on the menu

We had more of a low key Thanksgiving, heading over to my SIL in South City.

Wednesday evening we stopped by a distant cousin who bakes pies to pick up two cheesecakes (blueberry and plain), and a veggie pie. She has an adorable 10 month old girl who is very sociable and makes funny faces. We end up running into my uncle and his family who are also picking up pies. My distant cousin had been baking for an entire week. She already broke her first oven.

Afterwards, since we were in the area, we headed to Shalimar, one of the best Indian/Pakistani restaurants in the area. And no doubt, when we got there at 9:30p (they close at 10:30p) the line was 10 deep and there were no tables available. The place is packed with South Asians and one or two other Asians like ourselves. We decided to take the food to go. The hubby hates crowds and he hates standing in line for food, but he's willing to stand in line for this food. The complexity of flavors and spices is amazing. We ordered goat, chicken tikka masala, lamb kabab, and some naan. We should have also ordered raita since it's also rather spicy. The hubby was sweating after a few bites.

That evening, my brother and cousin stopped by after their long drive from LA. Can you say 4 hours just to get out of the LA basin? It was late so my cousin stayed over. He was surprising his family and we'd drop him off the next day.

In the morning the hubby started roasting the duck and chicken he'd been brining for 3 days. Then after looking at all the drippings, we decided to make gravy with the giblets. Whew!

The afternoon we spent at the SIL playing with the nieces. Along with the duck and chicken, we had roasted potatoes, pancit and chicharon bulaklak. OK not the typical Thanksgiving meal, but certainly you can argue that chicharon bulaklak is only for for special holidays. One of those foods you know was way too bad for you the second it hits your tongue, but it's oh so good you have to swallow.

While the adults took an afternoon nap and the eldest niece went for a walk, the twins went quietly "hippie" on us (as my cousin puts it) by stripping down to nothing and romping around the house. It's their latest "thing" their mom tells us. Well, in the end it made it a quicker trip to giving them a bath in the evening. So far they don't do it anywhere else. We stayed long enough to put all the kids to sleep and play a few rounds of Smooth Moves on the Wii.

Friday we slept in. Made some duck noodle soup from the leftover duck. In the evening we went to the "So You Think You Can Dance?" tour in Oakland. It was a relatively small crowd, so parking was easy. Along with the top 10 they brought along 4 of the other top favorites: Shawna, Hok, Jesus, and Anya. Danny is just simply mesmerizing and Pasha is quite hot, especially when he did his cape solo. The girls screamed for Neil and he played to them by showing off his body. We finally got to see a hip hop routine by the three hip hop dancers: Hok, Sara, and Dominic. Dominic was from Sacramento so he was enjoying performing in front of his home crowd and had several comedic interludes as part of hosting the show. Alot of people in the crowd wondered where do people go after performing a tour like this. It's not like American Idol. And since it's produced by the same people, the down times were filled with broadcasts of the more recent idols: Underwood, Daughtry, Fantasia, and a twangy chick I don't even remember.

Saturday we actually went out and did some shopping over at REI for warmer workout clothes and Walgreens for household items. Although we browsed through the ads, we didn't join the shopping madness. Plus, the stuff really wasn't that much of a sale. I've seen bigger discounts in the middle of spring when there really isn't anyone shopping.

I tried my hand at baking biscuits to go with the leftover giblet gravy. And also made arroz caldo out of the leftover chicken. Needs more ginger and we need more chopped garlic.

This morning decided to continue to laze about. I guess I'll get around to doing some more chores. It's almost December, the year goes by quickly. Next weekend will be filled with a couple of wine posts with a couple of winetasting parties next weekend. Tis the season to eat, drink and be merry.