On Christmas morning. Kevin and I headed towards New York City to see my family and friends. We were excited to be back to see family and friends for the holidays. Last month, my parents and aunt traveled to Ohio to spend Thanksgiving with us. This time, we traveled back to spend Christmas with them and the rest of my immediate family. LB, my little bro, has already shopped for all of the items I requested to make holiday treats for the family including holiday bark, and Christmas cookies. I also asked him to pick up some Arborio rice, so I can make some risotto one of these days. Christmas time in New York is always a joy. Whenever I have time, I like to sip on some hot chocolate (or bubble tea) and go site seeing in Manhattan especially Rockefeller Center. Rockefeller Center holds a special place in my heart since it is the location where Kevin proposed to me back in 2015. Back in Brooklyn, mom has been up early preparing her holiday feast of chicken wings, spare ribs, and braised beef, all dishes our family loves. I’m most excited to see baby Aiden who has aged another year since I last saw him. The moment I step foot into my parents’ home in Brooklyn, the festivities are nonstop. In previous years, I usually start making the dough for my pumpkin spice gingerbread houses immediately on Christmas Day. The dough typically needs to chill for a bit before getting rolled out, cut into shapes to make the house, and baked. This year, because we were shorter on time, we shifted some traditions around to accommodate everyone.
Day 1: Kevin and I flew into New York City on the morning of Christmas. Upon arrival, we headed to the MTA bus station to purchase a metro card, and catch the bus and train towards Brooklyn. Traveling through LGA can be stressful, but once you get the hang of how the transit system operates, it’s usually not too much of a problem. Though, I still wish New York would find a way to connect the train system directly to the airport like they do in Chicago. Luckily, the bus and train arrived pretty quickly, and despite the heavy traffic, we were deep into Brooklyn within a couple hours. Our first stop was to the local barber shop near my family’s home to get a much-needed hair cut for both Kevin and I. There was a wait to get our hair cut even on Christmas Day. We waited patiently for our turn and contemplated the tasks we needed to get done before the family holiday party began. On the morning of Christmas, I usually prepare gingerbread dough for gingerbread houses. Since we were short on time this year, my family asked if I could prioritize baking chocolate chip cookies instead. To help me with the process, LB brought the butter and eggs out of the fridge to get the ingredients to room temperature by the time I arrived. When I got home from my hair cut, the baking began. Little one assisted me with preparing the cookie dough, rolling out the cookies, and baking them. Kevin assisted with wrapping gifts. Our cousins arrived shortly to test our cookies and snack on the wings my mom had prepared. Since we were short on time this year, we ended up making chocolate chip cookies instead of building a gingerbread house. Time flew by as we baked cookies, prepared some sides, and rolled out the main courses. Pete, Steph, and baby Aiden arrived a bit later followed by Steph’s parents. LB prepared the main beef roast for dinner. Cooking with another Pan in the kitchen helped speed up the process for getting dinner to the table as efficiently as possible. Everyone enjoyed merriment, comforting food, and gift exchanges to end the evening. Neither Kevin nor I realized how exhausted we were until all the guests departed and we fell asleep on the guest bed within a few minutes.
Day 2: I got up early to begin the next day’s festivities. Kevin, the workaholic, squeezed in an hour of work time. I helped mom prepare a simple breakfast of her braised beef soup noodles. I also needed my fix of a New York style bagel, so I toasted an onion bagel to serve on the side. Dad knows how much I love bagels and had purchased a dozen of bagels from our favorite bagel shop in Brooklyn the day before my arrival. We ate breakfast quickly and departed for Jersey to visit my close friend from college, Xin. She recently gave birth to a baby girl and settled in her home in Jersey. Kevin and I mapped out the directions and knew it would take quite some time to get to her home. Our travels brought us over the river to the beautiful city of Hoboken and into her home. Baby Olivia was calm and welcomed us immediately. Kevin and I took turns holding her, while we caught up with Xin on all of our adventures over the past year. I hadn’t seen Xin in more than a year. The last time we saw one another was last year around the holidays when she announced her pregnancy. Kevin and I made a special delivery of holiday treats to Xin (including the holiday bark and chocolate chip cookies I had prepared the day before). No matter how much time has passed, whenever Xin and I reconnected, it felt like no time had passed between us. We picked up our conversation from where we left off and continued chatting and laughing for the new two hours. Kevin and I departed Jersey in the late afternoon. We took the path train and connected to the MTA back to Brooklyn. We did make a stop along the way to get our fix of bubble tea. Kevin, with his love of ketchup chips, needed to stop by the local supermarket near where my parents lived to get his fix. We couldn’t find ketchup flavored chips in Ohio, so we had to wait until our visit to New York to get them. Once we got back to Brooklyn, we gathered with our family for dinner. Dad made his special clay pot rice. Mom and I prepared some mushroom and vegetable risotto for dinner. Aunt rounded out the rest of the meal by preparing a bunch of vegetables on the side. My family and I chatted late into the evening before retiring for bed.
