All In A Day's Play....

“I still get wildly enthusiastic about little things... I play with leaves. I skip down the street and run against the wind.” -Leo F. Buscaglia

We are doing our best to relish these last few days before the girls start school, and so today we got out and enjoyed a nice cool Qingdao day. It has been warm here. As in 90 degrees and 90% humidity warm., but today was high 70's with a great breeze. It would have been sacrilege to stay in! So out we went to our beautiful courtyard to break in roller-blades and scooters. The girls had a blast! Mia was a pro within minutes, Rosie tenaciously worked at figuring out he mechanics of it all,  and Olivia was happy just to scoot around her sisters and avoid the toppling....

Everything was going smoothly until.....

Aliens landed. Yes, you heard it here first. Real live, tangible aliens. I submit to you photographic evidence that proves there are aliens currently residing in Qingdao, China.....

Olivia could barely look, and Mia was skeptical about their arrival however Rosa took to them immediately  and has been caring for them since this afternoon. I think they will be the best of friends :) They sure are cute!

After  our discovery and a good bit of bruising the girls decided it was time for ice cream. Rosie and I love the green tea ice cream we can so easily get here, and the other two had boring old cookies and cream! Then it was time to make dinner. On the menu, lemon chicken, brown sugar and ginger carrots,and sesame rice noodles. It was one of the easiest and tastiest lemon chicken recipes I have made, so I will post the recipe and link below. My disclaimer? I never follow a recipe exactly, but always add or subtract according to tastes. I like a tart lemon sauce so I doubled the amount of zest and juice, and added a tiny bit more sugar. As you can see I had a little helper for dinner! :) All the girls love the kitchen, but tonight it was Rosie's turn.

Chinese Lemon Chicken from Diana @  
http://appetiteforchina.com/Serves 4
2 pounds skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 cup cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
3 cups peanut or vegetable oil
Lemon slices (optional)
White sesame seeds (optional)
Marinade:
3 tablespoons dark soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
Sauce:
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2-inch piece of ginger, minced
3 tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons lemon zest
1/4 cup chicken stock
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cornstarch dissolved in 1/4 cup water
1. Combine the soy sauce and sesame oil. Coat the chicken with the marinade and let sit in the fridge for 30 minutes.
2. In a large bowl or deep plate combine the cornstarch and white pepper. Get excess marinade off the chicken, then toss the cubes in the cornstarch mixture. Shake off excess cornstarch before frying.
3. Heat the 3 cups of oil in your wok. Heat wok until just smoking, then add the first batch of chicken cubes and deep-fry until cooked through, about 4 to 5 minutes. Remove chicken with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels or brown paper (from a paper bag). Repeat with the rest of the chicken.
4. Transfer 1 tablespoon of the oil into a medium-sized pot and heat over medium-high. (You save the oil for later use by allowing it to cool, then straining into an aluminum can or other container.)
5. Add the garlic and ginger and cook briefly until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the lemon juice, lemon zest, chicken stock, and sugar. Stir until the sugar is dissolved and simmer until the liquid is reduced by half. Add the cornstarch mixture so the sauce can thicken.
6. Remove from the heat, and toss the fried chicken in the sauce. Garnish with lemon slices and white sesame seeds. Serve with white rice and maybe some broccoli.

 Peanut oil is very inexpensive here, which makes me uber-happy!

 Out of the fry pan and into the sauce!

 I know it's redundant, but again, YUM!!! I love how inexpensively I can get some of my favorite foods here!


 Well, that wraps up our lovely Thursday.Thanks for reading, and we hope you have some play in your day too :) <3

The Price Of Tea In China is ....

11 years of marriage, a trek up a mountain and 20  RMB :)

This week balanced between sluggish and warp-speed for us. Monday brought us a tropical storm warning that kept us inside and brought us sporadic rain. Looking for a little entertainment on Wednesday the girls and I ventured out to see the new Smurf movie at Marina city, a downtown shopping center in front with a marina in back large enough to hold ships for the Chinese Navy. We found the movie theater popcorn here is actually sweet, think of a thinly coated caramel corn and the girls didn't really take to it.  I wish I had remembered my camera to snap a picture for you, but no dice. Maybe next time!

We continue to capture a good bit of attention when we are out and about, and a frequently have our photos taken. Some ask first and some don't. We hear "piao liang" often which translates to "beautiful, or pretty". For now the girls say they feel like celebrities and don't mind the attention. I however am not a huge fan of having my picture taken by ambush. I keep reminding myself that if I were to see a  neon blue person strolling down the street in New York City there is a good chance I'd take a picture too....

Last summer I thought I was on top of the world when we had dinner in the Signature Room, on the 95th floor of the John Hancock Center for our 10th anniversary. On August 12th we celebrated our 11th anniversary and this time around it was less glamorous but no less amazing! It is no secret that I love hot pot, and for our anniversary we all went out to Doula, a hot pot restaurant located in Marina city. I had a very yummy curry broth, with cabbage, spinach, handmade noodles and shrimp balls. The girls were brave and tried bites here and there but were not as enthusiastic as I had hoped. Mia, who is the pickiest eater of us all merely enjoyed the experience of cooking in the hot pot, she ate very little but was beaming as she cooked us veggies and pasta and made her own special sauces for us.

