rules are as follows: One point for each game won and two points for the highest total overall for a total of five points. Theoretically someone could lose two games but if they got a high enough lead in one game to take the total then they could get one point for winning the game and two points for the total for three points to the other person’s two points and effectively steal the match.
It seems complicated than just competing for the best two out of three games but we like making things more interesting. Sometimes with the other scoring the player who has won two games already feels like they can slack off in the final game. With our scoring you still have to be on your toes the final game because the other player could steal the whole match by winning with a high enough score.
Brian who has been bowling twice a week all summer long had an advantage on me. I was so rusty. I bowled terribly. The scores were close but he easily won the first two games. I was hoping to recover in the third game for the win but he stepped up his game for an even more decisive game victory. It was a sweep. He took all five points that day. I’m gunning for a rematch, though.
While we were at the bowling alley we ran into dad and the Cannadys. Our nephews have started getting into bowling and are actually started to get quite good at it. Eli (middle child) really enjoys bowling.
Anyway, it was nice running into them specially since we were with grandma. She doesn’t get to see them as often as we do. I found out later that mom came to the bowling alley too but she arrived after we left so we just missed her.
After bowling we took grandma to Los Cocos, one of our favorite restaurants in Derby.
While there we ran into a couple of my coworkers who were nice enough to stop and say hello. Grandma loves meeting our friends and coworkers so that was great.
We had churros for dessert and they were delicious!
Grandma would agree. We had a fantastic Saturday!
Yesterday we took grandma to another one of our favorite restaurants, The Hill Bar and Grill. She got to try Brian’s favorite starter: chicharonnes.
For lunch grandma got chicken tacos. Brian had them before and really like them.
Brian had the meatball sub this time.
I had crab eggs benedict from the Saturday brunch menu. It was pretty good. I messed up and ended up with hashbrowns instead of the asparagus, though.
Brian and grandma had a productive day shopping for groceries and we had a wonderful brunch together. Overall it was a great day except for the mishap with my car in the parking lot. I will tell you guys more after I find out how bad the damage is on Monday.
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