Happy New Year!

So we've totally lucked out with our new visas, in that we now have to leave China every 30 days. So we're off too Hong Kong for a complimentary anniversary/New Year's trip! We can both hardly believe we've only been married two years. So many exciting things have happened, it seems like an eternity ago!

Where we'll be in just a few short hours!

1 Year Ago--New Year's in Bonaire, a final family hurrah before the move to China

Just 2 Years Ago, the best start to a New Year EVER.

A BYOO Christmas

So, after a wonderful month in the States and a busy month of Christmas cooking and covert elfing, I'm back to bring you up to date! I'm going to skip ahead to Christmas and fill in the blanks as time allows. 

Five other expats joined us for a Korean-Scottish-English-Canadian-American Christmas in China at our place. Naturally, it started with an adventure--after opening gifts I went to start the stuffing only to realize we didn't have gas or hot water. A few phone calls later and we luckily got the meter reset so we were back in business. Then we realized our turkey had yet to be cleaned. True, the intestines and stomach were gone but it still proved to be a treasure trove of surprises!

Brian's Christmas quote of the year: "It's as if it's giving birth to itself!"

Our Christmas was a BYOO affair. Bring Your Own Oven. Since our ovens are all tiny things that can only hold one dish at a time we needed three to pull this meal off! And thank goodness one of our friends has the biggest oven you can find here--it was just big enough for the turkey. It came with a roasting pan that slides in the oven in place of a rack. But here's where the fun begins. The roasting pan is only wide enough for a hair's width of overlap on the tracks. So when you add a 12lb turkey, the weight of it is enough to sag the pan and send it crashing straight down on top of the element. After repeating this comedy of errors multiple times we ended up putting a mixing bowl on the bottom of the oven between the elements and just set the pan on the bowl. Well, transferring the weight to the bowl made the bottom of the oven pop off, so then we had to shim that back into place as best we could. We were estimating 3 hours cooking time and it was looking pretty darn good around that time. So we took it out, but realized it wasn't ready yet. So back in it goes and we're checking it every 15 minutes or so. About 45 minutes in the internal temp still hasn't risen and we're commenting that we must have maxed out the oven, because it is now cold. Turns out we never turned it back on. Oops! So another 30 minutes more in an oven that's actually ON, and we had a juicy, delicious bird! Phew!

Sewing up the bird China-style, with a quilting needle and yarn.

How I spent my days the last 3 weeks

All in all, I couldn't have imagined a better Christmas in China.

Happy Halloween!

Haute Couture Bedding

The art of window displays is serious business here, and the kitschier the better! Here's a very tame bridal shop's window:

Even the bedding industry is in on it. Not only must your duvet cover look great on the bed, it must also be wearable for a variety of different occasions. Here's a nice day look for an afternoon in the country. I'm glad to know if I purchased this, that the blue and floral pillows can also function as accessories!

Here's a more Grecian look. Note dove on shoulder.

You can't see it here, but there are more doves hanging from the ceiling suspending her head wreath midair.

Lastly, formal wear. I've already purchased this outfit for the first ship naming ceremony. I LOVE the train!

What, this old thing? I just rolled out of bed.

Jiangyin in pictures

Just an assortment of recent photos around town....

Remaining tower and section of old city wall

The many uses of bicycle carts:

They're excellent for an afternoon nap.

They make an ideal FedEx truck.

And don't forget they are the perfect surface on which to dry your shop's fresh pasta out on a sidewalk!

Alternatively, you can also dry your pasta on a clothes rack with mops, shoes and rags for added flavor.

Just liked all the colors

More scenes from the grocery store:

Dried jellyfish. If only the selection wasn't so limited!

Squid & mussels.

petrified fish

More delectable dried fish options

A Chinese love affair

The Chinese love their fireworks. LOVE. Here fireworks reach a whole new level of noisy obnoxiousness. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad I grew up in a state where fireworks were legal. I'm pretty sure though, that all self-respecting Chinese would scoff at my annual "look I'm the Statue of Liberty" sparkler routine. Sparklers were the best! And screeching yellow jackets, and kamikaze pinwheels that would fly off their mounts or be nailed to a tree (maybe Dad was Chinese in a prior life?).

