Greenville, SC

Yesterday we made the 3 hour trek to Greenville, SC where cousins Brian & Kate live.  It's a booming town full of young professionals and where a number of big companies are setting up shop.  My cousin works for GE which is partly the reason for his move to Greenville.  It's also 45 minutes away from Clemson, their alma mater, making football games easily accessible.  Upon our arrival, they wanted to take us out to Lieu's, their favourite chinese bistro.  We ate until we were 110% full and then headed downtown to an ice-cream shop called Spill the Beans.  It's a quaint little town with cute shops and restos.  I think it's a little too small townish for me but knowing Norm, this is exactly the type of town he would move to.  Here you can get a big house (2000 sq ft) for $150,000.  It's tempting. Really tempting.

Tang, la!

When my cousins and I were little our Grandpa taught us how to play cards and even bet money. The name of the game is Tang but I've heard some other families call it other names.  It usually happens after dinner when someone would yell out "Tang, la!" and everyone would scrounge around for change and bring it to the game table.  Prior to dealing our 5 cards each, we would bet 10 cents each for the lowest spade and 25 cents for the lowest black pair. Back then, that was a lot of money - especially for us kids.  Eventually we would add on and bet on the lowest diamond, red pair or even zebra (red and black pair).  There was never any clear winners but we always had cheaters. Grandpa, for example, would hide the Ace of Spades and none of us clued in every time he won the lowest spade bet.  My brother and his sidekick Brian were always quick to take our coins when we weren't looking or come up short when paying the winner.  But we all cheated when our Grandma would drift off to sleep and slowly her fan of cards would fall for all to see. Last night was no different. As always, it was a loud and rowdy game with rule makers and rule breakers, some of us were short changed, and for some reason my Aunt always won the spade bet. Hmmm, I'm on to you Auntie!  Sunday afternoon we will be going to my Uncle's house for lunch so I will save my change in case someone yells out, "Tang, la!" 

Okra Grill

A visit to the Charleston would not be complete without a visit to Okra Grill. It's a small, simple restaurant without any frills but people flock here because of the good old southern food they have to offer.  We all ordered separate dishes but as usual we changed it to family style and traded and tasted each other's food.  Hush puppies (deep fried corn meal) are my favourite and I was glad these did not disappoint. Okra is also a must (hence the name of the resto) so you can have it deep fried and coated with a light batter or simmered in a tomato sauce. Collard greens are also a southern staple and is usually cooked in butter.  Norm and I shared a seafood dish that had shrimp, fish and crab cakes but I was quick to try my Aunt's sweet, butter deep fried chicken and Ann's country, fried steak smothered with gravy. As you can see, it's a restaurant that one should not frequent often but it's definitely a winner if you are craving good old, southern cooking. 

A Southern Christmas

We managed to escape the winter wonderland and ventured south for Christmas.  It's been awhile since I've been home so I've forgotten the traditions that take place during this time of year.  Misa de Gallo was always something I attended when I was little. I'm not sure what misa de gallo means but basically we gather together a couple of times before Christmas to pray and sing carols.  I guess it's also a social event but it's nice because it reminds us what Christmas should be about. On Christmas Eve we attended midnight mass, something we had not done in years but realize now how important it is. Our family took up a whole row so as you can probably guess peace be with you was a little complicated. Here in the south when you say the Our Father, everyone holds hands - even strangers.  After mass we got home and had our midnight Christmas dinner which consisted of sushi and sashimi, chicken rice soup (arroz caldo), chicken salad and salmon with caper dips with pita, eggrolls and fruit.  It was supposed to be a light snack but we ate way too much and konked out by 4 am but still managed to wake up at 10:30 to prepare for Christmas dinner.  But first things first -  a visit to see Auntie, Grandma and Grandpa were mandatory, especially at Christmas.  It was while I was standing there looking at their stones that I realized just how much I missed them, again especially at Christmas.  As soon as we got back, I went straight to work.  I must say, the seafood casserole turned our amazing and it was a huge hit (thanks Dancing Queen).  For dinner we had turkey, ham and roast beef with all the fixins' and for dessert, my almost famous apple pie. It was a perfect southern Christmas.  Oh, and did i mention that it was 32 degrees celsius today?  

Merry Christmas to all.  

And to all a good night.

Christmas Whirlwind

I try to get enough sleep in November to last me through the holiday season but every year it's never enough.  I'm exhausted and we haven't yet made it to Christmas.  Work alone had 5 Christmas parties plus I had to finish up on work before the Christmas closure at my downtown office. Thankfully Saadia volunteered to cook a lovely Christmas dinner for our WND crew.   We were hoping to visit our godchildren before our departure but mother nature had other plans.  The news called it 'snowmageddon' but what do you expect when you live in Canada? Many scrambled to find a way home, and many of my coworkers were frustrated with the cancelled GO trains/buses. It was a mass exodus to leave the city but some stayed behind in hopes that the snow would stop and the streets plowed.  As for me, I was home in a flash. Living 4 subway stops from home is great! By dinner time, Norm and I walked the city streets and although the snow had given us a break, the temperature dropped to friggin freezing!  We enjoyed the snow nonetheless. It was fresh, untouched and sparkly. It almost looked fake. Apparently another snow storm is heading our way.  We were scheduled to leave tomorrow morning but we switched it to Monday afternoon.  Although I would love to be in sunny South Carolina, I would rather ride out these storms.   For now, I'm going to enjoy my Christmas weekend with Norm.  Maybe Mother Nature is trying to tell us to slow down and enjoy time with our families.  How about making a snowman together? Or baking Christmas cookies? Tonight we're enjoying a roast beef dinner, wine and Love Actually.  It's just what I needed.  It's perfect.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from the WND crew.

Sally has been voted off the island.

Welcome Saads!