Disneyworld & the Osborne Family Lights

We haven’t been to Disneyworld for the Christmas season in years, but when we learned that this would be the last year of the Osborne Family Lights at Hollywood Studios, a visit was a must do and off to Orlando we went on the first weekend of December.

We landed on Friday evening and headed straight for the lights. They were even more spectacular than I had remembered.

Osborne lights

Osborne lights

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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IMG_1562Saturday morning was the Wild Animal Trek, something we had never done before. (Shock!) It takes place at Animal Kingdom, and half the trek is done with a harness so that you go over bridges and look at hippos and crocodiles up close and personal. The other half of the trek is essentially a VIP version of the Safari ride. The ride was particularly memorable for two reasons: first, there was a baby rhino out and about and feeling particularly frisky, chasing zebras and running around (so adorable!); and two, we had a (successful) proposal in the group when we broke for lunch (also adorable).

baby rhino!

baby rhino!

wild animal trek

wild animal trek

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the trek, we resumed our normal Disney activities with multiple rides of various rollercoasters and other rides at the parks. We returned to Hollywood Studios, had dinner, and headed for the lights one last time on Saturday. <sad face>

It was a spectacular trip. We had forgotten how festive Disneyworld is for the holiday season, and it was a good reminder. As our daughter said, “I really wasn’t in the Christmas spirit until I saw the lights again.”

It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

We have friends who host a gingerbread house decorating party every year.  Below is this year’s creation with the side decorated by the 14 year old son.  (The 17 year old daughter couldn’t make it this year.)

My favorite touches this year are the chimney (decorated by Jim) and the fish in the pond (made out of cut rock candy and jelly beans) and, on the right, the snowman putting up a (gummy bear) decoration.  Both of those were created by the son.

The thatched roof is generally my responsibility because it takes no creativity, but it does take consistency and persistence.  And, besides, by the time I finish with the roof, the rest of it is usually already decorated.  🙂

As usual, this year’s effort was a lot of fun!  Thank you, Joanne and Joe, for another delightful year of gingerbread houses!

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Thanksgiving 2015

We sat 31 people to dinner for Thanksgiving this year, which is rather a lot for us and a tremendous amount of fun (and a teeny weeny amount of stress). Thank goodness for Robert, Jim’s nephew, who came early and helped tremendously with the cooking. Together, we managed to feed everyone the following menu:

Thai pumpkin soup

Thai pumpkin soup

Thai pumpkin soup

Smoked organic turkey

smoked turkey

smoked turkey

Roasted organic turkey

roasted turkey

roasted turkey

Deep fried organic turkey

fried turkey

fried turkey

Honeybaked ham

Roasted shrimp with rosemary

Roast ducks (from Mark’s Duck House)

Stuffing (vegetarian and non-vegetarian)

stuffing & mashed potatoes

stuffing & mashed potatoes

Chili-bathed sweet potatoes

Dinner rolls

IMG_3045

dinner rolls

Rice

Kimchi

Gravy

Orange cranberry sauce

Red wine cranberry sauce

red wine cranberry sauce

red wine cranberry sauce

Roasted carrots

Mashed potatoes

Hashed Brussel sprouts with lemon

brussel sprouts

brussel sprouts

Chocolate pumpkin cheesecake

chocolate pumpkin cheesecake

chocolate pumpkin cheesecake

Blackberry pie

blackberry pie

blackberry pie

Apple pie

apple pie

apple pie

the spread, part 1

the spread, part 1

the spread, part 2

the spread, part 2

And the obligatory day-after-Thanksgiving sticky buns, of course…

sticky buns

sticky buns

the lone remaining sticky bun

the lone remaining sticky bun

As we do every Thanksgiving, we each express what we are thankful for this year. And so this year, I am incredibly thankful for our family and friends and their continued good health. I am especially thankful for Jim and the kids for making me happier and more blessed than I could have possibly imagined.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Inn at Little Washington (December 2014)

Every year, Jim and I try and spend one night at the Inn at Little Washington sometime between Christmas and New Year as a way to relax and spend some time together. This year, we decided to bring the entire crew (the kids, our exchange student, and Jim’s mom) to spend the night there. (Gift certificates are wondrous things.)

