queen for a day

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY COUSIN, FATIMA!!!!!
If anyone out there can hook her up with a free round-trip airline ticket to the PI's,
that would be the best gift. 'hasn't seen her family in quite some time.

gained 10 lbs.<
everyday this week has been a beautiful one.
although the temperature is a little more chilly than summer,
the sky has been clear blue and the sun seems to be shining brighter
everyday.

that's how it was yesterday for Thanksgiving.
my boyfriend and I headed out to my parent's place around noon,
with my brother following behind us.
he was coming from further south where his apartment is.
despite a little traffic on the way, we made it to the house.

since my parents have just recently had our carpet replaced with wood flooring,
certain things weren't in their right places yet.
But, they set up a lovely temporary eating area in the dining room...
when we walked in, the table was already set and
my mom used on of her little carts to hold all the wine glasses, desserts, and drinks.
it wasn't too foo-foo fancy, but it definitely looked like my parents put a lot of
thought into it. it was really nice.

before lunch started, we of course said a quick prayer of thanks and then....
everyone literally rolled up their sleeves,
I tied my hair back,
and we ATTACKED!!!!

My parents prepared a mouth-watering meal which consisted of....
- lasagna (my mom always makes this for my brother)
- baked game-hen with tomatoes (my mom joked that they were really baby turkeys)
- kare kare (this was to die for!)
and last but most definitely not the least.....
- my dad's famous crab and the sauteed crab fat!!!!!!

I swear, you could get a heart attack after eating all of this!
I don't think my boyfriend ate anything except the crab.
actually, i don't think I even remember him saying much throughout the meal.
he was so engrossed in devouring the crab fat, rice and crab meat!!! hehehe!

It was really a nice time.
I just thought to myself how generous my parents are.
and even though I have a very challenging relationship with my mom sometimes,
she too is always generous with me, no matter what. :)

After inhaling our food, we also had all the lovely desserts that
my mom prepared for us:
- apple pie (they actually bought this from Albertsons)
- cochinta w/ coconut (also bought...from MaryLou's)
- leche flan (my mom's best yet!)
- fried yams and sweet potatoes with caramel (you know, done pilipino style!...you should of seen the STICK of butter my mom fried it in!)

Of course, after all of this, what does my dad do as usual?
Fall asleep on the couch!
I was like, "wake up dad!!!! people can die doing that after a big meal!!!"
Eh, he didn't care.

Afterwards, we all sat down to watch one episode of
"Band of Brothers"...it's a really cool mini-series on HBO created by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg.
Very well done.
It's kinda like a more detailed version of Saving Private Ryan, but it focused on
one of the companies in the Airborne division.
My boyfriend bought the DVD set for all 10 episodes.
It's a really amazing series. I highly recommend it.

Anyhow, of course, my dad falls asleep during it...
and for some reason, my brother got all engrossed in fixing the
reclining function to the sofa, so he was under the couch...
and my mom was still cooking the kamote,
so it was really just me and my boyfriend who watched it. :) go figure!

After my dad finally woke up, he asked, "oh, what are we going to watch next?" hahaha!
I wish we could've stayed to watch another one, but we had to drive to my boyfriend's aunt's house
to spend Thanksgiving dinner and do a prayer for Tita Mila.
So, we packed up our baon (I think I will eat some of it for breakfast!) and were on our way.

It was a little sad to leave, because when my brother and I still lived at home,
we would spend the whole Thanksgiving day together
watching at least 3 or 4 videos until early in the morning.
We wouldn't even change out of our pajamas for the whole day!!!
And, plus, we don't really see eachother too often now.
But, i think we've kinda accepted this routine for now.

thanksgiving part II
so, off we went to my boyfriend's aunt's house.
like my parent's house, it is a hub of family gatherings
and tita c and tito t are one of the most gracious hosts.
when we arrived, the house was filled with the sounds of mahjong tiles
being shoved around....
as usual they had two mahjong tables going in the back room.

cousins, titos, and titas were hangin' out
eating and joking around.
we got a nice welcome from tito t, who was sitting on the couch as
we entered the front door.
then, we said hello to the rest of the family...wow, there were lots again, so
at one point we just did the "general hello" wave.

the kitchen counter was FULL of food!
wow...turkey, ham, palabok, homemade pad thai (this was yummy!), adobo,
beef caldereta, macaroni salad...
and THAT was just the kitchen counter.

on the dining table was the desserts...
a mocha and chocolate roll from Goldilocks, cheesecake and (my favorite) homemade tiramisu!
oh, my god, I think I had like almost 3 servings of the tiramisu! it was soooo delicious.
totally hit the spot!

after spending some time talking with some of the titos and titas,
my boyfriend's cousins and a couple of titos started a game of poker.
I really wanted to play, but being that money is tight for me these days,
I didn't even want to spare $5!!! I know, I'm kurips, but what can I do?! ;)

anyhow, poker was soooo much fun to watch.
my boyfriend's dad went out for a smoke a couple of times, so
he let me play in his place.
hehe...I won him a bunch of chips the second time! that was fun!

there were a couple of poker games that just brought out the craziness
and laughter from everyone, too. THAT is what I LOVE about playing poker with friends and family.
I was dying of laughter sitting there observing everyone! wow...my cheeks hurt!

oh, ya, before the poker game, we all gathered to do the rosary for tita mila.
once again she brought us together.
my boyfriend told me later on that night that
for a second, he turned to look at me
as I prayed the rosary with everyone
and realized how I am a part of his family now.
hm...how sweet, huh? ;)

and the funny thing is....I really do feel like a part of the family.
part of it is because of that "familiarity" I feel of knowing who everyone is.
but for the most part, I think it's because I've been lucky enough to forge
some relationships and conversations with folks.
it's still an evolving process, but It's something I am very open to.
and it's not so much that I want to be accepted in the family, but more
so because I want to get to know everyone as individuals.


anyhow, I'm starving for some of my mom's kare kare, so I'm gonna head out for my fridge.
gonna stay home ALL DAY today if I can help it, too! I need a little down time after this crazy
week.