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A sizzling Thanksgiving

A sizzle is personal - what I might find sizzling may not be another man’s steak but so is Thanksgiving!

For some it’s about thanking friends and family to some it’s their health and some the excitement of waking in the wee hours to get themselves that deal on the latest flat screen to ‘replace’ the living room drywall.  Ya. The screens are now so big even Home Depot is selling more screens than drywall sheets.  Why mount it when your entire wall is a screen?

 For us it’s a bit of this and that but most importantly it is a big Thank you to America where we -

1.  Celebrate this holiday and enjoy time as a family which inevitably means a chance to
2.  Travel the great big country in search of adventure and history and FOOD - the holy trifecta

At times big traffic aka carmageddon-ish scenes combined with atrocious parking fees or lack of space to park our chariot scenario notwithstanding we love to hit the open highways as a threesome and check out that One More Thing.

So it was back to Los Angeles - departure 7 am sharp from the east bay for 400 mile migration south. Just for three nights before heading back home - enough time to get some history and culture soak to last us till the next holiday.  For starters to further explain the Sizzzle this weekend - the high for Thanksgiving in LA at the beach was a cool 96 degrees.  Good news is that the skies were an azure blue and if you go early the sand is cool even though the weather is hot.  Good day to take pictures.

3.  So we drove straight down (with a brief stop to empty our tank and fill the car’s) to a 50 year old Cuban establishment called Porto’s in Burbank for the afternoon meal  for which we are thankful.  What amazing pastries and a spicy burger along with some sweet plantain and pulled pork - perfect nourishment for navigating through traffic for five hours.

Cream Canoli

4.  We are thankful for internal combustion and Honda’s reliable air conditioned transportation solution in which the five hours flew quick before hitting Porto’s

5. We are thankful for great accommodation also air cooled to beat the 90s in late innings of 2017, and for Marriott to provide us with the Warm Bubbles (outdoor jacuzzi)


6.  Thankful to Indra Nooyi to provide us the Cold Bubbles



7.  The trip also was eventful where we visited four ethnic neighborhoods and we are thankful for their coexistence in a 10 mile radius allowing us a chance to gorge on it within 3 short days

Starting with a trip into KT or Korea Town to feast on meat - sounds to the ear like Super Cheap but it is spelled Soot Bull Jeep - go figure - the words translate to a Smoke house in Korean  - this place did not disappoint - the smell of charcoal fired meat right at table side was a treat.

Korean - Soot Bull Jeep

Ban Chan

Thai take on Crispy Corn and Basil @ Coconut Rabbit in Cypress

Rasraj Mithai - little India (Artesia)
Olvera Street for a little Mexican flair followed by a walk in China Town to eat Dim Sum pretty much sums up the feast-a-vaganza this Thanksgiving!

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