It's all relative!

This past weekend I got to meet up with a few of Roy's relatives. We met at his parent's house and then off to dinner at the Gaucho Grill in Hampstead. It was a party of six - his parents, his aunt and uncle (mom's side) and the two of us newlyweds. The Gaucho Grill has very yummy steaks and is quite a funky restaurant. It's not a romantic place, as the music is loud and the place is very dark. Chairs were covered with animal print, dark wood was all over the place and lights were dimmed with a reddish tone. Even the bathrooms were darkly lit with what seemed to be candles. I guess it's a place for mystery or to be 'seen'.

We had a good time and the visiting relatives tried to pay, but Roy's mom got to the waitress too fast. They still tried to ply their credit card on the waitress, who asked, quite cheekily, if she could use it to buy a new Fendi bag. Cute.

We left the restaurant to wait for Roy to bring the car around...yes, we packed ourselves all in one vehicle (illegal, yes, I know). And as we were waiting, I could hear the uncle say, well, we didn't get the waitress a bag, but we could get one for Liane. "Hey, Liane...what colour bag would you like? Do you like black?" I played along thinking that this would never happen...and yes, black is always my preferred bag colour though I do own several other coloured items.

I don't know why, but we offered to cook dinner for everyone on Tuesday night (last night). With all the craziness going on in my life, it wasn't the most brilliant idea, but in the end it worked out.

I baked a bit on Sunday...trying to make baked donuts which really resembled a nice yeasty bun instead...so we decided to use those for dinner. We chopped all the veg on Monday night and let it marinate with chili and olive oil.

There wasn't too much to do on Tuesday evening, after walking home from my high school field hockey practice...I chopped a bit, put a few things together, cleaned a touch and then put it all in the oven. Garlic and parmesan crusted chicken. No, I don't have a recipe I follow, it's just become my easy signature dish. The side was veg (potato, onion, garlic and pepper) baked in tin foil. It turned out all lovely and yummy.

We all enjoyed some wine and the meal. And surprising me, was a gift of a bag from DKNY. It's a lovely black bag, medium sized...much nicer than anything I currently own. Woo hoo! Cooking for relatives as a newlywed definitely has it's perks!

So they leave tomorrow and I'm meant to head to the in-laws for dinner tonight. Not sure how I feel about it as I'm struggling to stay awake as it is...and coughing up a storm. Wish this cold would go away. But it will be something I'll do...because it is expected. And yes, I am a good wife with Indian relatives. Sometimes you just have to play the game. And I'm lucky that it's not that hard to do, cause my new relatives are all so nice!