Have An Awesome 2011!!

Hey! How is everybody doing? Hope that all of you had an awesome holiday season. Sorry for the lack of updates for the longest time. My parents and sister are visiting from Malaysia and will be here until the 16th of Jan. Kevin's mom and aunt were also in town over the New Year holidays, so yeah, we have lots going on at this moment. It's just been a whirlwind of activities since they arrived but hey, I'm not complaining. We are really enjoying their company and do not look forward to their departure in about two weeks time. Here's a quick update of what we have been up to since their arrival. I will blog more about the stuff that we did, places that we visited and various food that we tried during our trips (of course!) in a couple of weeks time.
We spent Christmas here in Jersey and both Kevin and I cooked up the usual Christmas dinner at our apartment. Our Christmas dinner menu was Roast Turkey, Sage Sausage & Cranberry Stuffing, Bacon Wrapped Asparagus, Baked Mashed Potatoes with Maple Syrup & Pecans, Green Bean Casserole and Waldorf Salad. Phewwww, that's a LOT of food for five people! :P We had a whole lot of leftovers for the days to come. We also had a great time exchanging gift and just spending quality time together.
After Christmas, we took a short road trip to Washington D.C. Had a great time visiting all the tourist sites (will blog more about this later on) and we even managed to find some time to squeeze in a short visit to the American History Museum. I think that the highlight of the trip was our visit to the Pentagon! We actually applied in advance (about 3 months ago) for us to go on a tour inside the Pentagon. After some security clearance and background checks, we managed to get the invitation letter for a guided tour of the Pentagon. It was really quite trilling, since I'm pretty sure that not many civilians can actually say that they have stepped foot into the Pentagon. :D
After we got back from D.C, Kevin's mom and aunt came to visit over the New Years weekend. It was great to have the whole big family together. We took them all over NYC to look at the Christmas decorations (Macys, Times Square, Rockerfeller Center, Central Park, The Plaza, FAO Schwartz, along 5th Ave...). We had a whole lot of fun but I think that maybe it was a little bit too much for the older folks. There was lots of walking involved and maybe it was a little taxing on the legs. Oh well, still, everybody had a great time! We also managed to go on a New Year's Eve Lunch Cruise of the New York Harbor. The food was good and views of the NYC skyline from the Hudson and East River was just totally awesome!
A couple of days ago, we took a day trip up north to Hudson Valley to visit Brotherhood Winery (the oldest winery in America!). We managed to go on a tour of the winery (even got to go down to the cellars!) as well as join one of the wine tasting sessions. While waiting for the tour to begin, we had time to check out Vinum Cafe, the award winning restaurant that occupies the ground floor of the original winery building. The food was just amazing! I will definitely blog more about that restaurant later on. We later found out that the chef is actually Christian Pierre, a well known Zagat rated gourmet chef in the Hudson Valley. After the winery, we headed out to Woodbury Commons Prime Outlets for some shopping!!! All kinds of branded products for a fraction of it's retail price! Woohoooo! :D
We will be heading out on another road trip to Vermont and Boston soon. Can't wait! I probably won't have time to update this blog til we get home. So, til then, have an awesome 2011 and we'll catch you later!!