Christmas movie with three hats

Christmas Eve 2007

After a very late breakfast, Gina, Dad, and I went to the Cite de l'architecture et du patrimoine (at Trocadero), where we saw plaster recreations of church facades from all over France as well as a new exhibit containing models of contemporary architecture. On the way home, we stopped in the Saint Germain district, first to have Lebanese fastfood and then to buy the deserts for that evening (purchased at Gilbert Mulot). Dad went back separately, while Gina & I slowly strolled home. It's always fun to see the good food products at the Rue Daguerre:





A little over three hours later (during which time I was able to squeeze in some work), we had appetizers of pate of duck liver with mangos and champagne while opening presents.



Dad and Helen loved their hats:



Here I am with all of my presents:



Subsequently, we had dinner, which consisted most notably of duck:

Cat pillow

Gina's Third Birthday

On Gina's third birthday of the year (December 8, i.e. the 29th day of the 10th lunar month), we went to my mom's place. In the mid afternoon, we went to Las Brisas in Laguna Beach. This was a good time of day to go (no lines + easy to get table by the window):

Thanksgiving 2007

The evening before Thanksgiving, my mom came up on the train from Irvine and met us in Koreatown, where we went to our favorite food court. Among else, we had fermented tofu stew and pig backbone. On Thanksgiving day, we first went for a fairly lengthy walk along the cliffs and then along the beach of Pacific Pallisades. Later, the feast included a tasteless chicken that I sort of made; the rest was Chinese food (pumpkin fried with salty eggs, fried rice cake, and fried tofu with soybean sprouts) and Thai food (panang beef and beef salad), courtesy of Gina:



Here's also a picture of my mom with Gina on the balcony outside of my office (photo taken the following day):

Getty Research Institute

Brief overview of fall: I've been doing research as a postdoc at the Getty Research Institute. We live with the scholars in an apartment building on Sunset Blvd. I'll post photos of my office and the apartment complex later. I failed to take many pictures these last few months because of how busy I was. Here are some photos from a picnic/hike in Will Rogers State Park in mid October (photos courtesy of Lorenzo):





(are Gina's shades not fashionable?)

And here are some photos capturing a bit of drama in scholar housing (a fire on the roof) (photos courtesy of Michael):





Finally, a couple of photos from the Winter Party (photos courtesy of some photo company hired to take photos and project them onto the wall during the course of the evening):





(Doesn't Gina look wise in that picture?)