Questions

Let's say one wanted to go to Hawaii for a week in February. What island would you suggest? I have free airfare and want a relaxing area and a moderately priced hotel. What do ya'll suggest? Do help please.

The fewer people around me the better. I've been living in a "small" town of 5 million for just short of two years. We need a vacation!

Something I have found very entertaining.

Shortly after Daniel and I got married, he started following a web comic called xkcd. It's put together by a very intelligent man, who I believe used to work for NASA.

Most of his comics are based on social commentary or geek jokes. I started following a few years ago too. It's pretty entertaining. The best parts are the mouse overs. If you hold your mouse over the comic, a punch line or further information shows up.

I have to warn you, it is really geeky.

But the next best part is that this same man has taken on a new blog. It's called What If? And is it awesome. It's new, so there have only been a few questions answered, but they are awesome. It's the actual physics behind things like - throwing a baseball at 90% the speed of light, what if the entire world's population were gathered together and jumped at the same time, and my favorite, is the glass half full or half empty? Depends on which half. Awesome.

It's worth a look. I highly enjoy it.

That's all for now.

The Countdown

I'm sure those of you who actually visit the blog URL will notice that I have added a countdown to when we move home. I am excited. to say the least. It's not long now. In an effort to keep my spirits up and not hate China (which is harder than  you might think) I've been trying to notice and pay attention to things I will miss. One of them is cheap produce.

I had this little excursion a while ago, but have just remembered it.

I got all this food for about $6.37.

4 bananas - RMB 5.97 = $0.94
4 kiwis - RMB 6.81 = $1.07
3 pears - RMB 11.29 = $1.77
2 onions - RMB 1.99 = $0.31
1 head cauliflower - RMB 3.19 = $0.50
1 head broccoli - RMB 3.65 =  $0.57
1 head lettuce - RMB 2.44 = $0.38
1 pk strawberries - RMB 5.30 = $0.83

Yummy. I am going to miss this. And the mangoes. They are to die for. I will miss those.

I've become a twit

erer. A twitterer. Anyway, someone I follow posted this advertisement from the London Underground. Made me laugh.

New look...

So I messed around with the blog and came up with this. What do you think? There's only so much I can rearrange and redo right now. So I put my energy into my blog. I like it.

Hulishan and the beach

While my sister, my aunt and my cousin were still in town, we went to the fortress and to the beach. Our friends here, Matt and Caroline, had Matt's sister Megan with them, so it was a party.

 The dancing around before the "fire" the cannon. There is a real boom, but no cannon call. And it was obviously previously loaded.

 Looking out over the water from the hill that the fortress is on.

 Down the hill to the beach.

 The beach.

 Abby, Caitlin, Megan, Caroline, Ashley, Patti. We got really wet right after this.

Abby, Caitlin and Megan.

Xiamen Adventures

While my mom was still here with the rest of the family (she left early with my cousin) we had our "posse" of Chinese girls over for night of cooking and games. They were so excited to provide us with all sorts of delicious Chinese food. As soon as I get the recipes ready, I'll post them here.

Here is some of what we enjoyed:

Hand made Jiao zi - also known as pot stickers.

 Cinnamon pork. My favorite.

 Saute and toss. Then cook in a pressure cooker for 20 min.

 Boiled (my favorite)

 Fried.

 Vegetables.

 Steamed river fish. Really yummy.

 This one is a rice/glass noodle dish.

 Shrimp - with heads and all.

 Silly girl was playing with her food.

Abby, My mom Holly, Patti, Ashley, Molly, Licy, Selena, Bella, Yimi, with Hannah and Caitlin in front.

It was a great evening.

Beijing

Our first afternoon in Beijing we spent shopping at the Pearl Market for copy-cat Toms and other various items.

Our first morning was spent at Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, and the Hutongs.
Day two was the Great Wall of China and The Sacred Way.
Day three was the Temple of Heaven and The Summer Palace.

Because I have blogged about these places before, I have just put all the good pictures in a slideshow. To see more about my previous trip to Beijing, see these posts.



We also had a few adventures in Xiamen. Those are next.