There are concurrent holiday meal threads but I’ll continue here. My brother is a good host, but he is also the type of guy who is already planning/preparing/making reservations for the next meal while we’re all begging mercy. Good thing he, my SIL, and their kids are active, very trim, and in-shape; this is how they eat all-the-time.
Breakfasts were always at home, the usual “American-style” of eggs, toast/bagels, fresh berries, and avocado toast for Spring Onion who is newly smitten with it. I’m not a Western breakfast-type, so I had my SIL’s delicious daenjeong tofu soup with brown rice for several days straight.
Friday, quick lunch at home before a public skate session. The boys ate hot dogs at the rink snack bar. Dinner of Korean leftovers and kalbi. Only have dinner photos that Spring Onion took. 
Saturday, pizzas from Pizza 2000 in Harrison were just ok. The large half-cheese half-pepperoni was way floppy in the center. I didn’t have the Sicilian with broccoli rabe and sausage but everyone liked it. That was followed not long after by an early 6 pm dinner at Ruby’s Oyster Bar in Rye, where my brother has taken us before. He proceeded to order oysters, calamari, baked clams, and Brussels. B and my SIL both groaned under their breaths. I gamely took a couple of oysters and that was it. Somehow, all the apps and oysters were eaten (my mom and dad are only happy when they’re eating and they were over-eating during our whole stay, which I mentioned to mom in a non-judge-y way but it fell on deaf ears). Main meals were bacon-wrapped cod (dad and SIL; one of my SIL’s go-tos), chicken scarpariello (mom; said the chicken was very juicy), seared tuna BLT (B; he loved it), mussels with pasta (me; I should always remember never to order mussels in the winter…tiniest mussels I’ve ever seen), can’t remember what my brother had, cheeseburger sliders (Spring Onion and my niece), kids steak frites (my nephew). Festive meal out in the small dining room upstairs which we shared with another raucous party. More photos by Spring onion that I won’t post.
Sunday, lunch at Sherwood’s in Larchmont so we could watch the Pats game in the heated greenhouse/beer garden area, which we had to ourselves. Before we even got our food (burgers for the kids, ribs for my nephew, wings, pulled pork nachos, I had the everything pretzel sticks), dad started feeling lousy. He managed to stay (bro was going to drive him home) but he couldn’t eat, which is definitely not like him. B is fairly certain it was not food poisoning, but just over-eating rich foods for 3 days straight. Saturday’s dinner put him over the edge. Despite that, it was a fun spot. We chilled out at home and then started mandu-making (Korean dumplings). My SIL put the filling together and all of us, except for dad and my brother, formed a mandu assembly line, which was a lot of fun. The kids had a blast, coming up with some creative shapes. That night, we had the traditional New Year’s duk mandu soup.
We headed home Monday after a late breakfast. Lunch in Westford CT at a fast EV charger and Moe’s Southwest Grill, which we had never had. It’s now B’s favorite pit stop. We were all so exhausted and still full that we basically all passed out until 10 am this morning (well, that was when Spring Onion woke up…never wake up a sleeping baby/kid). Late breakfast and no lunch led to an early dinner of cioppino at our place with mom and dad. Monkfish, littlenecks, shrimp for mom and dad (I refrain). It turned out quite tasty once I boosted up the umami. We’re heading back to Greater Boston tomorrow. We’ll probably keep it simple and get football-friendly food for the Ohio State game at 7:30 pm.
