The Escapade: NJ & Family Time

Hello-hello from New Jersey!

*[disclaimer: this is likely going to be out of chronolocial sequence, mainly because Snowl forgot to keep things updated as they happened. You're getting the compressed block picture of the week.]

The adventure continues here in the garden state, where the drivers like to honk and the houses are so close together there's always a slight air of claustrophobia picking at the back of my brain. I've been enjoying my time with the family here in NJ, and am continually amazed at how American culture can vary even within the same family. The arrival weekend was full of board games and snacks such as Carcassonne and chestnuts [yes, the kind your roast over an open fire], which was a first for this Snowl. We also played Quelf [during which cousin Wheesey had to ask her foot for permission to speak. ha.], Blurt, and Once Upon a Time--a fairy-tale story telling card game [that the Aunt kept trying to turn into The Tempest].

Carcassonne! Uncle dominated, but Wheesey and I gave him a run for his money. If only we could have finished that epic road... *sigh*

These chestnuts were roasted in the oven. Sooo good!

I've been enjoying experiencing the taste [literally] of the Korean influence from my Uncle's side of the family, which includes Korean meals and a Korean soap opera, which Uncle enjoys every weeknight. The numerous Korean plaques/writing/photos around the house have been inspiring me to focus more on my Japanese calligraphy [which still has a lonnng ways to go], but a definite kick-start was found when the Aunt took me to the local book shop.

The youngest of the cousins got done with school while we were perusing here, so we went and picked her up, then came right back. *Somehow* several books managed to jump into my hands, and ended up leaving the store with me. [Shocking, I know.]

Note the farthest wall--that's actually a 'secret passage' to the bathroom!

After leaving heaven on earth, the Aunt, cousin and I hit up the award-winning cupcake shop around the corner. Apparently they won a cupcake war on tv [which might have been more meaningful to Snowl if she watched tv], but it was still a tasty cupcake. I tried the red velvet, and the Aunt got a chocolate one. Cousin decided to play the adopted Cinderella, and instead of getting a cupcake herself, she opted to chew off the flavor from our cupcake paper... one of her many special quirks... [tastes like gum? ...]

Cupcakes ftw! Literally! Nom nom nom.

The cuz et moi in front of the nom-noms.

On Thursday last the Aunt and I tracked down several bridal/dress shops in hopes of finding a cute bridesmaid dress for a dear friend's upcoming nuptials. Sadly, we didn't find anything that screamed, 'buy meeee!' We did, however, find a tasty Indian restaurant for lunch! So the day wasn't a loss after all. [The buffet may have caused Snowl to go up a dress size, though...]

This was the Aunt's first time having Indian food (*shock!!*), and she said she'd definitely do it again. The place kind of reminded me of Gem of India in Springfield, only this place had a fancy inside, and no delicious chai tea included in the price.

This is kind of random, but one of the things I've really been enjoying about this area of the country is how so many of the buildings have identity conflict issues. This library we passed thought it was a castle:

[The moat's being installed next week.]

There's definitely been a recurring food theme this visit. On Monday after my arrival the Aunt and I went grocery shopping for the week [to three different grocery stores]. I didn't realize I'd be cooking so much on this trip! The Aunt said her family tended to get in food ruts, having the same few meals on rotation, so she was open to trying anything new I wanted to cook. That night we ended up having a simple lemon/sage/pepper chicken with a fresh greens/feta/cranberry/vinaigrette dressing and dipping bread with a Door County cinnamon pear balsamic vinegar/olive oil combo, followed up with the Aunt's homemade coconut cream pie:

Aunty is excited to dig in. *drools*

We've also had fried rice, peking duck [slightly traumatic experience for me seeing that strung up dripping in the garage before church Sunday], homemade banana cream pie, key-lime pie, an assortment of fun cheeses and different kinds of crackers, a Snowl tortellini concoction w/homemade sauce and artichokes, feta/tomato/balsamic asparagus salad, some sort of beef/white radish soup... the list goes on. Needless to say, we've been making good use of the kitchen. [And taste buds.]

Other random happenings--we celebrated the middle cousin's birthday at a nice restaurant together as a family, which was tasty [again, food], and all spent some QT watching Gillian's Island episodes together. I introduced the oldest cousin and Aunt to How to Train Your Dragon, which they of course loved [who doesn't?], and one evening was spent painting and music chatting with the youngest cuz. We've also taken a lengthy walk around post a couple times as a family, getting in some exercise to burn off some of that food. There were even some geese that needed chasing! [A few of you might get that remark.]

In summary, so far it's been a wonderful trip. Next up, NYC!