sjamesho.v3

i have about 30 minutes before December so like i mentioned yesterday, i’m going to compress the rest of my November stories in this entry.

i’ve seen pomegranates. i’ve talked about pomegranates. i’ve had pomegranate juice. but somehow i had never eaten fresh pomegranates. so last tuesday (21 November) i had my opportunity and realized why my parents don’t bring pomegranates home to eat… they’re rather a messy and potentially staining fruit if you’re not careful. of course i knew this, but knowing a fact and experiencing the fact are two different things. i suppose that there are some things in this life that don’t need experiencing, however i figure eating one of God’s many fruits is something that just needs to be experienced. i must say, all messiness aside, that it is quite good! the next time i’ll wear something not so nice. thankfully i didn’t get any squirts on the shirt i was wearing when i ate it.

for Thanksgiving my mom and i drove to my dad’s place in Springville. some of my friends at work know that i’m a vegetarian and wondered what i ate for Thanksgiving since the day really isn’t a “turkey day” for me. and no i don’t eat tofurkey. i’m not sure whether i’ve ever had tofurkey. if i did, it must have either been unmemorable or so repulsive that i’ve blocked it from my mind. either way i just have to get this off my chest… i like my tofu as it should mostly be… in the Asian cuisine context and not used as a basis to fashion into a non-asian meat concoction. that being said, i don’t mind using tofu for fusion cuisine. but pretentious tofu is unacceptable. UNACCEPTABLE! if i want a meat substitute, i’ll use soy. after all that’s what tofu is made from. so… after running my mouth… the picture above was obviously my Thanksgiving dinner this year.

mashed potatoes, green beans, vege dinner roast, and cranberry, apple, jicama salad

my family had lunch at Don Vino’s Italian Bar & Grill on sunday before my mom and i headed back to Milpitas.

Don Vino’s

water

bread

after lunch, i realized that i had completely forgotten to take a picture of my eggplant panino. i’m guessing it was because i was so hungry and it was so yummy. i think i’ll have to make a return visit to Don Vino’s for that missed opportunity.

this month went as fast, if not faster, as i predicted at the start of November. in a mere two blinks, i had let 21 days go by without making a blog entry. so i’m going to quickly compress everything in two entries because i know December will be definitely coming fully loaded with happenings one right after the other.

last month’s Un-Halloween Party was so fun, that on 19 November we decided to do another party with a twist to Thanksgiving. well… not necessarily a twist but went with the importance of thankful attitude and the privileges and opportunities that arises in the Christian experience as opposed to the Pilgrim/American Indian theme.

i wish i had some food preparation photos to show you. i had to run errands most of the day with only about an hour to spare to get a haircut and make two dishes. so most of the other food was basically set to go by the time i arrived at Heidi’s house (which really the Gapasin’s house that Heidi is staying in). we moved it to this location since we were expecting more people this time around and my place isn’t that big for that capacity.

there’s a lot of things happening on my plate: rice, salad and a cranberry, apple, jicama salad on the left that i made for the first time. normally i try out my first attempts with my immediate family before releasing it to a larger group so i was a little nervous… and i guess a little brave… to share my discovery. thankfully (hehe), it turned out well as evidenced in a later photo.

with a couple of turns we see the delicious bread that Aiko brought and the stuffed shell pasta that Heidi’s mom made.

this time Heidi led out in the Bible study. i really like this party format where everyone gets together to eat a great meal and then having a different person lead out in facilitating.

Left to right: Thea, Nikki, Aiko, Moises.

as we were cleaning up the kitchen after the Bible study, Andrea thought the dressing of the salad i brought was too good to waste. so here she is sipping the remains out of the bowl as Aiko and i take her picture with Michelle and Danette looking on.

then on 21 November, i had Thanksgiving Dinner at Banana Leaf with some friends whom i’ve known since high school… that’s like 17 years and counting! in the past we’ve patronized Maggiano’s but having Malaysian food was a nice alternative. its always nice to mix things up.

roti prata

tofu salad

veggie pineapple fried rice

banana granite

my family likes coming to Banana Leaf because for one thing, its cheaper than flying back to Malaysia for Malaysian food. for the most part their food is closer than other restaurants claiming to be Malaysian cuisine. they have a substantial selection for vegetarians which is most often not the case for a Malaysian restaurant. the owners are Christians and play Christian instrumental music. though this is not apparent to most patrons, its a delightful surprise to those that know the tunes. and of course by being regular customers, we’ve established a rapport with the owners and manager. like Cheers, “sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name / and they’re always glad you came / you wanna be where you can see / our troubles are all the same / you wanna be where everybody knows / your name”.

the following morning (which would be last Sunday), my parents took a quick trip to Loma Linda Market to get some soy-based vegetarian food products. i’m not really into vegetarian “versions” of meat because even though they are meatless, they have been processed into whatever form they are meant to resemble although they do come in handy for something quick. so while my parents went to the market i took that time to sleep in until we had to leave for the next birthday celebration which was lunch in Pasadena.

the birthday lunch celebrated my uncle Sam and aunt Joyce’s birthday since their birth dates fall within a week of each other. to my knowledge, the plan was to surprise my aunt Joyce since her birthday isn’t till this Friday. however she found out but played along anyways. so in thinking that we were the ones to surprise her, we were surprised to find out that she knew.

here’s another family picture and you will notice that there are some here that wasn’t there the night before. in fact there are a lot more. that’s because there are two families represented unlike the night before where it was just one: my uncle Sam’s (my mom’s brother) and my aunt Joyce’s. both are large families and you would’ve seen it larger had all members been present and accounted for.

but alas all fun and festivities must come to a finale. after the “see-you-laters” were said my parents and i left Pasadena and headed back to Springville. there really isn’t much more to say about a four hour drive to Springville but before we arrived we stopped at L & D Chinese Buffet in Porterville for dinner. its the standard fare of Chinese buffet with the food that you typically find except that the prices are very reasonable. i think it’s something like $5.95 lunch, $7.95 dinner. we ate, we dropped off my dad in Springville, and then my mom and i spent the next four hours to Milpitas. birthdays are fun, three birthdays are more fun, 16 hours of round trip driving… not so much, but well worth it to spend with family.

You can check out more pictures starting in the Dining Out section.

last weekend was a busy weekend filled with family birthday celebrations which involved my mom and i driving all the way to southern California and back. since my family’s other house is situated between there and Milpitas, it served as an overnight rest stop for us last Friday so the journey wasn’t so bad. now along with my dad, we left Springville Saturday afternoon and arrived in Rowland Heights where we celebrated my uncle’s birthday.

the Chinese restaurant’s name is “Old Moon” – something, something… so why its English name is “Country Bistro” i have no idea. doesn’t “Country Bistro” have a rustic Italian feel to it? this restaurant was anything but rustic or Italian… something was definitely lost in translation.

it has been quite sometime since our family got together. i have some cousins that couldn’t make it this evening and my cousin Jessica could only make it this evening. so it was definitely nice to get to hang out over dinner.

the birthday cake was purchased a few doors down from the restaurant so Liza, my two cousins Carissa and Jessica and i went to check out some of the other yummy desserts that the bakery offered. unfortunately none of the pictures i took of them turned out. i wanted to take my time however the bakery attendants kept asking me if i wanted to order something so in my mind i did a and said forget it and left when Jessica picked up some of the deliciousness.