Day Three: Belated Thanksgiving sans Turkey

Early in the morning the massive prime rib was seasoned and marinated and began slow-roasting in the oven.



We had some more fun family time.



Looked through old pictures...





Including my new favorite...



(Toni used to be "special".)



And then it was time to EAT.



The prime rib came out perfect.




And there was Chinese Stuffing aka Sticky Rice.



And fruits and melons.

Zoe, on melons: ".....I'm not quite sure about those..."



Jello she likes though.



And engagement cake.





Kwanz!

Day Two: Italian Night!

Day Two began at some famous Bagel-y Breakfast place.



I had a Pastrami Boat which was SO tasty.



And real Corned Beef Hash.



And the yummiest Chicken Noodle Soup ever.




After an afternoon of lounging around kicking ass at Boggle...



Teaching Zoe how to make little fortune teller things...






And playing iPhone scrabble...



We had an Italian feast.



Pasta with Clamz...



Fettucine Alfredo with Chickenz...



Bolognese...and garlic breadz...



YUM.

EatParty Weekend in Chicago: Day 1 Hot Pot

So my flight landed in Chicago and I booked it over to baggage claim since I was the last of the lunchtime arrivals. (My dad arrived a half hour before me and Kristy a half hour before that. And Waiting Kristy = Angerface Kristy)

I had two giant bags since I was schlepping stuff back to NYC from LA via Chicago, but I got to baggage claim and my bags were already out and circling the conveyor belt.

Most efficient airport ever!



I stepped out of the airport and my face almost instantaneously fell off.

10 degrees Fahrenheit. You would never be able to tell from how sunny it was.



We arrived in Lake Forest and the ground was covered in beautiful winter snow.




This is pretty much all we would see of the outdoors as we decided to spend the rest of the weekend hibernating and eating our faces off.



Cookies and cheesecakes were in the works...



And then Toni showed up rocking a sweet new ring!




Another day, another engagement!

Wine was opened to celebrate.



Dinner on night one was Chinese Hot Pot.



Personally I am not a huge fan of fondue or shabu shabu or korean bbq or any meal where I have to cook my own food at the dinner table because A.) I am super lazy and B.) I feel like the time and energy I expend waiting for each bite-sized piece to cook makes me even hungrier and I never get full.

Also raw meats and seafoods are kind of vile. Gizzards anyone?



But whatever. It was enjoyable. And in the end deliciously satisfying.





We also played a ton of board games all weekend.

Scrabble, Boggle, and Scattergories mainly.



I love food-filled family reunions.