a glimpse into a christmas family gathering redux

another year, another christmas. if i was freezing in chicago last year, this year, i was in relatively warmer irvine to celebrate the holiday.

like my other side of the family, there were lots of food. for the gathering, i attempted to make nancy reagan's persimmon pudding cake, which turned out ok, not great. making it was an adventure in and of itself, which involved, on christmas eve, going to a regular supermarket and 2 asian markets before finally finding persimmons. then "puree-ing" the persimmons without a blender... yeah, that was definitely an adventure. but, the cake turned out fine and the brandy whipping cream (not pictured) to top the cake was great.


i also made these sugar cookies and had fun "decorating" trees.


my cousin made this pastry bread with brie and toasted walnuts (bottom right) and it was good i ate at least half of the loaf.


amanda made this seafood pajun, a korean dish that's basically a seafood pancake (but not breakfast pancake sweet). you dip it in a sauce made of soy sauce and white vinegar.


more dessert.


the ham, the quiche and chicken.


my cousin also made this crab meat (real crab, thank you very much) dish with cheese and eggs.


let's just say i was really full even before lunch started. but that did not stop me from eating all the way through dinner.

like my other side of the family, this gathering also involved a talent show, albeit on a smaller scale -- but that is more a function of size than quality. see, my granparents on my mother's side did not really have as many children as my grandparents on my father's side. as a consequence, there are fewer kids to show off their talents.

to start off, joey danced the tango with his mom.



then monica and loren showed off their musical abilities.



mark showed off his ice-skating chops (via video).

unlike my other side of the family, this side's gathering includes non-blood relatives, which makes for a more expansive story sharing. as always, there were lots of hooting and hollering, lots of teasing, lots of laughter and lots of bubbly and red wine.

it was definitely a fun celebration, as always.