Happy New Year to 2011!

Happy New Year everyone! We had a great New Year's Eve with family and the missionaries from the Monte Vista Ward. Great food and games for the family! Here is how our New Year weekend went.

On Thursday, Dec. 30, we did our traditional Dim Sum lunch in Milbae. It took two cars to get us all there. We go to the same restaurant every year and are never disappointed. We order dishes such as, steamed pork buns, shu mi, spring rolls, fried tofu, calamari, all kinds of dumplings, and all are delicious!

After our dim sum lunch, Scott, Jonathan, Elizabeth and Dave went on to Chinatown to shop at a pottery store we love to go to. Only Dave and Elizabeth went in. Scott found a parking space, which is a miracle in Chinatown, to wait for them. They found some beautiful green pottery pieces for their home.

I went to Fisherman's Wharf with Martha, Katie, and Sarah to buy crab for dinner. It was such a BUSY place that day! The other items we wanted were sourdough bread and salt water taffy. I stayed at Grotto 9 to buy the crab. The girls went on around the corner to buy taffy and bread.

Grotto 9 is the best place to get crab on Fisherman's Wharf.

We all met up at the de Young museum to hopefully see the post-impressionist exhibit. Jonathan and I were not able to get in to the exhibit. However, all the others did. We were expecting my dad to come down for dinner that night and we were running behind schedule. Jonathan and I left for home to meet up with grandpa.

One of my favorite parts of the museum are the Dale Chihuly glass pieces. The first time I ever saw Chihuly pieces in person was when the family went to London in 2001. The pieces in London were massive. Twenty feet tall and as large around as a doughboy swimming pool.

The next night was New Year's Eve. It is our tradition to do a Japanese dinner this night. This year, we had shabu shabu, which is basically a one pot dinner. It is delicious! We have small burners that are placed in the middle of the table. A pot with water starts to boil and you place in the food items that you want to eat. They cook for a couple of minutes and are done. The food is then dipped into a shabu shabu sauce. Our favorite is probably the sesame one. Doesn't it look good?

For that night, we had carrots, onions, tofu, baby bok choy, mushrooms, yam, beef slices, rice noodles, and broccoli. The dinner was topped off with a large plate of sushi rice balls, and homemade gyoza. This was a treat for one missionary as he is familiar with this type of meal. The other elder was fascinated by the process and tasted everything to experience them all!

The dim sum lunch and the shabu shabu dinner was a test for Dave. He hadn't really used chopsticks before. He said Elizabeth had him practicing at home before they got here, prepping him for these meals. He did well with the chopsticks! A real pro!

Happy New Year Everyone~~