9.354
25 (Tue) December 2018
Deep-Fried Snapper in Soy Glaze
3.5
by Aunt H
at their home
-Anaheim, California, USA-
with the Family and their family
Winter Vacation in the USA, Day 7.
- Day 1: Seoul, Jinmi Pyeongyang Naeng Myeon (9.348 Mul Naeng Myeon) / 4.0
- Day 2: Los Angeles, Panda Express (9.349 Pea Shoots with Garlic) / 3.5
- Day 3: Los Angeles, El Cholo (9.350 Fish Tacos) / 1.5
- Day 4: Anaheim, Rollin Sushi Café (9.351 Dragon Roll + Nemo Roll) / 3.0
- Day 5: Buena Park, Medieval Times (9.352 Roasted Chicken) / 2.5
- Day 6: Los Angeles, Chosun Korean BBQ (9.353 Chosun Galbee) / 2.5
We’re spending our holiday in the States – first time for the boys – including Los Angeles and Orange County, Las Vegas, and Grand Canyon – the farthest (distance), longest (duration), and most complicated (itinerary) trip that we’ve ever taken.
BREAKFAST
When I was a law student at USC and living in Koreatown, my go-to 24-hr Korean joint for simple meals, often takeout, was Hodori. The food was never that great, but it was never that bad (see KOREAN ABROAD).
DJ and I got up early and went to Hodori for breakfast.
SIGHTSEEING
I didn’t know that the entire city would shut down on Christmas Day, nothing open. No museums, no malls, mostly no stores, mostly no restaurants.
In all the years that I’d lived in the States, perhaps I was always away in Korea for the holidays, because the shutdown took me completely by surprise.
At the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, all we could do is take few photos in front of the Urban Light installation.
LUNCH
A tradition among Jewish-Americans is to eat out at Chinese restaurants on Christmas Day. Apparently, the Jews don’t celebrate Christmas and the Chinese, who apparently don’t either, are the only ones operating restaurants that day – like a gift of the Magi.
I once asked a Jewish colleague from Australia about this, and he had never heard of it. A few months later, on Christmas Day, I got an email from him, with a photo of his family eating at a Chinese restaurant and a short message: “Apparently, we do, too.” Just a few days ago, by sheer coincidence, he sent me a link to a just-published article verifying and explaining the history of the practice.
Surely some Korean restaurants were also open, but I had to opt for the Chinese place – just so I could write about the whole Jewish Christmas thing here on GMTD.
DINNER
For dinner, we were invited over for a family dinner at my Aunt H and Uncle S’s home in Anaheim. Cousin B and Cousin M were also on hand, whom I haven’t seen their sister’s wedding (see generally 6.271 Tara’s Wedding Spread).
Aunt H – who may be the best home cook that I know – pulled off an amazing meal, mostly Chinese in character.
By sheer coincidence, in a prior post five years ago on the occasion of Chuseok, the Korean thanksgiving holiday, when Mom and Aunt H had created a magnificent Chinese feast for the family, I write about eating Chinese food instead of turkey on American Thanksgiving as a political statement (see 4.257 Chuseok à la Chinoise). I also write: “I wonder if Jewish-Americans living abroad eat Chinese on Christmas.”