Advent

We are in the 3rd week of Advent, the New Year's of the Christian calendar, the 12 days of Christmas beginning on the 25th and ending on Epiphany, January 6th. We helped mark it by attending a Lessons and Carols service at a neighborhood church, where the prophetic readings and somber music gave the aesthetic-historical setting - from Genesis to Revelation - of the messiah.

But first things first: the tree

This is a free tree donated by the farm to Michael, as we bought an Oregon delivered Norwood Pine. CA climate is not conducive to the firs and evergreens of the northwest, so these are imported.

Everyone busily went in decorating mode:

The handpainted sailboat is from a Greek toymaker in Athens. his son was Michael's age

Given the hardtimes, we have often wondered how his little store was faring; it barely survived the transition to EU status when we visited. Enormous frustration was evident with every local we spoke with, so I wasn't surprised when the riots began last year.

Michael relishes decorating and festivities in general.

I love this creche ornament Michael made

Ornaments are generally memory devices, so Jack was disappointed at all the "ohs!" and "oohs!" in our "paint by numbers" nostalgia, each loving object connecting a line from a moment in the past to now; his marking-history by-ornament isn't as established yet, so he was overjoyed when finally finding a photo-ornament framing his adoption picture.

The gingerbread cookies are a favorite, although this ready-made dough had a WASPy flavor - less dark and molasses-laden. Carolyn has been rolling out shapes with the boys every year.

I made my Swiss leckerli cookies - bready confections influenced by the Germanic traditions of Basel - with a unique hot honey, candied fruit dough with kirsch glaze that takes days to soften. They are robust flavored, spicy.

Thanksgiving 2010

For the first time in several years we celebrated Thanksgiving at home:

a gathering with the Kwongs

and Elle, of course, who handled the appetizers and napkin origami:

The turkey was brined for 36 hours this time - So Cal cooperated with cool temps - and I tried the upside-down roasting technique. I bought an organic bird which came in a box, the way my mother's used to from Meiji's Market in Gardena. The fresh bird actually yielded little fat, so my newly purchased fat separator remains untested; the pricey digital instant-read thermometer was a bust, though fun to use. I went with my gut and the bird was fine.

Michael loves stuffing the bird. Carolyn was underwhelmed with Cooking Illustrated's laborious recipe. CI is the Consumer Reports of all things gastronomic. You can learn a lot, but their recipes are typically fastidious and I sometimes rebel.

Thanksgiving is a uniquely American observance lacking an object to thanks these days, morphing into a celebration of country and gratitude (rightly) for sacrifices made by military service. I actually married into the country, so to speak, as Carolyn descends from George and Martha Soule, original Mayflower voyagers.

Susan's apple pies were a big hit - Jack ate his in record time with gusto. He has more trouble finishing his plate, so he seems to make up for it with desserts, proudly announcing his completion! The veges - Robert's sprouts and Carolyn's squash - were perfect.

While Thanksgiving also marks the beginning of Madison Avenue's commercial holiday season, it more importantly precedes the first Sunday of Advent and the launching of the Christian New Year.

Menu
Cheese Ball & Prosciutto-wrapped Melon
Roast Turkey & Foccacia/Hazelnut Stuffing
Mashed Yukon Potatoes
Brussel Sprouts w/ Bacon
Maple Ginger Acorn Squash
Fresh Cranberry & Orange Relish
Apple and Pumpkin Pie with fresh Whipped Cream

Hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving!

Oahu

PAMLA (Pacific Ancient Modern Languages Association) held its annual meeting in Honolulu. A surprise, but the Association for Asian Studies will land in March, as convention hotels are offering deep discounts. We had some fun on the front end.

Michael is a natural surfer, it seems.

and were pleased to find onigiri rice balls everywhere.

Waikiki was a tourist ghetto for well-heeled Japanese in the '80s, facilitating designer label shopping and money-is-no-object cultural tastes. Our hotel elevator had an electronic signboard announcing the day's activities in a very planned, Japanese, mass tourist kind of way.

