Trying to get caught up on all my pictures… here is the Christmas spread from Miami (Bobby and I spent it with his family and family friends in Miami). On Christmas afternoon (around 1?) we headed over to their family friends’ house – it’s a gorgeous house in Coconut Grove. I think that if I could have any house in the world it would be that one!
This guy decided to watch us out the door (I still think lizards are cool – I did not grow up with them everywhere):
Bobby’s mom (she’s an amazing cook) made a “chirashi”. Chirashi literally means “scattering” or “leaflets”. It’s a Japanese dish consisting of a bowl of sushi rice with various toppings scattered on top. I think Mom uses a slightly sweet rice (I could be wrong!) with some vinegar and sugar (maybe? sorry for the ambiguity!).
In the US we usually think of chirashi as rice with raw fish on top, but there are actually many more types. The raw fish type is scattered with Edomae chirashizushi (the raw topping). Toppings are always left up to the chef. This time Mom put shrimp and some veggies on top (lotus root, scallions, carrots, seaweed, and sliced fried egg).
She also made handmade mochi filled with red bean paste. These are made with sweet rice flour… I didn’t get a chance to help out but I definitely want to learn how to make these. These were wrapped individually with saran wrap.
Once we got to the beautiful house, we helped set the table with all the goodies…
There were mashed potatoes, green beans, turkey, Caesar salad (I think Mom brought this too), stuffing with chestnuts, cranberry sauce, wrapped up olives (always forget what these are called), gravy, and probably a bunch of other things that I’m forgetting!
This was my first plate. I honestly don’t remember how many more I had… I definitely ate too much 🙂 It had Caesar salad, mashed potatoes, Brussels sprouts (these were AWESOME – I will definitely try to recreate), beans, turkey, and gravy.
There was also a table of snacks (crackers, cookies, grapes, cheese, etc…) that I forgot to snap a picture of. And then there was dessert…
Handmade marshmallows (!). Topped with powdered sugar.
Cupcakes!
Panettone straight from Italy. A family member lives in Italy for work, and they were here for Christmas.
It reminded me of our trip to Italy (back in 2008 – exactly 2 years ago now).
- Cibo in Italia (food in Italy)
- Ratatouille in Italia
- Italia – giorno quattro
- Italia – giorno tre
- Italia – giorno due
- Tea alla pesca (peach tea)
- Italia – giorno uno
Back to now… it was a really wonderful day, and I’m so glad that Bobby and I were able to spend it with his family and the very accommodating and kind family friends.
One of my resolutions this year was to travel more – and I definitely want to fulfill it.
Where do you want to travel this year?
P.S. Coming up – IntenSati (Sati Life) review, eating out in New York yums, and more!