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I’m the world’s worst blogger and Alan likes to taunt me by saying, “someone commented on MY blog.” My response is always, “can I see?” I admit I enjoy reading his blogs so much sometimes I’m afraid my musings won’t be as interesting… but I’ll try to have fun writing this : )
What have I been doing? Well I stopped tutoring. The little girl moved to Singapore and the university student is on summer holiday. Since then I’ve been volunteering with a local designer name NuoMi (which translates to a type of Brown Rice). I do the same stuff I did for my previous employer so if you know my last job…you know I love it : ) The label is cool because it’s a mesh of a lot of things I love… fashion, retail, renewable resources, charities, children, and good people. So they design, make, and sell women’s and children’s clothing using eco-friendly fabrics like silk, organic cotton, bamboo and soya. And some of the merch brought in is made by Pilipino women in jail for illegal things like drug trafficking to support their families. So NuoMi sells the products they make so these women can support their families legally. And another thing that NuoMi does is raise money for children with Spina Bifida for surgery. Yay.
Little girl I tutored -- only picture I could take before she grabbed my camera
I’m still waiting on the other job with the Taiwanese trading company that I “accepted.” I say accepted in quotes because I didn’t receive the written offer or sign a contract yet -- although they’ve already started the working visa application process (???). Still working on it… will let you know how that pans out : ) I’m just enjoying my time volunteering for now!
As Alan mentioned in one of his blogs, I’ve been playing housewife. Trying to cook more often and make sure he gets enough meat. I still haven’t completely figured out how much meat that really means. Cooking’s more fun than I thought. I’ve transitioned from sneaking up to the stove to making real food. For a while, I was turning on the stove incorrectly so it would make these loud snapping sounds (oops)… another time I was afraid the oil was too hot and would pop…so I had to sneak up to it then too. Alan’s been patient with me…like when his steak ended up well done :p Spaghetti was my best meal for a while but chicken parm (minus the cheese) made it to #1 in the last 2 weeks. Yay.
Baking brownies (batch #1); #1 dish: Chicken parm (minus the parm)
Some of you at home are probably used to having an oven but locals don’t have ovens here. Most homes just have two burners unless you’re in a fairly fancy apartment building. About a month or so ago we bought a second hand oven. It’s like a large toaster oven that could fit an entire chicken but not nearly as big as the ones at home. So far I’ve baked brownies twice … three times counting the one I burnt (oops). I finally have all the ingredients to make chocolate chip cookies (thanks to Alan’s mom!) but I’m missing a baking tray that will fit this oddly sized oven. Because people don’t bake here it’s hard to find baking trays. I went all the way to the HEC (Hotel Equipment Corp) only to be amazed at the industrial sized baking trays they had. It was a pretty cool store, but the baking trays were as big as two of my ovens put together. I eyed another one at the local expat grocery store (City Shop)…but when I returned to get it, it was GONE! So the search is on again! Once I get that baking tray, I want to bake some yummy chocolate chip cookies : )
It’s been so long that I almost forgot, I went to Suzhou for a day trip with some friends about a month ago! Suzhou’s known as China’s Venice and about 45 minutes away from Shanghai on the express train. There’s a manmade canal that goes throughout the city. We got to go to the Suzhou Museum which has some awesome architecture : ) And there was this man there with this hat – I told him I liked his hat and he tried to give it to me. Haha. Here are some pictures:
Yuan Yuan, Jessica, and Jennifer canal-side in Suzhou; Probably the 6th picture attempt I took of this guy -- he was so nice; Pagoda behind the Suzhou Museum
Response to comments:
Kristen - HK seems sturdy despite the numerous tall buildings. Pudong, Shanghai on the other hand is sinking from the number of huge skyscrapers being built. The Jin Mao Tower and Shanghai World Financial Center sit right next to each other…and China’s planning to build the Shanghai Tower not too far from the first two. It’s supposed to be taller than the first two. So as crowded as it is in HK…at least HK isn’t sinking?
You should def blog more often, Daisy! Interesting and funny stuff. Favorites: "sneaking up" on food and "I still haven't figured out how much meat that really means." Hehe.
ReplyDeleteSuzhou sounds and looks amazing...
Daisy, you definitely need to post more often, so fascinating to read your perspective of life over there :-) I remember it being really hard to find certain ingredients there (cheese is a hard one!). Good job on the cooking!
ReplyDeleteIt's so nice to "hear" from you! Is there anything I can mail you, such as a cookie sheet or baking pan? If you give me dimensions the internet should turn something up :)
ReplyDeleteThis is like my 4th time trying to comment. Anyways, YAY for finally posting! Keep them coming, so that I could be entertained back in the good ol' USA!I would think Shanghai would have all sorts of food, even American stuff. I guess not! I'll be p***ing for you for a job... = )i know how important it is to have one, because I need one soon too! YIKES!
ReplyDeletehi daisy! we have the same kind of big toaster oven, and when we bake cookies we just use the solid tray that came with the oven, or if you only have the racks, you can cover them in tinfoil and then just use them like cookie sheet...we should talk sometime cause there's all these sweet tricks i've learned to improvise and not have to spend lots of money or spend lots of time searching for something you're not sure exists :)
ReplyDelete