However, Japan's recession has brought lower-income strata to the islands who manage to get there on discount packages, but aren't dumping hundreds of dollars at a sushi bar anymore; hotels are full but businesses are suffering.

I was amused by this ad, attracting overseas Japanese with a forbidden thrill, as handguns are prohibited in their homeland.Initially put off by the heavy tourist vibe, we rented a car and drove to the North Shore, searching for sea turtles..

and kakikori (shaved ice)

Matsumoto's is an institution which features the traditional azuki red beans at the bottom. Far better than most, but still not quite the delicate snow that I recall which could be effortlessly shaved off.

Food trucks and lunch plates are renowned in Oahu, but Giovanni's shrimp truck was especially flavorful; the shrimp harvested just yards away.Loaded with butter and garlic and really tasty (ie freshly cooked) rice

We finally made it to the lovely white sands of Lanikai, near where my cousin got married several years ago.

where Carolyn and Michael built an elaborate castle and Michael made me a birthday cake:

Elle came along!

At Lanikai, we helped a local charity. We are thinking of ways to incorporate service projects in the Beacon Hill curriculum, as well, so these youngsters proved inspiring, even as their store bought cookies were not.

Baby turtles sometimes sit atop the back of their parents

as Jack periodically does with Michael; a move I first saw on Whidbey.

BTW, Jack LOVED boogie boarding.

Diamond Head was our third family hike ever,

from whose peak you saw:

We also met up with the Obans, who happened to be in Waikiki, after a grueling campaign for state legislature.

Michael turns 8!

Michael actually turned 8 on Oct 20, but we held the party at Conejo Community Park last Sat, amid cooler fall temps after a brief Indian summer of 90+ temps,
which spared my Indiana Jones cake. The impressive figurines (Marianne had a frying pan, Arab villains a monkey & sword, & Indy a whip) came from some ebay store in China - non-edible! - with cake help from Kake Kreations in Sherman Oaks.
Chocolate river rock, jelly bean boulders and a chocolate cake with butter cream.

But the thrills were clearly coming from the games conjuring the Raiders of the Lost Ark (which neither Michael or Jack have seen, btw):

Boulder chase with Q-Tip poison darts.

Jousting the Nazi villain, Arnold Toht

mummy making

Throwing flour-filled socks throw hoops at the enemy

under beautiful California oaks. There were gummy snake and lizards on the tables under a canopy of gorgeous leaves and jungle balloons.

and ID lanyards with names spelled in hieroglyphics

Our initial plan was a Tin Tin party, but caved upon learning so few children knew of the Belgian character and his dog, Milou:
Turned out that there's an Indy - Tin Tin resonance somewhere. Spielberg's film on Tin Tin is in post-production, so lookout, folks. Americans will all be going nuts over the boy soon.

It was great seeing all the children enjoy solid lo-tech fun. This kind of production takes a village, but has a tremendous pay-off.

Our disparate communities - church, Beacon Hill, AWANA, even a blood relative! - blended in well, the centrifuge supplied by young children.

Elle with Lee and Kai, my cousin Kathy's husband and 2 yr old.

The adults

Dressing Indy meant hats

A pre-cake group photo.

Reformation Feast

GRC had its annual Reformation Feast, dovetailing with All Saints Day elsewhere. This event kicks off a season of feasts and is what our church does best, I feel; cook & play & remembering the important matters of faith. The fall feast features soups and stews and a dessert competition. I made an African stew with coconut milk, tomato, and peanut butter - first learned at L'Abri - for flavoring the chicken and sweet potato. A hit!

First we needed to get pumpkins.

Pumpkin patches near the 101 fwy with $5 tickets for the requisite bounce house - but more charming than you'd expect, nevertheless.

Carolyn made a Pin-the-Thesis on the Door contest.

Michael actually won the pumpkin carving contest:based on his favorite theme: catsChildren really love THIS feast, but generally have a larger stake in the worship, since they can participate in the weekly communion, which is focus of the service. Protestants, in a reaction to the medieval church, largely replaced the eucharist with the sermon. Churches like GRC have both.

Winners of this year's various contests!