We stayed at the Claiborne House (named after Craig Claiborne, an influential food reporter and chef). The Claiborne House is an extremely cute, over-the-top decorated two bedroom house, complete with its own well-equipped kitchen. (Although why anyone needs a kitchen when they’re staying at the Inn is beyond me.) As an example of the Inn’s attention to detail, we discovered that the cookie jar in the kitchen is stuffed with cookies made at the Inn. (And they are quite delicious!)

Naturally, we had a lovely dinner. The Inn has changed its format somewhat and now offers three different tasting menus, including an excellent vegetarian one. You can swap out items between tasting menus to suit your own tastes. The portions are small, to suit a tasting menu. Much as we don’t particularly like change, we like this change very much. It matches well to our inclination to taste as many different dishes as possible, you can customize the menu, and you don’t feel uncomfortably stuffed at the end of the meal. It’s perfect for us.

At almost every meal we have there, we start with some off-the-menu appetizers, and I never remember to record them. This time, I did!

To start out, there is a new bartender at the Inn who does an amazing job with non-alcoholic drinks. This is only one example of the many concoctions he came up with that evening. They are sophisticated and delicious and worth trying, especially if you are the designated driver. This is the one time you won’t be sorry to be limited to non-alcoholic drinks!

equally attractive non-alcoholic alternative

equally attractive non-alcoholic alternative

Truffle popcorn is one of my favorite dishes at the Inn. This is no ordinary popcorn. It’s been tossed with a variety of spices and a little butter. But the crowning glory is that as the popcorn is being served, a generous amount of black truffle is shaved on top of it. I could eat nothing but a giant bowl of truffle popcorn and still consider the meal to be one of my favorite meals at the Inn!

truffle popcorn

truffle popcorn

The tasting menu starts with a shot of soup. For some, it was a white bean truffle soup and for others, it was apple rutabaga soup. Both soups are served with a fried risotto ball on the side. My preference was the white bean truffle soup as the apple rutabaga soup was a bit sweet for me, but that was definitely not a unanimous opinion.

white bean truffle soup

white bean truffle soup

apple rutabaga soup

apple rutabaga soup

There are two raw fish dishes being served on the current menu. The first is a sashimi of Japanese yellowtail served with jalapeno peppers and dusted with espelette.

seared japanese yellowtail

sashimi of  japanese yellowtail

The second is ahi tuna tartare served with cucumber sorbet.

ahi tuna tartare

ahi tuna tartare

Both are spectacular, and the quality of the fish is superb.

Next up are Brussels sprouts served with honeycrisp apples, spiced pecans and Madeira-soaked raisins

Brussel sprouts

Brussel sprouts

Beet carpaccio accented with orange and vodka gelée

beet carpaccio

beet carpaccio

A marriage of hot and cold foie gras with sauternes gelée and blood orange marmalade

hot and cold foie gras

hot and cold foie gras

Off the vegetarian menu is a lemon pepper risotto

lemon pepper risotto

lemon pepper risotto

The best new item on the menu is a thinly shaved Australian wagyu beef “shabu-shabu.” The beef is beyond tender, and the shabu-shabu broth has a bite to it that is both unexpected and leaves you wanting more.

waygu beef shabu-shabu

wagyu beef shabu-shabu

This is a truffle-stuffed breast of pheasant on savoy cabbage and braised in champagne

breast of pheasant

breast of pheasant

The vegetarian equivalent is a winter turnip gratin with a quail egg and parmesan broth.

winter turnip gratin

winter turnip gratin

This is a sweet New England bay scallops dish served with candied yams and young coconut. A bit on the sweet side for me with the yams, but the scallops were delicate and wonderful.

bay scallops

bay scallops

The “meat” entrees included a pork chop with sauerkraut braised in Virginia Riesling, local apples and potato purée.

pork chop

pork chop

Duck breast served with foie gras and endive and wild rice.

duck breast

duck breast

And a cauliflower “steak” with yellow Indian curry, green grapes and candied walnuts.

