Pinstripes Restuarant

Wow, do I love this place! There is a new one opened up in the Arboretum Mall in South Barrington. Some nights the kids eat free and they have been giving out wrist bands that gets you a free glass of wine with dinner. I can't imagine that lasting for too long... but it is really good.

Kids love it and food is great - prices are decent. The service has been terrific. Bowling and Boccie ball if you get board.

We went there tonight after the Willow Creek Church - Christmas service. We went with friends Wolfgang and Berit and Silas and Arti. Lots of fun!!!

http://www.pinstripes.com/

Packers 21 Bears 14

Mom and Dad came down for the game at Soldier Field, I scored tickets off my neighbor. These were the best tickets we've ever had! Near the 5 yard line 12 rows up.

We had a great time, right from GB's first play where Ryan Grant ran 62 yards untouched into the end zone for a 7 - zip lead, it was a blast. The Bear fans in our area were not all that bad either. The guy next to me was pretty sharp and most the folks near us were Bears season ticket holders. Soldier Field was really pretty nice, the grass looked awful but the new stadium was nice.

The game was another winning ugly for Green Bay and honestly it was losing ugly for the Bears. This whole Cutler trade appears to have backfired. I mean they couldn't be any worse with Orton at QB. Cutler has a great arm and can have amazing accuracy, but he appears to just lose his mind and throw it to the wrong team. The interception to Nick Collins in the 4th quarter was kind of mind numbing, it looked like it was intended for Nick. I am sure Cutler is a good QB, I mean you can't be good with one team and then just lose all your talent. Maybe he has mental issues or something but clearly he is not in the right mind. Part of me thought maybe he is trying to get Lovie fired so they can bring in Mike Shannahan? His old coach. Who knows?

Then we met grandma, Shoji and the kids at pinstripes - what an awesome place!! I am going back there. Great food, bowling and bocce - big screen TVs. It was great.

An Indian Thanksgiving & Ketchup and Cutlets!

We drove all the way to New Jersey to spend Thanksgiving week with Shoji's family. We had a great time of celebrating Priya and Stephen's birthday with all the aunties and uncles. Mummy feed us authentic Indian food all week, we had chicken curry, goat curry, mean curry...nice curry! I had to drink a lot of milk and eat lots of raita (yogurt salad) to keep my internal temperature below en fuego!

Then the ladies of the house (Mummy, Shiji-mama, and Shoji) put on an awesome display of versatility and made an authentic American style turkey dinner for Thanksgiving day (maybe a little spice rub just to liven it up a bit). Sweet potatoes, stuffing, gravy, cranberries and Shiji-mama's famous pear & apple pie. Uncle Alan fasted all day getting ready for the big meal. We were suppose to eat at 1pm - but you must remember that many family members operate on IST (Indian Standard Time) - so we started eating at about 3pm. It's a little challenging keeping things hot for a couple hours... Needless to say uncle Alan was ravenous by this time, he probably ate half the turkey himself, hot or cold it didn't much matter.

Shoji and I also had a fun meeting with the young adults of Shoji's Indian Church. We had a discussion time around the identities that second generation Indians struggle with.

1. Traditional Identity - This is the traditional Indian culture that they grow up with in the home. The culture of their parents and ancestors. Things like arranged marriages, family expectations for education and career. Pleasing the parents, think of the Indian movie 3KG "kubby kushi kubby gum". I am sure I misspelled that but I got it phonetically!

2. Current Cultural Identity - Growing up in the US, having lots of US friends - a culture of high individualism and choosing your own destiny, you can be whatever you want! You don't have to be a doctor or engineer, really!! This culture sees dating and choosing your own spouse as the relational norms and so much of this is in tension with the traditional values of the parents and family. How are young Indian adults to deal with these clashing worlds?

3. Spiritual Identity - But as Christians what does our faith say about these things above? Is there a way for faith to transcend cultures? Of course this is where Shoji's and my story comes in, we have been able to navigate the cultural waters and have a growing marriage where we like both of our families and value the best of both cultures. It's like having ketchup and cutlets!! Ketchup an American staple and cutlets are a main stay in the Indian diet put them together and wham!! You can have the best of both worlds! The key is the parents and the next generation must be humble and open on a faith level and engage in honest communication to talk about what values are most important in life. This dialogue must happen in order to create honoring and loving relationships that can last a life time.

So that was our Indian Thanksgiving!

Packers 27 Ravens 14 - Winning Ugly

Well that was about as ugly a game as I have seen in a while. I mean when you tie the Seahawks and Bucs for the second or third most penalties in a game... that can't be good. I watch the whole thing while walking very slowly on the treadmill at the local Snap Fitness. That was great, I burned like 400 calories just watching the game and didn't even break a sweat!!

As ugly as the game was I will have to be honest and just rant all over the officiating. That was the worst officiating I have ever seen. The pass interference calls, against both sides, were in my opinion just horrible. I mean guys calling for the flag and then getting it like a minute later is ridiculous. The amount of incidental contact and hand fighting that guys were getting called for is something that happens on every play!! When guys are looking for the ball and fighting for position it is what we call "football" and that is why it is not called "synchronized swimming". We want to see players make plays and determine the outcome of the game more directly.

Specific plays to note:
1. Ravens WR Mason was called for offensive pass interference violating Charles Woodson. Ridiculous!! That was so crazy, Woodson was equally involved in creating the contact and it should have just been a no call.

2. Pass interference against Green Bay's T. Williams on a long pass play to the end zone, it looked to me like he made a great play, he was looking at the ball and made great play. A little hand and arm fighting both ways, that should have just been a no call. Instead it was a horrible call.

3. There was another call on T. Williams (I think in the end zone again) and it looked like he made another good play. I'd have to review that one but I think it was pretty good.

4. Donald Driver got a call down the middle on about a 15 yard pass from Rodgers over the top. Driver flopped a bit and made a big stink and got the flag to come out of the 5th row. It looked like the contact was minimal and he wasn't going to make the catch anyway. Just let it go.

5. Also some of the other penalties seemed so ticky-tac. I think Taucher got called for holding and it seemed soooo... lame. And I think there were some calls against the Ravens as well just seemed so wimpy.

At some point they should let the guys with pads on make plays.

I tend not to rip on the officials (they have a tough job and usually do it well) but tonight it just seemed so bad. Maybe it was because I was having a bad fantasy football weekend or something, I mean how can Wes Welker have like 20 catches in a game for 160+ yards and not be in the end zone at some point! Two weeks in a row!