Christmas Eve "2nd stop the Birthday party"

A time honored tradition in the Gapastione family is the celebration of Popps Birthday on Christmas Eve. This year we had some new addtions!! Whatta night!!!

Christmas Eve "1st stop"

We stopped at Aunt Gail and Uncle Marks house in Hinsdal on Christmas Eve 1st. We never reallt get to see them or Aims cousins Michelle and Alexis.

Balls of Holly

Aim and I attended her annual wok Xmas party... Her boss Jennifer pictured below had us to her home. She is 10 months pregnant and has been Aim's boss for 6 years. We always fun at the Holiday party she throws. Especially since Kitt has started working with Aim. We get to hang out with her and Mike, so thats cool.

Ebert and Gapastione

OK so I I went to the Midnight showing of JAMES CAMERONS new movie Avatar. Visually I gotta say that it was Unbelievable! We saw it in 3-D which I wasn't to thrilled about at first. However the way we are able to have insight to the planet, Pandora and it's blue-bodied, green-eyed inhabitants the Na'vi. Is truly amazing. It tackles the evil and corporate greed that humans are capable of. and how we are also capable of being compassionate and tolerant of those different than us. I loved it, there is some weird spiritual aspects that were way out there. I'm sure that will piss people off. The sci-fi geek in me loved it, the drama geek in me loved it and the little kid in me loved it. I recommend seeing it, if not for the visual aspects if anything. I give it two meatballs up!!

What up Joe?

Last weekend my great friend Joe Kiehn from High School came to visit from California. It has been about 11 years since has been home. We had a mini reunion the first night with 2 other guys we went to high school with hanging out. Then we watched the UFC fights. We are trying to get him to move back to Illinois. He is a Mail Man so we were callin him Newman the whole weekend!!


My wife so enjoys the UFC. It really helps cause she would have spent many Saturday nights watchin something she hates.

A Xmas tradition I have is shopping with Chermak at Woodfield. This year Joey was with us so we accomplished nothing. But we laughed alot!!
Another tradition is that right after we shop, we have a beer or two at Hooters. Classy I know-

Aim giving Lou an early Xmas present. He is so spoiled!

The Tradition Continues

This year we met at the Wooldrigdes house to do our holiday tradition. Baking the Pizza Gain. Now, alot of people think it's weird that we(men) have a tradition that involves baking. However they have never tasted PIZZA-GAIN!! Madone A Mi whatta shame.

Popps enjoys being in the kitchen, so do I. Complete with stocking caps we are alot alike. We made a ton of Pizza-Gain... Grandma your Legacy lives on!! We also were able to go to the cemetery to visit Grandma and Grandpa and our Great Grandparents both Cantore and Gapastione... The day was filled with great stories and nostalgia from Dads child hood. Classic day!

Daryl has got the hang of it now. He will pass it on to his boys as well.

HHMmmmmmmmm... So fresh and tasty.....Sorry Cali-Gapps not this year. We will miss you guys and we will also have quite a bit more Parmesan cheese left over this year. (Im tryin to be positive) We'll miss you guys a ton. Gonna be wierd without yous.

OHHH HYA DUNE?

Look who I got to meet. Paulie Walnuts (Tony Sirico)!!!!! He was at a wine tasting I went to. In Chicago, then the next morning he was on my plane to New York. What a nice guy too!! I saw Christopher( Michael Imperioli) while In New York also!!!




Bobby Bacala too-

New York

Last weekend I took a trip to New York City. We took a trip to see if it is possible to do two things: Try and buy a business that only exists in NY and eat so much food that our stomachs explode. Since we are in New York and I just met some Soprano actors.I took some pictures that are actually on the opening of The Sopranos show.

I woke up this morinig-







My travel partners Aaron and Phil.

Saturday we drove upstate New York to Flieschers apparently the "IT" Butcher shop in the country. The owner Josh Applestone has a TV show, has been in GQ and the New York Times several times. We met with him and explained that we want to bring his concept to Chicago.... Stay Tuned, were tryin to put somethin together with him now.


The Meat Hook is butcher shop in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. It is kinda a punk rock version of what we had in mind.

Manhattan has these newspaper stands all over. I thought they were so cool. Any magazine you can think are available. No joke you name it they have it.

A schwarma sangweech with fallafel and cabbage- $4.00


This place opens at 1am and only serves gourmet french fries, with sauces that make your mouth very happy.


I thought New York was the city that never sleeps?


A delicious organic NY strip steak.... This steak melted in my mouth, OOFA did we eat on this trip!!

They served us sauteed brussel sprouts.... UNREAL!! Not sure if I ever have had brussel sprouts. But they were like nothing I had ever eaten.

We stayed in Astoria which is in Queens. Every building is connected there. No alleys, congested but awesome.

Me in Brooklyn by the Brooklyn Bridge

Randomness

Every year Grandma in California sends us this beautiful wreath for Xmas. It actually stinks up the whole building's hallway like fresh spruce(in a good way). I think the apples and lemon are actually from their trees in their back yard. Thanks Grandma and Mickey!

Not to be out-done by my recent culinary exploits... My wife surprised me Sunday morning with EGGS BENEDICT!! She was on a mission. Very Impressed. Her exact words: "Put that on the Blog." Nice job Babe!

So instead of ordering pizza I made dinner: Mongolian Beef with fried rice. It turned out pretty good... But not as good as PF Changs. Thats our favorite. It did the trick though- I could'nt let her get the last word in the kitchen. Although her EGGS BENEDICT, looked better.