cauliflower steak

cauliflower steak

As a palate cleanser, we were served a cranberry orange sorbet and hickory ice cream popsicle.

palate cleanser popsicle

palate cleanser popsicle

Desserts included a Granny Smith apple tart with buttermilk ice cream

apple tart with buttermilk ice cream

apple tart with buttermilk ice cream

A lemon meringue tartlet

lemon meringue tartlet

lemon meringue tartlet

And the painter’s palette of sorbets

painter's palette of sorbets

painter’s palette of sorbets

Even the lattes are beautiful…

latte

latte

A lovely way to celebrate the end of the year!

Christmas Dinner 2014

I often wonder whether our 13 year old son still believes in Santa Claus or not. It seems highly unlikely, especially given the precocious nature of his school. His sister is convinced it’s all a manipulative play, and she is probably correct. But it’s certainly fun to have a child who is still writing Santa a letter about what he wants for Christmas (a new bike this year), leaving a note for Santa with his chocolate chip cookies and milk and carrots for the reindeer, and waking up an hour before he’s allowed downstairs to see if Santa came. Manipulative it may be, but it’s a magnificent play.

After opening the plethora of gifts (and drones seemed to be the theme of gift-giving this year), we had extended family over and had an early Christmas dinner. (Said extended family has a 9 month old.) (As a further aside, our 16 year old daughter was TOTALLY grossed out by the 9 month old baby, who at this stage, is nothing but a glorified food processor who eats (messily), spits up (messily) and poops (messily and grossly)).

The Christmas dinner menu was as follows:

  • parsnip soup (served with gougeres)
  • 72 hour short ribs (which were actually 60 hour short ribs because we forgot to do them Monday night—oops)
  • brussel sprouts with bacon
  • mashed potatoes
  • bûche de noel
Christmas dinner 2014

Christmas dinner 2014

a "before" photo of the buche de Noel

a “before” photo of the buche de Noel

the final product

the final product

Afterwards, we all sat around in a food coma before going to bed. The very definition of a fabulous Christmas! Hope yours was Merry as well!

Thanksgiving 2014

It was a festive Thanksgiving holiday for us. To begin with, it was the first Thanksgiving experience for Yinan, our exchange student. I don’t know if she was amused or appalled by the amount of food served, but she discovered that she loves mashed potatoes (or, as she calls them, “smashed potatoes”).

We had 25 people in total for dinner. We could not have pulled out the dinner without Yinan’s help and the help of Jim’s nephew, Robert.

This was our Thanksgiving menu:

Thai pumpkin soup

Smoked organic free range turkey

smoked turkey

smoked turkey

Roasted organic heritage turkey

roasted turkey

roasted turkey

Fried organic free range turkey

deep fried turkey

deep fried turkey

Honey-baked ham

Roast duck (from Mark’s Duck House)

Roasted shrimp with rosemary

Stuffing

Sweet potatoes

Dinner rolls

Rice

Kimchi (no Thanksgiving dinner is complete without it!)

Gravy

Orange cranberry sauce

Roasted carrots

Mashed potatoes

Brussel sprouts with bacon

Chocolate pumpkin cheesecake

chocolate pumpkin cheesecake

chocolate pumpkin cheesecake

Blackberry pie

blackberry pie

blackberry pie

Apple pie

apple pie

apple pie

I haven’t yet figured out whether we have this many people over for Thanksgiving so that Jim can cook 3 turkeys or whether Jim cooks 3 turkeys so that we can have this many people over.

Hope everyone had as fun a Thanksgiving holiday as we did!

Halloween 2014

Our 13 year old suffered childhood trauma (his words) upon being told he was too old to go trick-or-treating this year. And our Chinese was insufficient to explain the quintessentially American way of celebrating Halloween to our exchange student. (I’m not sure our English would have been sufficient, either—it is surprisingly difficult to give a coherent explanation of Halloween to someone who has never experienced it.)

