Christmas in Vegas

The day started early this morning, back in the 206. I had packed my bag and shaved the night before, so I took a shower and drove to Ballard to pick up H. The longest night of the year was lasting well into 7am, and it was definitely scary to drive across town in my Toyota, which kept fogging up. As soon as I get back, I'm buying a new car.

Anyway, picked up that H and drove back home; made a quick omelet out of leftover sashimi, which made a delicious breakfast along with H's leftover Indian food (spinach and pork on rice). One of our superpowers is to be able to eat anything for breakfast. Dinner for breakfast is our speciality.

B came over and took us to the airport. We bu-reezed through check in and security, hung out at the gate, boarded our flight and found ourselves in Las Vegas. H is making an effort not to hate it this time, which is courageous. I was less offended this time by the commercials blaring incessantly at baggage claim, but almost puked on the slow-walking man in front of me who felt the need to share his cigar smoke with the people of the airport.

The parents picked us up; met the new dog in the car. We went straight to lunch, as we were all hungry. Usually, I have a rule that I have to go straight home after a flight, but I kept my mouth shut this time, as everyone was hungry, and since it was early afternoon, I felt I could contain my exhaustion. I nearly fell asleep at lunch.

We went to dim sum at a restaurant called Cathay, which is some Hong Kong reference; however, in filipino, it sounds like the word for saliva. I have to say, I didn't enjoy the food there; it was about as good as the worst dim sum in Seattle. To be fair, though, it was already 2pm, and the kitchen was winding down.

After lunch we walked across the parking lot to an Argentinian grocery/deli/bakery/cafe and the smell of roasted meat was divine. The hostess pointed out that there were some peruvian products in the grocery... she probably pegged us as japanese peruvians... in las vegas somehow. Anyway, we'll try to get back there for lunch before we go back to Seattle. It was called de rincon Buenos Aires something, and there were big poster boards in the window with famous argentinian references, like "Evita."

Came home, hung out in the yard for a while. Decided to go to the book store, because mama wanted a book about psychics. Went to the grocery for Christmas cookie supplies, and then came home. Dinner was salmon steaks and caesar salad.

I found a recipe for christmas cookies on-line with cream cheese in them. they turned out fine. I don't really like christmas cookies, but it was fun to make them. As we were decorating them, we started connecting the dots with the whole cultural practice of making christmas cookies, decorating them, putting them in tins, giving them as gifts, etc. My family immigrated over 30 years ago, but no one had ever explained to us about christmas cookies.

Anyway, the cookies turned out fine. The icing recipe turned out to be a frosting recipe, posted on the web by somebody who doesn't know the difference between frosting and icing. We'll see.

Tomorrow: fresh tortillas, hair cut... all kinds of shopping. We might even try making a proper icing. We'll see.