George loves the barbecue baked potato, which in this case included brisket, sausage, baked beans, sour cream, bacon, cheddar, onions, and pickled jalapenos. I'm not sure that our guests cared too much for them, as we easily brought two dozen potatoes back home with us. My first thought was to make a giant batch of twice baked potatoes to freeze, but I had never tried to mash 16 potatoes at the same time before, and when I did, I failed miserably. It is possible to overbeat potatoes, causing them to release enough starch to turn the whole pot into a gummy mess. For the rest of the trip, we would involve ourselves with "the potato project" in a valiant effort to not waste food.
10 Dec 16, Saturday: I tried to act normal in front of George while Szu-Hua's flight got delayed by three hours. Ed picked my friends up from the airport and Vivi cooked them a pasta dinner while George fell asleep. Half way through his nap, I snuck the kids over to visit everybody.
11 Dec 16, Sunday: While George and I were off working in the morning, Vivi dropped my friends off at the Thinkery before heading over to Amory's birthday party. We met them there a few hours later, and because we had just run over a screw, George had to take the car into Costco for a repair. He spent two hours in there without seeing a cake that read, "Happy 40th Birthday George Miner IV." Vivian waited until he left to pick it up.
My parents' flight came on time, just an hour and a half before guests were due to arrive at the boat. Mom and Dad were in charge of setting up the music and helping Emily and Henry transport the coolers with water, ice, and beer. Vivian brought my friends to the boat and delivered party supplies from Party City and several groceries from Costco. Malinda and Michelle were in charge of balloons, a helium tank, decorative LEDs, paper lanterns, mulled wine, and generally making sure everything ran smoothly. My friends really were a tremendous team.
Other than the captains, the boat held 62 passengers. The families that attended were Zac Miner, Zach Dunphy, Kacy Reeves, Richard Holt, Don Williams, Meena Iyer, Jimmy Ong, Tiffany Lugo, Swati Avashia, Jorge Ganem, Jen Hughes, Valli Annamalai, Bob Sihler, Betty Mallard, Szu-Hua Lee, Malinda Healy, Emily Singor, Vivi Muzio, and my parents. The weather was perfect, the food was plentiful, and the cruise took us past the vibrant Trail of Lights. But the best part of all was that George really was surprised.
Christmas Cartoon: Donald Duck: Stuck on Christmas
Potatoes of the Day: Barbecue Baked Potatoes
12 Dec 16, Monday: With six sudden houseguests and no plans, we really made the most of the day. We visited the ever beautiful Mollberg Piano Restoration Shop in Blanco all afternoon, and ended the day with a sunset over Lake Travis with Tex Mex at the Oasis. Mom and Dad treated, and the view was spectacular.
Christmas Cartoon: The Grinch
Potatoes of the Day: Twice Baked Potatoes
13 Dec 16, Tuesday: Even though I had originally planned to show my friends all the fun places for kids to visit in Austin, we really just did a lot of shopping instead. Szu-Hua and Dad came with me to drop Drakeson off at school, and then we stopped by Target and Strait Music, where Szu-Hua bought 20 piano teaching books. The weather was warm and bright, and we spent the afternoon on Town Lake Trail with a stop at Trader Joe's. Mom and Dad graciously offered to watch all four kiddos in the evening, and we took them up on it. Szu-Hua, Ching-Lung, George, and I went to the Alamo Drafthouse to see "Dr. Strange." Not wanting to disappoint, I ordered us seven dishes and four milkshakes. It was much too much.
Christmas Cartoon: The Leprechauns' Christmas Gold
Potatoes of the Day: Fried Potato Pancakes
14 Dec 16, Wednesday: Wednesday was George's birthday. He opened his presents in the morning and found my recipe for Death by Chocolate Four Layer Ice Cream Birthday Cake. As it was my parents' last evening with us, we wasted very little time rushing through Costco and HEB with the hopes of making all four layers that day. In the evening, the ten of us ventured out to see the Trail of Lights. The walk was a little more than we had bargained for, but Dad bought us a kettle corn, and we had a great time anyway. It was freezing, everybody was exhausted, and we all slept very well.
Christmas Cartoon: Phineas & Ferb
Potatoes of the Day: Potato Kässpätzle
15 Dec 16, Thursday: It was Drakeson's last day of school, and he had an Open House at the Dougherty Arts Center. Although he was King Arthur in his class play, Dad wasn't too impressed. By contrast, because Drakeson acted like he was in a play at all, I was very proud. Mom and Dad drove to the airport and left for Seattle shortly after the performance. The rest of us spent the evening with Zac watching the light show at Mozart's Coffee Roasters. Again it was freezing, and the traffic was terrible. I was forced to take the wrong way back home, which ended up saving time.
