Tuesday, January 15, 2019
Dec Highlight: Fun Photos
Our little Elf...
The same dresses!!! (and they still like this!) (I love these pics!)
"Okay Tobin, try to look like Uncle Herschel"
Dec Highlight: Foodie Post
I would be remiss if I did not do a December post on food. I could really start a whole food blog about so many interesting, disgusting, delicious things we find on this side of the world, not to mention our fave western recipes I have tweaked here... but let's settle for this tidbit!
After sports day, Isabella's class had a party where they ate "Shou (hand) Zhua (take, as in grab) fan (rice/food)" This is from a local minority, eaten on a banana leaf and is indeed eaten with your hands. I personally do not care for the flavor, but our kids really like it.
And I have to admit the presentation is awesome:
Here is a weekly meal for us. And please know that not all noodles are created equal.
(and neither is rice, for that matter. At. all.)
Now, here is a different noodle. We call these 'Shan noodles' also because the Shan minority of Burma make these. These are rice noodles 'er si' and other varieties like 'mi xian'. This particular restaurant's has a flavor all their own. We have been eating these since 2002. Though they have moved all over town, and have had to keep up with new health regulations and Chinese FDA standards, they are still going strong. You need to top this noodle off with a good egg pancake drizzled with sweet and condensed milk. This is called 'Roti' in Thailand, India, and Burma, and is another mouth-watering local treat.
Now. I LOVE baking at Christmas time. I LOVE cooking at this time. Usually I can get in the kitchen with less responsibility elsewhere and really enjoy myself. It is my year-end therapy. Seriously. I can start tasks, work hard toward a goal, and produce something (usually pretty decent).
A lot of my daily tasks don't hold out such promise of accomplishment....
I made a lot of fudge. I made a lot of bread. I tried some new dinner recipes.
Plus, the girls got into helping me braid!!
I have made cinnamon rolls before.
I have used a mock Cinnabon recipe before. And they have been fine.
Cinnabons are one of David's all-time favorite things, and since December was a 'not eat healthy' month....I decided to provide. This was his Christmas gift from me.
And let me tell you friends, this recipe was not 'fine'. It was exquisite. I know I am talking about a breakfast roll, but please believe me. This is it! Cinnamon rolls are not my favorite but after tasting these I am a changed person.
I am sure everyone is into their New Year diet groove. But hold onto this for Valentine's Day (or Chinese New Year (Feb 5)), you will not be disappointed. Go HERE and thank me.
So much more in the Food realm I could explore here. Maybe I will start a series...another task that may not get accomplished. Let me go make some soup...
Dec Highlight: School Sports Days
December always bring sports days at school for our kids. Each one was on a different day and was all day. This year they had each kid participate in running (30m for smaller kids, 50m for others), ball throwing, jump roping, long jump, and then group events as well. We went to watch the morning individual events. This was another event that was lots of fun to go and be a part of the school community. We know so many of our kids' friends now that it was also exciting to support them as well.
These competitions were per grade, and separated into boy and girl competitions. What this means is that for Second grade the total grade has about 420-450 people, and almost equally boy girl. As the grades get higher the student number increases some. So the kids are competing against about 200+ other folks.
(The other foreigners here, (our very close friends) have a girl in 2nd grade. She placed FIRST in ball throwing!)
Competition gets a bit stiffer the older the grades. Sophia's grade has some great athletes.
And even Gabrielle's kindergarten had their sports day, which was really each class dancing to a song with a different theme. Her class' theme was basketball. This was on a Saturday because it was a school make-up day for the day they were getting off for New Years (yes, the make-up holiday days). The other kids were in school, so off we went in the freezing cold (cold for wimpy me, 55 degrees maybe) to watch her dance...
...but just look at the view. Crisp, clear morning. She did great, and because she got a little cut after her performance, we left the shindig early!
Dec Highlight: Frodo, the Dog
We've been promising a dog for years. "Once Gabrielle is potty-trained" I used to say.
"Mom she's been potty-trained since she was two years old!"
And this summer David and I really started talking serious about it. IF we were going to get a dog, it had to be an indoor, smart, non-shedding, small dog. A poodle. I never loved poodles, but the ones we had seen around here were so adorable. And he had to be cute, no froo-froo poodle hair cuts. I kept showing David pictures, and man was I being picky, but I didn't care.
