THANKSGIVING RECAPstories from the curious city

MONICA
Highlights from this year's Thanksgiving include the sticky rice turkey stuffing (oh my mouth, whoever invented this deserves a nobel prize), great uncle singing Celine Dion, little cousins wearing big Star Wars helmets, cousin's smutty turkey shirt, and of course gambling.

The rest of Thanksgiving weekend was spent debating whether to buy or not to buy, declaring that I'm full but still continuing to eat, and indulging in movie magic. We saw Skyfall and Lincoln. I'm weirdly more attracted to Javier Bardem's character than James Bond. Yoga on Monday was extra grueling with all the newly accumulated mass. Now I'm tracking all my online orders.
 

JUNETTE
My glorious Thanksgiving weekend was a true treat for me. I have only used 2 vacation days this year in an effort to conserve PTO for next year, and so 4 days off in a row spoiled me rotten.

Thanksgiving was, a la annual tradition, spent with family, and this year for the first time - 2 families for both BDF and me. We ended with dinner and a movie with my family. I also fit in some dog-niece torture time. You like my/her socks? We watched Masquerade at the cleanest theater of all time, CGV in Koreatown. Let me tell you about their caramel popcorn: MOUTHWATERING, DEE-LISH, shall I go on? Masquerade is a Korean movie (thankfully with English subtitles) based on the real story of King Gwang-hae and his supposed body double. It was definitely a movie that both my parents and us young adult children could enjoy. It also spurred some furious wikipedia and googling. I definitely know next to nothing about Korean history.

I also spent some time getting wedding errands done. We took passport photos at this place, which looks shady on the outside but had an amazing display of vintage cameras inside. Some places in Koreatown are as low as $5, but the photographer convinced me when he promised that we wouldn't look like corpses in the photos. He was right, but did you know you can't show your teeth in passport photos? That's the only way I can explain my smushed smile.

It was nice to spend one leisurely morning with my mom to visit various wedding vendors. Oh you know, just perusing traditional Korean hanboks and chitchatting with the caterer. I did my best to look beyond the explosion of chair covers and hideous table settings.

Also, just so you can be jealous. I rounded out the weekend with hours of Settlers of Catan AND tacos/quesadillas from the best taco truck in the world. (not pictured)