First Thanksgiving with the Hu’s

Since our families live in different places, my husband and I decided to trade off where we spend the holidays every year. This year, I spent my first Thanksgiving with my in-laws and the extended family in Northern California. We had so much good food and spent most of the time eating or cooking that I didn’t end up taking any photos!

The leaves were changing colors all around the area. Everywhere we went, I’d be telling my husband to “look there! look here!” Walking up to the place we stayed: 

The leaves were so pretty, I didn’t want to step on them. I just kept taking photos. Luckily, my husband and I both love photography :).

We also stopped by some wineries along the way and tried out our cameras. My husband recently bought a film camera that we’re still learning to use. I also received my IPhone X recently and finally had the chance to play with the camera settings.  

We camped out in the living room next to the wood fire stove. Here’s a view from the window.

We woke up to this. The fog had rolled in low into the valley and sunlight was just starting to reach the tips of the hills afar. 

We went back to our Aunt’s house for post-Thanksgiving brunch with everyone. Unsurprisingly, we still had a lot of left overs (including the desserts I didn’t have a chance to try the night before!). Banana cream pie, pumpkin pie, baked eggplant parmesan, butternut squash soup, Asian rice wraps in banana leaves...the list goes on.

During brunch, we also noticed these berries in the garden:

Apparently they’re strawberry tree fruit. Pretty sweet and a little strange at the same time. They’re roughly the size of a grape. 

After brunch, we headed to my in-laws to help with some renovations. We worked on installing a ceiling fan, dishwasher, plumbing, and even cutting granite countertops with a diamond blade. 

In between, my in-laws brought in some amazing high mountain oolong tea from Taiwan. They also had the sweetest guava and some mini persimmons. Mini tea break with the best in-laws ever!  

My husband and I cooked dinner using some fresh chard we’d bought from the farmer’s market earlier in the week. Dinner quickly turned into watching the new season of Fixer Upper, followed by six of us excitedly planning renovations for our aunt’s place. We took out the measuring tape and built up our concepts online:

We’re planning on working on other variations and options tomorrow! Calling it a night! Happy Friday!