So Cold So Fast

It's that time of year again when the temperature  takes a dive and drops low enough for the snow in the city starts to stick. This is actually the first day that it snowed all day in Chicago. Strangely the night before the snow was much colder. Regardless, I hate the idea of having to go out to get groceries this time of year.

DUCK THANKSGIVING

Xiao and I bought a whole duck but I didn't know if i had to remove the guts from the duck and I didn't know how to get rid of the giblet so I ended up hacking it up and leaving the ribcage out. I was afraid of hitting the intestines or bowels of the duck which I read was dangerous when prepping a duck. The next time I get a duck, I am going to get a butcher to halve the duck for me.

The Thanksgiving potluck at my place :)

Cajun Spiced Duck- It looked better on the plate when it wasn't sitting in it's own gravy...

Ribs from Roxy!

Bamboo and Mushroom Stir-fry from Thet!

I also made some sweet potato biscuits but they looked nothing like the pics on the website the recipe came from. Lilyan also contributed a cheesecake.

REAL THANKSGIVING

On the actual day of Thanksgiving, Xiao and I went to Ping Jing and Anita's place for a southern style meal. I loved the turkey the best and the oyster stuffing the least. Xiao was vice versa. It was neat meeting Anita's mom and their friend Dawn. It seems Anita, Ping Jing, and Anita's mom are very altruistic people all in the business of helping people. This was Xiao's first traditional Thanksgiving in the 27 years he's been on this Earth.

Anita, her mom, and Ping Jing. Sugar the chihuahua was too short to be in this photo. It was such a sweet name for a gentle and old dog.

Ping Jing and Dawn

The Art Institute was wreathing the lions. I thought it meant admission was free that day but it was not. We did get free hot chocolate. We also ended up getting free t-shirts from my favorite art store from the wheel prize that Black Friday.

Naked lion...

It took three men to get the wreath on the lion...

SANTA TRAIN

I heard of the Santa train but never saw it the last two winters. This year I caught the train as I was heading over from the One of a Kind show at the Merchandise Mart to see Xiao at his place.

CTA Holiday Train

People watching

Santa!

Can you see him in the shadows?

Snowflakes!

While I was wishing for pizza I ate this instead. Black bean soup with rice, chicken andouille sausage, sauteed greens with garlic, and sliced vine tomato.