Day 3: I reserved the morning to see my close friends, Ada and Colleen. Ada traveled back to Brooklyn to spend some time with her family. Colleen took some time out of her schedule to meet with us. The three of us spent the morning catching up and exchanging holiday gifts. Ada brought back some treats from her travels to Thailand and shared some of her company’s products with us. Colleen gifted us some personal care products. I gave them some holiday socks, my favorite acne patches, and of course holiday treats I had baked on Christmas Day. We filled one another in on what’s been happening and how our holidays went as we timed the minutes before the nearest bubble tea shop would open. Every time we met up during the holidays, we would take a detour to pick up our favorite bubble tea drinks. When the afternoon rolled around, I joined my family on a short trip to see Hudson Yards. It’s a new development site with a picturesque vessel and shopping center. We stayed for just a short while to explore the area before heading to Flushing for dinner. Dinner was soup dumplings. It’s Kevin’s absolute favorite food. He always requests some whenever he’s within the vicinity of an authentic Shanghainese restaurant. Wait times for restaurants anywhere in New York City can be very long. By the time we were seated, we already had our full order ready. My family enjoyed multiple baskets of steamed soup dumplings, Shanghai thick fried noodles, scallion pancakes with and without beef, fried bun dumplings, and warm soy milk. The restaurant efficiently brought our food, ushered away the dishes as we ate, and cleared the table once we had our last bite of food. I did end up stopping by a bubble tea shop, Tiger Tea, on our way to dinner to get another fix of bubble tea. We headed back to Brooklyn shortly after dinner.
Day 4: We’ve approached our last full day in New York City. LB and little one invited Kevin and I to join them for breakfast at one of their regular breakfast spots in Manhattan’s Chinatown. The restaurant, located just a short distance from the Canal Street train station, was a cha chaan teng. It served breakfast foods typically served at breakfast spots throughout Hong Kong. Kevin went for his usual order of ham and egg macaroni noodle soup. I opted for the condensed milk toast, HK style milk tea, and some dim sum. LB went for the preserved egg and salted pork congee, while little one also ordered a ham and egg macaroni noodle soup. Little one shared the story of how her family discovered this hidden gem tucked away in Chinatown and how much she enjoyed the food there. For Kevin, the food was nostalgic. He grew up in Hong Kong and typically ate at cha chaan tengs throughout the city. As expected, the service was as efficient as possible to serve as many guests as possible in a timely order. The four of us noshed on all of the dishes as we shared stories about our past and future travel plans. With our bellies full, we made yet another detour to try the bubble tea at Tiger Sugar. I had heard and seen massive reviews for this bubble tea trend sweeping across New York City and wanted to test out the bubble tea for myself. We got there shortly after the shop opened and was able to get our order filled within 15 minutes. The most popular classic bubble tea served at Tiger Sugar starts with a bubble tea cup dipped in a caramelized brown sugar syrup, and filled with tea, tons of ice, and a topping of milk and cream. The drink tasted like a classic cup of milk tea mixed with caramel. All of us agreed the Tiger Sugar bubble tea was unique, but none of us would be willing to wait more than 30 minutes for a cup. I was happy to be able to cross Tiger Sugar bubble tea off my list of foods to try. LB and little one headed towards Queens. Kevin and I returned back to Brooklyn to spend some time with my parents before dinner. On our way back, we stopped at a local bakery specializing in Italian style baked goods to pick up some cookies to bring back to Ohio as gifts. We spent the rest of the afternoon chatting with my parents. My parents invited a friend over for dinner in the evening. We enjoyed some of my mom and dad’s home cooked food, good conversations, and laughter late into the evening.
Day 5: We bid farewell to my parents and New York City before heading to the airport early in the morning. My parents, as usual, packed Kevin and I some food to take with us for lunch on our way back to Ohio. Christmas 2019 was a huge success.
