After returning from Japan, we spent two months in the States spending time with family for the holidays and catching up with a few friends. While there, we did a weekend trip to Vegas and spent a week in NC with the Raleigh gang for New Years (these are in separate blogs).
Texas
Using TX as our base, we spent time with Keith's family for Christmas and caught up with friends in the Dallas area. Keith also spent more time with his parents as his dad was having hip replacement surgery and his mom was starting chemo treatments for her breast cancer.
Dodds/Osbourne Dinner - On the night after we flew home from Japan/Cambodia, we (Keith's parents, Margaret, Owen, Josie and Lily) went out to dinner at Outback Steakhouse.
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| Dodds/Osbourne Dinner at Outback |
Boys Night with Peter - With Shawna in Louisiana, Keith took the opportunity to have a boys night with Peter. He picked Keith up at the house and went to Rock&Brews for a beer and then Mia Dia From Scratch for dinner. A fun night.
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| Boys Night with Peter |
"Last Supper" before Dick's Surgery - The night before surgery, we went to Polanco, a newer high-end Mexican restaurant in downtown Ft Worth. Keith had the ribeye. It was quite good, but not on par with Don Artemio, our favorite in Ft Worth.
Dick's Surgery - Dick has had back/leg issues since March. When the back surgery in may did not provided the needed relief, he scheduled hip replacement surgery on Thursday, Dec 4. He arrived at the hospital at 5:45am, was wheeled into surgery at 7:30, and stunningly was discharged at 12:30pm that same day - a mere 5 hours after he was wheeled in. We're all rooting for a speedy and successful recovery.
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| Dick's Hip Surgery |
Truva Mediterranean and Christmas Concert - We went out with Jean and Dick and two friends of theirs to dinner at Truva, a new Mediterranean restaurant near the house. The food was tasty - we shared a kebab sampler plate and had hummus for the table. We then went to the Ft Worth Symphony Christmas Concert at White Chapel where they played Christmas music for a little over an hour.
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| Ft Worth Symphony at White Chapel |
Phoenix Dinner - We invited Peter and his dad over for dinner and made roasted beef with mashed potatoes and pumpkin cheesecake for dessert. We started with cheese and crackers.
Nikhil and Mythili Dinner - We met with Nikhil and Mythili for dinner at the Cork and Pig. We shared a few dishes - a salad, pork chops, chicken parm and a pizza - all tasty.
All is Calm (Play) - Shawna and Jean went to see this play in Ft Worth about soldiers in WWI that called a truce on Christmas Eve to celebrate. All of the songs were sung in harmony.
Ruth and Scott - Jean and Dick had invited them over one afternoon so Shawna offered to cook for them so they came over for dinner instead. We made leg of lamb (which Keith had been wanting for quite some time) with couscous and roasted veggies and cucumber/tomato salad. We served the leftover pumpkin cheesecake for dessert.
Date Night - To celebrate our own Christmas, we had a massage at Massage Envy and then had dinner at Nikko, a Japanese restaurant in Southlake. We had sashimi, steak bites, Brussel sprouts and miso seabass. The food was not as good as we had remembered.
Family Xmas Celebration - The whole family (minus Graham) came over on Boxing Day where we opened gifts and then had a late lunch. We had salad and smoked salmon to start with steak, roasted potatoes, roasted veggies, and mashed potatoes for the main. We also had steamed pudding for dessert.
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| Dodds Family on Boxing Day |
After our trip to NC, we returned to TX for a few days to get in all of our annual check-ups. Margaret came over one night for dinner and we made trout with risotto.
After our trip to LA for Shawna's mom's birthday, we returned to TX for a few more days before heading out to Patagonia. Graham was also in town during this time doing a work event with his business partner. During this time, we did the following:
Dinner at Mamani - We went to dinner at this Michelin star restaurant in Dallas with Jean, Dick, Margaret and Graham. The place is very nice and the meal was delicious. We shared the bread with their amazing butter, amberjack crudo, leeks and fois gras as appetizers. Margaret got lobster and Dick got steak - the rest of us shared dover sole and duck - so yummy. We got a couple of desserts but those were not impressive. Overall, a great meal.
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| Dinner at Mamani |
Dinner at Shivas Bar and Grill - We went to dinner at this Indian restaurant in Dallas with Jean, Dick, Margaret, Graham, Lily, Josie and Tara (Keith's cousin who was in town for work). We shared quite a bit of naan and pappadam for the table and then the two of us shared a veggie samosa and lamb vindaloo. The service was not the best but the food was tasty.
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| Dinner at Shivas Bar and Grill |
Louisiana
We spent Thanksgiving with Shawna's mom and Shawna stayed a week longer while Keith spent more time with his family in NM/TX. We also returned to LA after New Year's to celebrate Shawna's mom's 85th birthday.
Hope and Craig - We had dinner at their house where she made a tasty salad, creamy chicken dish with orzo and banana pudding. As always, we had a great time.
Thanksgiving Lunch - Since it was just Keith, Shawna's mom and Shawna, we decided to go out for Thanksgiving lunch. We tried The Gregory in Baton Rouge which is in the lobby of a hotel near the capital. The place is beautiful - used to be a bank - with really nice murals. The lunch was a buffet and was quite good. We would go here again!
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| Thanksgiving Lunch at The Gregory |
Brenda and Joe - Shawna and her mom met them for lunch at Ma Mama's Kitchen in New Roads, a very cute restaurant with great food. Shawna had catfish with crawfish and we shared a bread pudding for dessert. Brenda made her famous fig cake which we enjoyed for several days afterwards.
Lydia and Ginger - Shawna and her mom met them and their spouses for dinner for our annual holiday celebration at Broken Wheel in Marksville. Everyone got their usual dishes.
Ginger and Michael - After Shawna left her mom's house, she spent one night at Ginger and Michael's house. Shortly after she arrived at their house, they left to have dinner at Sombrero's Mexican restaurant. After too many chips, a few beers and yummy dinner, we returned home and chatted a bit before going to bed. The next morning, Shawna had coffee with Ginger and then left to drive to Dallas.
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| Dinner at Sombrero's with Gin and Michael |
Honny's 85th Birthday Party - We returned to LA after New Year's to celebrate Honny's 85th Birthday. We threw her a luncheon party at La Petite Affaire Cafe which is a very cute cafe/restaurant in Marksville. We had over 40 people attend. We started with appetizers and mingling and then had a buffet of soups, salads, veggies, potatoes, beef, pork and fish. For dessert, they had cookies, mini-cheesecakes and brioche king cake. We had flowers on each table from Bayou Les Fleurs who also did a great job. Overall, a huge success - everyone enjoyed it!
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| At Honny's 85th birthday party |
New Mexico
Keith, his parents and sister flew to NM to spend a few days with Graham - they flew out Friday after Thanksgiving and returned on Monday morning. Keith and Margaret shared a VRBO while Jean and Dick stayed at Wendy's casita. Keith spent time walking the river road as we did when we were working for Graham in the fall of '23.
NOSA - We ate dinner at NOSA on the Friday night and then had afternoon tea on the Saturday.
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| Dinner at NOSA |
Santa Fe - On the Saturday night Jean, Dick, Margaret, and Keith drove into Santa Fe to drop by Home Depot, see the lights on Canyon Road and the Plaza, and then have a margarita at Joe's Tequila Bar at Inn on the Alameda
Terracotta Wine Bistro - Graham was busy with all the Thanksgiving meals from Thursday-Sunday afternoon, but we were able to get some time with him over dinner in Santa Fe on the Sunday night.
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