Christmas Dinner ;

This year for Christmas i attended two Dinner Parties.
On x-mas eve i had dinner with my family, & Frankie came by as a guest !
he hasnt seen my parents for 4 years, and the last encounter wasnt a good one.
But things went so great during dinner.
i think my parents forgot the incident 4 years ago. (sorry wont re-cap on that story)
anyway, dinner went very well, & we had lots of yummy food to eat.
Frankie dropped by with a few gifts, a bottle of wine for my parents, with a cute
oriental outfit FOR the bottle, 2 bottles of Pomegranate Sparkling Cidar for
us & the Boys, and a big bag of Seasonal Ghirardelli Chocolate for all of us.
yum~
We ate Glazed Ham, Smoked Turkey, Swedish Potatoes, Green Bean Casserole,
Korean BBQ, &  Baked Mussels~
Oh, and on Christmas day, i was invited to Frankies house for a dinner party with
his family (sadly i dont really have too many pictures of that party)
but i LOVE his family ! Its so big !
haha, i guess since i grew up in such a tiny family.. being around so many
family members has always been a dream for me ~
we had so much food there as well, we had a Hot Pot Setup,
with squid, vegetable greens, shabu-shabu beef, shrimp, rice & udon noodles,
sausage, meatballs.. ahhh ! too many to list ! but it was delicious
i ended up having a ton of fun on both days,
Christmas for 2010 was truley an enjoyable one

Our Beautiful 8ft Christmas Tree

Presents for a Big Family
haha theres ALWAYS socks in one of the gifts.
we always get them for Christmas

Baked Mussles
these are heavenly! They're creamy, warm, and the perfect
side dish for any meal.

Recipe ;

- about 20 half mussels (i used frozen)

- 1/2cup onion, finely chopped

- 1 egg

- 1 cup mayo

- 1/3 cup green onion

-  1/2cup masago (fish caviar for sushi)

- 1 tsp pepper

in a mixing bowl, mix all ingredients together except

for the Mussels & Masago. (Be sure to clean and wash the

Mussles before preparing them) Put about 1 tsp of the mayo

mixture onto each mussel & then 1/2tsp of masago on top.

Bake at 350 degrees F , until mussels are tender & 

topping is golden & bubbly,

Green Bean Casserole with Fried Onions
we make this every Christmas and Thanksgiving, so easy
to make and yummy~

Recipe ;

- 1 Campbells Cream of Mushroom soup
- 2 Cans of green beans , drained. (14 oz each)
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 3/4 cup milk

- 1 container of French's Fried onions (6oz)

Mix soup, milk, pepper, and green beans in a casserole dish,

stir in 2/3 of Frenchs Fried Onions, and bake at

350 Degrees F for 30 mins, or until casserole is hot. 

Stir & top it off with the remaining Fried onions,

bake it for 5 mins, & serve when onions are golden brown

Peter Struggling with the Smoked Turkey
Hahaha ! his funny facial expression as he was
carving the turkey

Table Setting
our pretty table, not all of our foods been placed yet,
i took this picture as the food was coming out.
but if you guys want the recipe for an amazing potato dish
"Swedish Potatoes" is the one to try!

Smile for the Camera !
we took a break from eating to snap a photo

Eating our Christmas dinner
i had alot of fun, we had great conversations, laughs, and
everything felt good at home for once

Family & Frankie at the Dinner Table
i thought this picture came out perfectly~

Dress for a Wine Bottle
aww so cute !
i think my mom read that it means
"goodluck" ?
even tho we`re korean, my mom
was taught how to read a bit of chinese
in her highschool years.
i think students are still taught
chinese, in korea.

Cheers !
wine & apple / pomegranate cidar ~

Cocos Plate
aww, i didnt forget about coco! he gets a plate every
Thanksgiving & Christmas as well~ !

MmMm ... beats dogfood anyday !

Time to Open Gifts ! .. WHAT THE HELL SANTA!?
Good Lord Almighty !
PETER PLEASE!

Oh My God , COCO !
i swear.. my dogs  a gay .

Coco really wants his gift..

To: Coco  From: Me
a new doggie bed! now can you PLEASE sleep in your
own bed ?! and stop sleeping in the middle of mine WHILE
hogging all my blankets !?

