Thanksgiving Weekend

Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving, was a half-day at the preschool, closing at 12 noon. On my break, I was able to call my mom and Lyosha to make last minute travel plans. The original idea was to go to my parents house WITH Lyosha, but, unfortunately, he still had a bad fever and my dad is still on doctor's orders to avoid any contact with any sort of sickness, since he is still very prone to infection in his current condition. After discussing the situation with both parties, I finally decided the only option was to visit my parents' without the boy.

My family and I had a lovely Thanksgiving. On Wednesday we went to a local Cloverdale Mexican restaurant for dinner in order to give both my mom and I a break from cooking before the "big day". Thursday greeted us with warm morning sun which did not set a very good appetite for the typical cold-weather food cooked on Thanksgiving. Despite the heat, the warmth and smells from the oven still had a familiar calming effect on my anxious mind during the morning hours as my mom and I frantically prepared for the afternoon meal. Our company was small (our only guest was my uncle from Monterey) because my sister's entire family has been sick for several months and are not allowed to be around my dad. As silly as it sounds, last year we had the exact same attending party, only in San Luis Obispo. My uncle was delighted to visit the new house and spend the first Thanksgiving with us, and we were happy to have him.

After we filled our bellies as much as we could with our turkey feast, we only had 2 hours to rest before heading to Stryker winery, where several of my dad's cousins had gathered for dessert and wine tasting. My cousin's husband is the winemaker there, so they were able to open the tasting room and the cellar for our private family event. Very classy!


(I didn't take these pictures, but they give some idea of what the tasting room looks like)


Friday morning, after saying my goodbyes and packing all the leftovers I could fit into an ice chest, I drove down to Santa Clara to take care of my sick boyfriend. When I arrived at his condo, he was barely awake and I could tell he was still on the verge of death (not literally!). After a shower, he seemed a little better, so Leva brought over 2 of his friends from Seattle and we all had some cake and tea. The cake was delicious, might I add! They invited us to go to Mir Woods with them on Saturday morning, but Lyosha was still unsure of his health, so we declined to confirm the invitation until we knew more.

On Saturday morning we were so tired that we slept almost until noon, so we did not go to Mir Woods. Lyosha was still feeling less than perfect, so we had to think of something to do that was indoors and required little energy. I had been begging Lyosha to take me to see the King Tut display at the De Young museum since I first heard about it last summer, so we decided that it would be a great opportunity to see the exhibit, then meet up with Leva and his friends afterward for dinner.

The Tut exhibit was a little disappointing, only in the fact that I actually expected King Tut's sarcophagus to be part of the display, which it wasn't! The exhibit consisted of some artifacts found in his tomb, and the sarcophagus of a woman who was believed to be related to King Tut in some way. Yes, the artifacts were very cool and they did a good job with everything they had, but I am upset that we paid over $30 for each ticket and I learned that I still have to travel across the world to see the boy king! If you haven't seen the exhibit, I have to recommend it because it is a pretty awesome part of history, but if your only concern is to see King Tut you still have to go to Egypt, so save your $30 and take a pretty girl out to dinner instead.

After a couple of hours in the Tut exhibit, we couldn't look at any of the other art because the museum was closing. At 6:30, we called Leva to coordinate a meeting spot for dinner and conversation. They were on Chestnut, but Lyosha and I decided we wanted Italian food, so we went to North Beach instead. After we found a great parking spot, we walked up and down the streets until we happened upon a little restaurant, which seemed to have a nice menu with decent prices, so we took a seat. I ordered a glass of wine (which was great) and we got 2 cups of soup before our entree's.

The complimentary bread was excellent. The soup was good. The entrees were bland (mine was horrible).

Once again, the soup beats the entree! I thought this idea only stuck in Russia, but after the clam chowder dinner and this, I am fairly convinced that it remains true even in California.

After dinner we were both very tired, especially Alexey with his cold/flu, so we decided to drive back to Santa Clara after stopping at a small coffee shop near the restaurant. At home we enjoyed a quiet night with hot tea, as we watched "Inglourious Basterds" then passed out around 2am. As for movie reviews, I highly recommend that film if you have not already seen it!

Although our plans were changed from a romantic weekend in San Luis Obispo to a weekend in Santa Clara, I was still able to enjoy myself and I am grateful for the time that Lyosha and I were able to spend together. Now the holiday is over and it is back to the work routine until Christmas!