We never actually went looking, though. I saw one that I asked about in a shop in the summer, but the shopkeeper was so unfriendly, we didn't go back.
So, after our Thanksgiving trip, the first weekend of Advent, we went out to actually just look for a puppy in order to get one in time for Christmas. The first shop didn't have any, but he knew of someone who had some poodle pups and showed us some video on his phone. We decided we might come back, but we would keep looking.
We stopped by another shop with an adorable five month old very hyperactive poodle. Not the one for us. Did I mention the other requirements? No barky, yippy, out of control dog. I basically wanted the dog to not act too dog-like. I needed a calm addition, not more chaos. Yes, the bar was set HIGH, poor new Coker dog, right?
Next we decided to ask at the only vet we knew in town. She told us right away, her daughter had been raising some. She had one left, a 3 month old poodle, she could bring it over. Sure, why not?
While waiting at the Vet, we saw a sick dog get an IV, another dog had been attacked by a big dog and was in desperate need of stitching up, and a variety of other unsightly things.
They brought the pup over in a little shopping bag...poor thing. And of course, we were all smitten.
Who wouldn't be?
This was our first impression.
Utter cuteness. And supreme calm. He was scared. He did not make one sound. And I started to back-track on my 'no barking' qualification, because, after all, we wanted a dog with a little personality-Part lap dog, part kids play companion.
This little tyke was so docile, let us all hold him, and was quite charming.
We sat with him for a good half hour. We all already wanted him. But we still decided to wait a bit, think it over and discuss. But really our hearts were his.
When we asked via text later if the dog was playful, did he ever bark? They sent us a video of him in his cage barking quite a bit, and of him interacting with another dog. This sealed the deal and we arranged to pick him up the next day.
Frodo became our dog! The name was hard because I always wanted a Samwise dog, my fave character in one of my fave books, but Frodo was more fitting. We also considered Chewbacca, Chewy for short, since he was loving to chew. We settled on Frodo Chewbacca Coker. Fro-Fro, and Fro-boy are some of his nicknames.
And boy do we love him. He is super smart, and has trained well.
But we have our days. Days where he frustrates us just like a toddler might. He has rocked our world when we realize every morning he has to go out and we need to keep him from waking the kids. But seriously he has been GREAT.
He loves to chew, David has taught him how to sit and shake. The kids are doing great with training, taking him out, and even cleaning up poop and throw up.
He also lets our kids treat him like a rag-doll at times. He is so fun with them. His personality has blossomed so much! They pick him up and cuddle him all day long, they play fetch with him in the yard, and daily say how much they love him.
He does like to nip/bite/chew everything. He has bitten our kids playfully though it is painful some times. We are training him not to do this, but it takes work!
We love this grandma too, she was playing peek-a-boo with Frodo. We are training him to stay in our yard when he is outside (which is usually only outside if we are) and so far he has obeyed.
He is great with all kids! Even our friend's 2 yo, loves on him well!
November Highlight: Thanksgiving
For Thanksgiving we traveled north a bit to spend the holiday with sweet friends.
Though David fought a raging cold (his first in years!), we had such a great time watching our kids reconnect with friends and enjoying our own time as adults talking through so much of parenting, lives here, heart issues, etc. We love getting real with these folks and appreciate their friendship so much.
We met with other westerners for the actual meal and ate wonderful holiday comfort food.
I belly-laughed a ton through this meal and the adult conversation...I really needed it.
Precious peeps!
And the usual firepit smores!
We loved being with this family and were so blessed by our visit with them.
Oct Highlight: Reformation Halloween Fusion
Every year around and on Oct 31st we study and remind our kiddos about Martin Luther nailing his 95 Theses and the impact of the Protestant Reformation on the world of the time and on their lives today. We always join with the S family to dress up in any costume and play games and even 'trick or treat' at the feet of every adult (total=4). Because they have never experienced an American Halloween, they think they are getting lots of candy!
This year I decided to have a costume parade and contest with silent votes for the winner. The S fam had great costumes too, not included here, but we had an army soldier, a princess, a softball player, and more.
Here is what our fam came up with (winner announced at the end, with the funny prize)
Black Panther
Spy Kid
Official 'Nerd'
Princess Leia:
Chinese School student (squeezing into Sophia's uniform)
The winner was...of course....David with the Nerd outfit. He received a 'spicy' snickers. Yes, it is a real thing. They add spicy pepper to the chocolate...and for the record it remains uneaten.
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