"The Kids"
waiting to get our presents !
cocos happy that hes already got his... lucky bastard

Yay Santas Passing out Gifts ! ..... WITH pants !

Yay ! Present for me
the photographer finally gets a gift~ hehe

Raise Up Your Gifts !

Hide Yo` Kids! Hide Yo` Wife !
haha, niklas is holding up my gift to
the family ~
here is the recipe for the
(Gingerbread & Cake Lollipops)

Gazing at the Lit Houses

Walk On Balboa
we took a walk on Balboa beach,
after eating & passing out gifts
we saw all the decorated houses, this one
actually had a merry-go-round on the
top, with Roudolph in the lead,
dragging Santa`s sleigh

i Guess Turkey Does make You Tired~
coco seems to enjoy his new bed . ZzzZzzz..

Christmas at Frankies!
Yummmmm his mom makes the best broth!
this was used for the hotpot.
she made a hugeee bowl of broth, & had two smaller pots
(filled with this broth)
on portable heaters for 2 tables.
there were so many people, even with 2 tables it wasnt
enough space . haha! funnnn !

A Few Dip-ables for the Hot-Pot !
yumm !
some Fish, Shrimp, & Shabu-Shabu beef

Condiments & Add-Ons for the Hot-Pot
peppers, cilantro , sauces, rice noodles, & sausages 

Dig In !
Alot of Frankies family members dropped by,
there had to be atleast 40 people!
amazing how big his family is !
he doesnt even know how many cousins he has !
i only have 8 cousins ....
& no family members who live in Cali
*sadface

My Gift To Frankie's Family
a home-made gift basket ~
filled with beautiful goodies
Thank you for having me over for Christmas
i love you guys dearly ~
Recipe for the
(Ginger bread cookies & Cake Lollipops)

White Elephant
Friends got together, the day after Christmas to exchange
gifts and have a BBQ , a fun way to end Christmas week~

Santas Workshop ;

So, my mom bought these silly costumes for us, sometime ago last year,

but we havnt gotten a chance to try them out until now.

my brothers were complaining about how "gay this is" and asked me to not

post them up on Facebook, and if i do.. to not tag them on it. haha!

but maybe its because ive gotten older.. but i personally think, it was pretty cute.

My mom bought all of us elf costumes, besides Peter (step-dad) ; he got a Santa

costume, complete with "belly stuffing" to give him a big round jolly stomach.

i asked my mom why she didnt get get a Mrs. Claus outfit, & her response was,

" Noo ! i dont want to be old ! " hahaha ! oh asian moms..

But her response triggered a quote i once heard, from one of my favorite movies,

it was ..

 " Were so arrogant arnt we? we're so afraid of age,

we do everything we can do prevent it, we dont realize

what a privilege it is to grow old with someone " - P.S I Love You 

" P.S I Love You " really is a great & touching movie, i thought it was even better than

"The Notebook " . & i couldnt agree with the quote more.

one day i wish i could be happily married, a successful marriage.

i only plan on getting married once in my life. whether it works out or not ..

woops 

ANYWAY! im getting off topic here !  here are the pictures of our silly costumes ~

Momma Elf & Santa ?

Mindy & Peter

Family
Daniel G. , Niklas, Daniel B. , Mom, Mats, Myself, Coco,
& Santa
(yes, i have 2 brothers named Daniel)

Coco Where Are You Sniffing?!
the elves seem unhappy with Santa .. 

Niklas & Daniel in Uneven Proportions
HAHAHA ; funny thing about this picture is ..
Niklas is actually older than Daniel B.
but yet hes the smallest in our family

Seems Like a Kodak Moment 

No one was ready for this picture EXCEPT Coco.
we all looked like crap..
but i still had to post this pic, since coco gave the
biggest frikkin` dog-smile EVER .

Silly Faces with Mom

Pictures with Mom
its sad to say that i havnt sat this close to
my mom in almost 3 years now..
we just cant seem to get along .
but luckily, we were able to make this
Christmas pretty great ~

The Boys
My 4 Younger brothers,
Mats is the oldest (Middle of the three)
then its Daniel G (my blood - brother) (Left)
Niklas (The smallest one)
Daniel B. (the youngest) (Right)
i love them ~

"Floody Hell ! " ;

-- - - ---- - -
On a cold and stormy night,
a family will witness the most perfect storm..