We had a busy weekend with a trip to the Loashan Mountains, famous for their own Laohshan Tea. We did quite a bit of walking, there was a mixture of path and stairs, entirely paved in laid rocks of different shape and form, no bushwhacking needed. We indulged a bit  by taking a cable car to the peak, to give the girls a break.

 

The top of the mountain was swarming with eateries and shops, very touristy! We were able to find a few scenic areas and snapped a few pictures. The mountains here are so different than our beloved Adirondacks of home. The architecture of the landscape is challenging to describe, so I'll allow pictures to do most of the talking. Some areas look as though numerous large stones had been stacked to make a mountain, leaving  gaps for beautiful flowers and vegetation to take root and sprout, other areas are cliff like. Different? Yes, but truly beautiful and having a mountain in my back yard makes me feel at home! Below is a picture of the Laoshan tea being harvested right along the trail up the mountain....

Sunday we went to visit a local church for ex-pats and were able to make a few new friends.A lovely couple Josh and Allison, along with their precious 11 month old daughter, Evangeline invited us out for lunch at Lennon a local bar and restaurant popular among ex-pats. The food was good, but the company was amazing. It felt so good to swap stories, and learn from a couple who has been living in Qingdao for 5 years.I was also able to meet a "facebook" friend whose blog I have been following in my preparations to move here, she was just as sweet as I had imgined, you can check her out here- http://oldmaidinchina.blogspot.com/ .


I am so grateful for this adventure, and am still in awe of the life that has been given to me.....as always much love to those back in the States<3

"Who moved my cheese? There's a head on my chicken!!!"

So, I would say we have thrived during our first week here in Qingdao. The flight over was practically perfect. The only exception? Arriving at the airport, we were told the girls had no return tickets ( a requirement for entering China)  therefore could not board the plane, a few quick phone calls remedied the situation, and away we went!

Running to our gate after arriving in Detroit, made the journey feel ever more surreal....am I being taped? Is this a Lifetime movie? Seating on this airline was a bit more like individual cubbies, very self contained. This was great for our girls, each had their own space to stretch and their own TV screen to choose movies, tv shows, and even video games.

Olivia jumped right into the luxury, but played it cool as any "tween" might, and Mia was cautious at first to use the controls, but once she mastered all her buttons lived it up by rocking out lots of video games.Rosie was so excited she barely slept, she was the Queen of her own little castle, with somebody to wait on her hand and foot, bring her drinks, meals and even ice cream. The staff was beyond excellent, so even Chris and I got to catch a few naps and enjoy a movie or two!

After our 13 hour flight we arrived in Seoul, South Korea and after checking in and grabbing the tickets for our last leg into Qingdao found a great little play area equipped with miniature toilets and sinks...we were cracking up! I don't know if it was exhaustion that caused these little fixtures to be so entertaining, We couldn't help but snap a picture.

On to our first week....

We have made daily trips down to the sea walk here, some to swim and some just for exploration. When the tide goes out you can find locals in the rockier areas searching out lunch or dinner by gathering kelp and little soft shell crabs. We enjoying hunting for the little crabs too, but since we are not brave enough to eat them yet, we build them crab houses.Mostly we gather the littlest ones so that we are not stealing anybody's dinner! :) The girls love to body surf the waves, but despise getting any water in their mouths. To quote Rosie, "Mom!, It's nasty! It tastes like salt, pepper and dirt!"

The girls and I have braved grocery shopping as well. We gather lots of  stares and smiles as we shop. I have asked the girls to wave and say,  "Ni hao" if they notice somebody looking our way, because even more than usual we stand out in the crowd here. For me it serves as a tension breaker, otherwise the constant looks can be intimidating...it's my way of saying, "We come in peace". The foods here are different but similar enough and we are fairing well. Here are a few of the things we have found and you might recognize...I think my favorite label has got to be the "Sanitarium" brand cereals. I can think of a number of inappropriate slogans to blend breakfast with insanity! "Handcrafted for those CRAZY school mornings!"

I also have a fruit and fish market nearby, and enjoy the thought of supporting individual families. I was able to get 5 ears of corn, 24 apples, 5 clementines, and 2 dragon fruit for around 10 US dollars. I should probably try to barter a bit, but hopefully when they begin to see me often and I know more language I can get more for my money. The fish market is quite the sight, and to our girls looks like a petting zoo instead of dinner, styrofoam tanks with ice water, filled with crabs, sea cucumbers , eels, and clams that squirt at  you. The locals ogle us as we ogle their wares, hopefully I can make an acquaintance or two to teach me local cuisine.

However, it is clear when it comes to chicken that somebody has moved my cheese. ( if you don't catch this reference check out -   http://www.whomovedmycheese.com/  ) Mia and I are sub par carnivores, but that doesn't stop me from cooking a nice meal for the rest of the Colozza's with caveman inclinations. My chicken came with all the bells and whistles. The head and feet still attached, so we named him Fred. I am working past the trauma removing  Fred's less than desirable parts.....I'm so sorry little chicken. I really prefer to cook meat that I haven't had to look in the eye. Enjoy the pictures below....blah blah blah...  graphic picture warning.....they can be summed up in one phrase, "Ew."

It's all fun and games until somebody loses an eye....or a head. Poor Fred....




Dearest Fred, I hope you make good soup. Kind Regards, Me :(












Well that wraps up most of our first week here! We send our love to those back in the US, and look forward to sharing our adventure with you!