It was just three and the TV, watching the ball drop in Times Square...
and having midnight beverages - blood orange soda for TC and this interesting drink that Kirbie told me about, Viniq. It was a shimmery purple alcoholic drink. When you shook the bottle, there were silvery swirls. Bert underestimated how strong it was (for me at least) when he poured rather large portions in our fancy flutes. The banana wrapped suman was bought from JNC Pinoy Foodmart. To be honest, we didn't really like it. It tasted too "green" and smokey.
The next morning, we woke up just in time to watch the Rose Parade. It was awesome seeing the floats fully decorated, especially after having seen some of the floats in their early stages.
This was the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on New Year's Day...
Here was the same float back in June 2014...
(photo from my post, "My first Rose Parade float road test", June 2014)
The Lutheran Hour Ministries (LHM) was the only Christian themed float in the parade and received the Princess Award trophy for "The Most Beautiful Float 35 feet and under".
Here's how it looked back in June, color coded and equipped with pole stands and seats for the riders.
We enjoyed seeing the various marching bands and the bigger and fancier floats with moving parts like this one...
Princess Cruises even had the original cast of the "Love Boat"! You go Captain Stubing! I spy Isaac the Bartender!
I remember watching this show back in the late 70's...
Haha, the theme was so "disco"!
Bert recorded the Rose Parade on the HGTV channel which had no commercials. During breakfast, we watched Season 4 of "The Legend of Korra" (a Nickelodeon spinoff series from "Avatar - The Last Airbender". Korra is bad ass!
Lunch was at my parents' a few hours later...
Of course, my mom made her traditional palitaw. Round foods are required for the New Year's Day spread.
The round shape is represented in the grapes...
but not in my mocha mocha brownies and my coconut mochiko cake (which I cut into even smaller "sample size" pieces)...
but definitely in the other fruit bowls with oranges, pomelos, apples, and nectarines.
Like during our Christmas get together, my dad had bbq duty. Here was his set up with the marinades and skewers ready to go...
My dad's bbq skewers are always a hit. The nephews plus TC attacked this as soon as it was brought in the house. Some of the nephews were hovering while he was basting the meat, just waiting for a few to be done and eaten hot off the grill.
We had a big spread of food which included lumpia...
Bittermelon with pork...
Cornish game hen (marinated with oyster sauce and star spice). My mom only makes this for special occasions and I was happy to see it make an apperance once again.
Beef nillaga...
along with ham, kale salad (not pictured)...
and some sort of shrimp dish with leeks...
Later that evening, our neighbor across the street gave us a sample of her Caldeirada de Lulas a Portuguese squid stew. She added shrimp along with squid and sliced potatoes. It was delicious.
I can't believe it's 2015 already! I have to get used to writing it too. I know that it will be a good year and I look forward to more food adventures to share with family and friends.
2 comments:
That swirly purple drinks looks prettttttty. I imagine your New Year's was about as exciting as mine. Hah! Happy belated New Year!
I remember watching the Love Boat but - really I only remember the theme show. I know my mom used to enjoy watching it!
Kirbie posted the drink on her Istagram feed. Her photos are much better and prettier. The drink does look quite nice in person, but I am a lightweight when it comes to drinking alcohol this strong. I could only handle a few sips, otherwise if I had more, I'd be conked out.
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