UGHH ! i cant even begin to tell you how horrible Tues night was.
Cali has been receiving so much rain this year.
normally we`d get a week or two of it per year, but its been raining on & off
for months.
lately, though, its been a non-stop week of rain.
but id have to say, hands down, the worst of the rain storm happened
a few nights ago..
huge trees were falling on houses, branches and shrubs were all toppled over.
& the icing on the cake?
my house almost flooded!


in addition to the week-long rain, it rained massive amounts on Tues night &
lasted until Wed morning.
For some reason (which will be explained later), the drains in my backyard
wouldnt allow water to travel out onto the street or into the gutters.
instead, water would come inside !
which caused a massive back-up into our yard.
it missed overflowing over our doorstep by 1/2 an inch.


my brothers & peter (step-dad), were bucketing out water like mad men,
& even that wasnt enough.
So i interrupted Frankie in his poker game , and asked him to come over
with some big buckets.
Thanks to him, and the guys of my house hold, we managed
to keep the water settled, but we had to suffer through endless scooping;
from 9:00pm - 7:00am Wed morning.
Working from night fall till sunrise, we worked non-stop,
but managed to have a few breaks in between,
atleast until the water rose up again ( which took only 10-15 mins) ...


During then, was my call of duty,
i stuffed their wet clothes into the dryer, made them ghetto trash-bag rain coats,
and made lots of hot coca, tea, and warm food to fill their cold, wet, tummys.
All in all i made about, 6 bowls of chili, 9 cups of hot chocolate & tea,
4 spicy chicken burgers, 2 chicken & cheese burritos, & 3 bowls of seafood udon


We found out later, that our drains were clogged from the roots of our palm trees.
So, it looks like we`ll have to get rid of them soon.. which is a shame cuz ive always
liked them. we were the only house on our street to have such trees in our front lawn..
But, enough talk. Here are the pictures of our miserable night.

The View From One of our Back yard doors.
we have about 4 doors (french & sliding doors)
downstairs, that lead to our backyard.
the one closest to the backyard door itself
was the one we were having problems with.
see the brown in the background?
thats the door leading out to our front lawn.

3 of my brothers
in this picture, you can only see Daniel G.
Daniel B. & Mats.
but they were busy scooping, bucketing,
and handing them down the line, to pour
the rainwater into the street.

Going Back & Forth
to dump water from our yard, & into the street.

Peters Desperate Attempt
to MAKE sandbags (using 2 layers of trashbags & dirt from
the other side of our yard), to block the water flow
from getting into our house.

Peter Blocking our Doorway with Dirt

Frankie Comes to the Rescue
yay! here comes help !
Here are our hard working guys.
(starting from the left)
Daniel G., Peter, Mats, Frankie, Daniel G., and Niklas

Chili
made some quick & easy chili.
added extra tomatoes, onions, and turkey ham to make it
a bit more filling

Chili with Grated Sharp Cheddar Cheese
yummmmmm !
made 6 bowls of chili

My Brothers, Step-dad, & Frankie
enjoying their chili while wearing the ghetto
rain-shirts i made from trash bags.
(peter had to wear an XL JCPenny bag) keke.

Playing PS2 During Break
i think they were playing dragonball Z 

Hot Chocolate & Tea
made 9 cups.

Daniel G. & Frankie
working hard, handing buckets down the line

Devastated Peter
hes sad that the grass in our front lawn is completely ruined

Daniel G. & Bucket
those things were heavy!
major props to everyone 

Visitor at 3am
Edwardo (our neighbor) decided to drop by
and give us a hand for awhile.
Came just in time for a Chicken burger ~
( i also made him a trendy trashbag coat)

Seafood Udon
the warm soup & hot noodles made it the perfect
dish to eat, when youre wet & hungry.
made 3 bowls

Spicy Grilled Chicken Burgers
Break #2
made 4 burgers.

" I'm Getting Too Old for this Shit !"
- Peter Bjurman
he definitely did not want to go back out
there. haha! his awkward JCPenny bag
makes this picture epic.