Thanksgiving dinner came early this year

Just got back from my Thanksgiving dinner.  As you can see the food was quite impressive.  All thanks to my gracious hosts who went all out and made this another year to remember.  I always look forward to Thanksgiving dinner with the Paks, Shins, Kims and the Changs.  It's always a pleasure and the warmth of the household makes me feel great.

Here's the rest of the food.  This dish is the main star of the evening - the turkey.  White meat or brown meat, regardless of the cut, the bird was tender and moist.  Delicious.

This next one is sauteed string beans with red onions decorated with almond slivers - very al dente and very delicious.  I honestly don't know what she put in it.  I was too busy stuffing myself silly to care.  We ate like animals.  The table was quiet.  Hilarious.  Like a pack of wild animals feasting on the hunt of the day, we sat and chewed.

Home made corn bread.  I stayed away from this one.  It was heavy and dense.  There was no way I was going to fill up on bread with all this other delicious stuff on the table.  Years of ravaging buffets has taught me to strategize when gorging on delicious food.  Hey, you only have one stomach!

A very rustic medley of roasted veggies were offered.

One of my favourites, the classic, Mac and Cheese!  Home made - the way it should be. 

Speaking of home made...this woman went and bought cranberries and made her own cranberry sauce!  Who does that?  Take that Martha Stewart!

You can't forget the potatoes.  Here they are mashed in all its rich and creamy glory.  I don't even wanna know how much butter went in here.  It was delicious!  That's all that matters.  Thank goodness Thanksgiving comes about only once a year!

And finally, last but not least, dessert.  I'll admit, I forgot to take a pic of the pumpkin pie.  So here's one off google images.  ;-)  I'm sure you still get the idea.

 

After all this, I still had fresh peaches and bree cheese.  Then washed it down with a sniffer glass of Lagavulin 16 (Lagavoolin).  Good food, lovely company and good spirit - one of the best from the Isle of Islay (eye-all of eye-la).

I hope your Thanksgiving dinner was as festive and as lovely as mine.  

Seasonal Sadness - It's Happening

This time of the year, as daylight retreats quicker and quicker and as the temperature becomes colder and colder, I find myself feeling more and more melancholy in my introspection.  This is not necessarily a bad thing.  Sometimes sitting in this state can be cleansing for your soul and make you more appreciative of friends, family and life - especially when accompanied by the right music

Here is my list of deep, contemplative, melancholic music to enjoy while sitting in a beautifully sorrowful state.

1. Song from a Secret Garden (by Secret Garden)
2. Adagio (by Secret Garden)
3. Only You (Piano and Violin)
4. Chaconne (by Vitali)
5. Nocturne (by Secret Garden)
6. Sad Romance (Violin version by Ji Peoyn Kwon)
7. Nocturne for Piano and Violin (by Chopin)

PingChat! Initial Thoughts - A Critical Review

Here's it is.  A free third-party chat application that allows Android, BlackBerry and iPhone users to communicate with each other outside of their respective sms/txt limits.  Some have called it a BlackBerry Messenger clone; this had be very excited.  However, after testing it for 30 minutes, I am now seeing a clearer picture and realizing how lucky BBM users really are!

Although it does what it advertises, there are limitations here that may or may not satisfy BlackBerry users who have been spoiled with BBM.

Limits I have tested so far:
1. Not truly real-time. You can't see when someone is actually typing a reply. You just have to wait for a reply to pop up.
2. There is a character limit of 200 per message.
3. The read confirmation shows as a check mark - but often it is delayed over a minute.
4. My BB Bold doesn't make a sound to alert me even though I set it that way.  This is the same on my coworker's BB (Touring).

But! Here's the other side:
1. Free 100%
2. Doesn't affect your sms limit at all. No worries of going over limit.
3. Your corporate BES cannot log the details of your conversation.
4. You can type in other languages like Chinese, Japanese and Korean.

I'll update this review once my iPhone friends start using it and I get their feedback.
For now, this can go either way but because I am spoiled with BBMs almost "instant" execution of everything, this app is already starting to lose it's lustre in my eyes.

Is Apple's iPhone taking over the market?

I found this entertaining little graphic online that puts Apple's iPhone in to perspective with respect to where it stands in the marketplace among its competitors - if we accept that the figures are reliable and unbiased.  I thought I'd share.

Click the iPhone image below to go to the info graphic!  Once there click it again to magnify it so you can read it comfortably.