First major Fall holiday -- Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving came and went with not a lot of fanfare. We spent the actual Thanksgiving night out with Maxine and Anthony at Creola. It was everyone's first experience with tur-duck-hen. I did opt for the "black cat(fish)", which was just as fantastic. The thing worth noting about the tur-duck-hen is that while it's easy to identify the turkey and duck, the chicken can get lost at times. It doesn't mean it's not tasty; it's just not always clear what poultry friend you're dining on.

Then for the day after Thanksgiving, I braved the shops for some cheap items. On the list was a visit to Best Buy for a couple of cheap DVDs (Something's Gotta Give and Crash), a trip to Michaels for its 20% off entire purchase including sales items (12x12 frames, collage frame and some other on sale knickknacks) and lastly, a trip to Target for more DVDs (Memoirs of a Geisha, Batman Begins) and the digital photo frame on sale. I got up before 6 a.m. and scooted out the door by about 6 to Union City. The early morning clouded judgement into thinking that going to Best Buy first was a good idea. I found my goods and stood in line for the next 1 hr. 40 min. or so, while the trip to Michaels and Target combined took less time than it took to stand in line at Best Buy. Live and learn. The biggest struggle was the digital photo frame. It was such a good deal that it was almost unattainable. The first Target stop happened to lead to a frame that was sitting on the floor. Score! The sales guy said I might as well take it. At the next Target in Bayfair (just in case they had one that was in a little bit better condition...), unfortunately, it was a total disappointment in finding another one. The silver lining is that one could be found and that was so much better than not finding any. It's slated to be my dad's Christmas gift. All that's left is to buy a 1 gig memory card, which probably could've been purchased at Best Buy. Oh well.

Shopping aside, the day after Thanksgiving was the time for Johnny and I to host dinner at our place for his dad/wife, sister/husband and aunt/uncle. There was a slim possibility of niece and nephew, but they bailed out so it was an adult dinner affair. We prepped for dinner in advance and thought we'd have it all under control. For the most part, dinner went off swimmingly. Everyone had a good meal. It was a nice, relaxing time to see and spend time with family. It was at times crowded in the kitchen and the turkey was a tad on the stubborn side, but yummy! Kitty even came down for a brief time to say hi and try to take a little bit of the Bold Chex Mix with her.

Dinner menu consisted of: cheddar stuffed mushrooms (appetizer), herb-roasted whole turkey, parmesan garlic green beans, mildly kicked-up Stove Top stuffing, asparagus (courtesy of Susana, Johnny's sister), Chinese gailan (Susana's too), and Chinese sticky rice (courtesy of Aunt Judy, Johnny's dad's wife). Beverages included a variety of soda, apple cranberry punch and a beaujolais (red wine). For dessert, there was a choice between banana nut muffins and lemon poppyseed muffins, plus orange wedges. Mm.

The following day was spent with Tracy's family at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Our niece Natasha and nephew Timmy are frequent visitors, so it was a quick trip of favorites. It was either tide pools, kids areas or penguins. It was a fun hit-and-run trip before heading back to Tracy's brother Leo's house for some down time. Tracy's mom had another intense computer tutorial (digital camera part 2, e-mail basics, typing in Japanese, Webcam and instant messaging) before heading out to Chuck E. Cheese. Another fun Thanksgiving holiday whirlwind.