Thursday night, herefox, Ferral and I went to dinner at Amarin's - tom kha gai, pad thai, basil chicken, hoa moke -pork, the dish Ferral picked out (ack! memory bad!), and rice. With tummys full, Foxy & I went to Cost Plus for much stocking stuffer shopping. I think he picked up all of one thing, while my basket was semi full. =)

Friday night, trektone and I went to Cesar's for dinner. Cesar's is a latin-american tapas restaurant. Lots of great company and lots of lovely nibbley bits: cabbage rolls with morcilla, rice & tomato sauce (a bit weird for me because the only rolls I've had have had chinese flavorings, so my tongue was not expecting the almost Italian style flavorings), canape de boquerones (pickled anchovies) with black olive relish (yum!), estofado de gambas con azafrán (Joey liked this one!), smoked fish plate with horseradish & steelhead caviar, and of course, papas fritas with cumin, garlic & allioli. We shared the bread pudding with orange-caramel sauce and the mel i mato with pomegranate & almonds. Enjoyed the two red wines with dinner (can't remember their names *sigh*). Shared a wine flight of dessert sauternes.



It poured Saturday - both going to San Mateo and returning. Oy! Christmas with Dad's side of the family - Auntie Mary was very pleased to be able to cuddle with her brother's grandkids. =) Lots of visiting and hugs. Chef Ted had been busy all week - steamed striped bass (yummy!) which he had caught himself, prime rib, tortellini in mushroom sauce, spinach salad with mandarin oranges, rice, corn and brocooli dish, lots of sashimi, and two types of grilled chicken (which he did on the stove grill and thus had the smoke alarms going for half an hour). Oh, and Lynn's lusicious corn bread. That's all Alani wanted to eat! Kyle too, but he did some rice and chicken.

Had a chance to meet cousin Dave's long time girl friend Holly and had a nice chat with the two of them. Haven't seen him in several years - he's now into cgi (what happened to broadcasting???). He's promised to send the kids a copy of one of the movies he's worked on - Sharkboy & Lavagirl - which the kids love!