Nonetheless, we celebrated Halloween, American-style. Jim dressed up as a man-eating shark:

man-eating shark (aka Jim)

Our 13 year old was Star Lord (from “Guardians of the Galaxy”), our almost-16 year old was a Tardis (from “Dr. Who”) [the Tardis on her head lights up, by the way], and our exchange student was Artemis (at least, I think that’s who she was).

Artemis, Star Lord, and a Tardis

Star Lord & a Tardis

We inflicted ourselves upon friends who have two little boys, so our 13 year old STILL got to go trick-or-treating, under the guise of taking the boys around and arrived back triumphantly with a huge bag of candy. It’s all about gaming the system…

Spring Break in the United Arab Emirates

The UAE might come across as a strange choice for a spring break destination, but we chose it for several reasons.  First, it’s a warm climate destination and after the winter we’ve had, none of us had any desire to go somewhere cold.  Second, we thought it would be a good experience for the kids.  We go annually to Asia and the last several spring breaks, we’ve covered the major European cities.  So, we thought this would be an excellent opportunity to experience a very different culture.  (And, did I mention it would be warm?)

You can find out more about what we saw and did in the UAE Travel Tome (and in the Travel section of the page).

Our impressions of the UAE were uniformly positive.  The residents are extremely friendly and helpful.  They are intent on making sure you are enjoying yourself and that your needs have been met.  It’s also a family-based culture, so kids are welcomed just about anywhere.  And the UAE is very much an open and tolerant culture, not uniformly true across the Gulf.  The Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi, in addition to being a stunningly beautiful mosque, is an extremely welcoming mosque, where the staff eagerly answers any questions you may have about Islam or the mosque.

Grand Mosque

Grand Mosque

Grand Mosque

Grand Mosque

And there really isn’t anything you can’t get in the UAE as an expat.  Even pork products are available at certain grocery chains in a separate section that is clearly labeled for non-Muslims.  🙂

Pork products for sale!

Pork products for sale!

There are a few drawbacks.  While women wear the abaya (the head-to-toe covering) out of choice and not out of requirement, it is still a male-centric culture.  An American expat we know—a divorced mother who is single parenting her two children—mentioned how difficult it is to get visas for her children because she is sponsoring them, not the father.  There also is a clear division between the Emiratis and “the help.”  The non-Emiratis—the Filipinos, Pakistanis, Malaysians, etc. who help make the country operate—are treated very much as second class citizens.  We were clearly labeled Americans as we happily chatted with drivers, security guards, and any other friendly staff members.  And there is the necessity of being the biggest, the largest, the tallest, the most over-the-top of everything.  I understand the need to forge a national consciousness and national identity for a country that was formed in 1971.  But it can be wearing, after a while, especially after chatting with a Filipino driver who hasn’t seen his two sons in over 2 years because he can’t afford to fly back to the Philippines to see them.

Overall, though, we had a fabulous trip, gained much in the way of new experiences, and had a wonderful time!

Burj Khalifa

Burj Khalifa

swimming with the dolphins in Atlantis Dubai

swimming with the dolphins in Atlantis Dubai

 

Year of the Horse

The Chinese calendar is a lunar calendar and so Chinese New Year falls on a different day every year (calling it Chinese New Year is actually inaccurate as many Asian cultures celebrate the Lunar New Year).  This is the Year of the Horse, which is supposed to be a year of high energy.

Different parts of China and Taiwan have different customs, although growing up in Kansas meant that our celebration was somewhat limited.  But there were still certain dishes that had to be part of the New Year celebration.  Noodles were required, as the length of the noodles represented long life.  Oranges were also part of the meal, as the word for orange (or, rather, tangerine) sounds like the word for prosperity or good fortune in Chinese.  We also often had dumplings (which are shaped like the gold coins from the Yuan Dynasty) and duck (because we like to eat duck).

We also lit incense to our ancestors, who had their pictures set out amongst bowls of oranges and other food.  Children were given red envelopes containing money.  Red is the color of celebration in China (traditionally, Chinese brides wore red as their wedding dress).

But, overall, New Year’s for us is what it is across many cultures.  An opportunity for family and friends to get together and celebrate togetherness, good food, and family.

Happy New Year!!

gong-xi-fa-cai