Most Chinese families do not have an oven. I enjoy inviting new friends over to share my recipes and oven. On the menu this time was Cream of Broccoli Soup, Homemade dinner rolls, and Mini Pumpkin Pies. The dough for my dinner roll recipe can also double for cinnamon rolls, so we split the dough in half and made both! Mrs. Liu Ying brought her adorable almost 2 year old son. He was a little shy at first and only played in the kitchen with some of Maddie’s plastic animals. Soon, Rachel began talking with him in Chinese and he warmed up. By the end of the evening they were good buddies.

Kneading the bread dough

Pouring the pumpkin pie batter

I enjoyed getting to know theses ladies a little better, outside of school, and showing them my favorite hobby!

As fall freezes into winter, the chilly air slowly penetrates the thick cement walls of our apartment. You may know that here in China getting warm isn’t as easy as flipping a switch. The government sets certain day for the start of the central heating and until then we all learn how to bundle up! With several weeks between today and the day the central heat starts, we must use our imaginations to create ways of warming up. For instance I am normally irritated by wearing socks without shoes on, however now that winter’s on it’s way I wear them ALL the time! You are probably familiar with my addiction to tea; well in addition to the usual 2 cups a day, I drink at least 2 more in the winter! Though these are excellent ways of warming up, the best way to keep warm is to use water/corn pouches! Yep, that’s what I said! We have a few material pouches filled with corn and when we warm it in the microwave it stays hot for at least an hour and a half. Additionaly, my Mom recently bought us rubber pouches that can be filled with hot water that stay warm for almost as long. (Plus, the water pouches have adorable animal covers!) This is just one more way that we adapt to our surroundings 😀 ~

Which of us has not had the misfortune of throwing some article of apparel away because of a broken zipper? Be it your favorite purse, a winter jacket, backpack, etc. Well in China, these type of articles would never be thrown away. One would simply walk down to the corner street repairman and have them fixed. Which is just what I did today. Sean has a favorite downed vest that really helps keep him warm on those cold bike rides to school. However, last year, the zipper broke. We also have a nice spinner suitcase which had a broken expander zipper. I walked down to the repairman this morning and within 10 minutes, he had both articles fixed! The cost…approximately one dollar and fifty cents. He also fixes shoes, belts, etc. Here’s a picture of the machine he uses to sew broken shoes, or ripped leather/canvas goods. He asked me if they have this type of machine in America. I told him I didn’t know. He asked what do we do with broken shoes or purses. I said usually we throw or give them away.

Here’s the man working on my luggage

Finished product…good as new!