Fireworks in China are a must for every wedding, funeral, and holiday and can be heard 24/7/365. They seem more intrigued by the loud heart-stopping booms (that are WAY louder than anything we ever had in Oregon!) than the visual aspect of it, as at-home displays seem to happen in the middle of the day more often than not. When we first moved here, we'd scurry out to the porch at night to watch the massive displays as soon as we'd hear the first few booms.  Then on National Day I was actually trapped in our apartment for two hours while our downstairs neighbors set off the loudest fireworks ever, right outside the only door to our building. Let's just say the bloom is off the rose.

Fortunately, here in Jiangyin, they've figured out how to turn the dial to 11. There are 3 or 4 of these trucks that drive around down, deafening the local population. On a normal day they are used for military recruitment. But you can also hire them for any occasion or parade. More than once I've had the misfortune of being on the sidewalk while these drive by. A grandpa actually laughed at me as I plugged my ears and cringed the other day. I still want to be able to hear when I'm his age, thank you very much!

A squat in the park

In almost any other country I would giggle at this photo--thinking the porta potties were whisked away but the signage accidentally left in place, giving passersby a good chortle. Here in China though, I'm not so sure. I mean, I've honestly seen a grown man making #2 in a park just 10 yards from a free public restroom (more on that in a separate post). Regardless of whether this restroom has been torn down, or is constructed just as intended, I just pray I never need to use it.

Spotted right here in Jiangyin's Huangshanhu Park, literally 3 feet from the path.

Food Fight Returns!

Thanks to Amanda for reminding me I haven't posted a mystery food item in quite some time. I guess it is a sign we're getting used to most of the stranger food we're presented with here? Brian has actually had this "delicacy" while I've managed to avoid it. Use the comments section to guess not only what animal, but specifically what part of the animal, you think this is. This time the winner's prize is NOT having to eat it.

Asian Octuple Threat

Forget about the many mere triple threats who can only sing, act and dance. Jiangyin is presently drowning in posters and billboards for the upcoming Jay Chou concert in November. Not only can he sing (and play piano, cello, Chinese flute, zither and drums) and act (he's in the Green Hornet), but he can, most importantly, do kung fu. IMDB tells me he particularly enjoys using nunchucks, but for "leisure purposes only." I'm glad they clarified that for us.

As I read further I see he's also written a book, owns his own record company, multiple restaurants, clothing stores and an antique business. I'm starting to wonder if his mom is the author of "Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother?"

My most pressing question though, is where can we get this outfit for Brian for Halloween?

Dumplings 101

Nearly a month ago Stella's parents came over to teach us how to make dumplings. For $15 we bought enough ingredients to feed an army! We learned to make the dough for dumplings as well as both pork and beef fillings. Stella's dad also made us a tofu salad (that was delicious!) and spare ribs. Rather than using recipes, everything seems to be eyeballed and learned from trial and error. Stella was translating multiple conversations at once while I frantically took notes, hoping we can repeat this meal for our families when were home and not land in the 'error' column.

The fillings consist of meat, ginger, onions, and really whatever else you like. We added mushrooms, a vegetable I identify as "leafy celery stuff" in my notes and rice stems.

Rice stems--you peel them and just use the white hearts.

You'll also need:

Three kinds of soy sauce, oyster sauce, rice vinegar, rice wine and sesame oil for the filling.

An oatmeal lid and tape for an irrationally angry smoke detector.

The dough is just like pasta dough--flour, water and egg. We got an assembly line going--rolling out the wrappers, stuffing and pleating. I think it's fair to say we were responsible for the bottle neck.

Delicious dried tofu salad with a soy dressing and cilantro.

Spare ribs

Final product with a vinegar/soy/garlic/cilantro sauce

yummers

After the five of us gorged and gorged on all the good food we still had about 80 dumplings left over. This is when we learned the very shallow drawer in our freezer isn't for ice cube trays (this much we knew), it is for freezing fresh dumplings. We are so in the know!

lunch for the next week!