Christmas Cartoon: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Part I
Potatoes of the Day: Fried Potato Sandwiches
16 Dec 16, Friday: Hsin-Cheng had wanted to go to school with Drakeson at the DAC on Tuesday and Thursday, so we dropped both of them off at a neighborhood art school called Wee Warhols. I took Szu-Hua to Central Market, dropped Zac off at the airport, and returned to pick up Szu-Hua. To my horror, she wasn't at our meeting spot, so I frantically ran through the store looking for her no fewer than four times. On the fifth run through, I found her and sent her to the check out. The cashier accused us of counterfeit and refused to take perfectly good cash, which held us back another ten minutes. Rushing to Wee Warhols, we got stopped by a train, and by some miracle, we were only late by a couple of minutes. The kids played in the bouncy house in the afternoon, and we strolled around campus and shopped at the Co-Op in the evening. We picked up Homeslice on the way home for a late dinner of pizza and beer on the back patio.
Christmas Cartoon: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Part II
Potatoes of the Day: Homemade Fries
17 Dec 16, Saturday: We had a choir rehearsal at KLCC in the morning, and while we were in the area, we picked out a new beer recipe at Austin Homebrew and picked up a few groceries at the MT Market. If anybody else had been visiting us, we would have stayed in Austin Chinatown, but instead we headed down to South Congress for lunch at Torchy's Tacos. A few doors down was Big Top Candy Shop, so we popped in for a few minutes. The kids picked up a stomach bug, and everyone was happy to stay home and relax for the rest of the evening. Milli insisted on sleeping in the carrier, so George started the new batch of beer with her strapped to his chest. It's not a task he would recommend.
Christmas Cartoon: A Very Goofy Christmas
Potatoes of the Day: Potato & Egg Breakfast Tacos
18 Dec 16, Sunday: Sunday morning was filled with music. The choir performed the cantata, and Szu-Hua and I played six duets. George and Ching-Lung picked up more groceries at Costco and Whole Foods, and Szu-Hua and I stayed home to tidy up and prepare a tremendous amount of food. Vivi, Ed, and Zachy came over for a dinner of whole wheat pork filled steamed buns, corn and broccoli soup, and gnocchi. After dinner, Szu-Hua and I took off for some late night shopping at Target, Trader Joe's, and HEB.
Christmas Cartoon: Mickey and Minnie's The Gift of the Magi
Potatoes of the Day: Gnocchi
19 Dec 16, Monday: I took our friends to see Terra Toys while George ordered beef, bison, lamb, chicken, and tuna burgers at Hopdoddy Burger Bar. Next, we went to Picture People at Lakeline Mall to get some photos together. Angela, our favorite photographer, was supposed to have the day off, but due to overbooking, she got called into work. We were so lucky to have our session with her; in fact, Szu-Hua and Ching-Lung liked her so much that they requested photos with her.
Christmas Cartoon: A Garfield Christmas
Potatoes of the Day: Hopdoddy Fries
20 Dec 16, Tuesday: We rented a van and drove out to Sealy. There was a bit of trouble with rental locations, which resulted in an extra cab fee and a second drive out to Lakeline. However, once we arrived on the property, the stress of city life melted away, and we took a big gator tour of the land. As the sun set, the temperature dropped, and George set up two roaring fires. We sat down to enormous portions of ribs and rice by candlelight, and took a memorable night ride under the big starry sky.
Potatoes of the Day: Gnocchi
21 Dec 16, Wednesday: After a cold and cozy night of sleep, the weather warmed up tremendously for a comfortable and peaceful morning. Warren and his kids met us in Sealy, and we roamed all over the property under the warm sun. Arkansas Mike and Warren caught four wild hogs in their trap, which was pretty exciting. On the way back to Austin, we stopped at Buc-ee's for some souvenirs, and then Szu-Hua and Ching-Lung treated us to the all you can eat dinner at the Salt Lick. Although life can't go on with so much play time and such extravagant meals, I wish it could last just a little longer. It was Szu-Hua and Ching-Lung's first time back in the States since they were students in 2008, and we were so lucky to have them here with us. The eight of us make quite a comfortable family.
Christmas Cartoon: A Charlie Brown Christmas
Potatoes of the Day: Salt Lick Potato Salad
Incidentally, there are still seven potatoes in my freezer. Scalloped potatoes are next.
