One of the most handy birthday gifts I received this year came from Sean’s parents. They brought it to me during their summer visit. This amazing pan allows you to bake 3 loaves of French Bread at once. It’s made from Chicago Metallic, and called a Commercial II Perforated Baguette Pan. You can find one on Amazon.com. If you want to try making your own homemade French Bread, here’s a great recipe that makes 3 loaves.

French Bread
2 cups hot water
2 teaspoons salt
2 Tablespoons sugar
2 Tablespoons oil
Combine, stir until sugar and salt are dissolved, and cool to lukewarm

1/2 cup warm water
4 1/2 teaspoons active yeast
1/2 teaspoon sugar
Dissolve yeast in warm water

Add yeast mixture to warm water mixture. Stir in 7 1/2 to 8 cups flour. Begin kneading when dough becomes too stiff to stir. Knead 3 – 5 minutes. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled. Divide dough into thirds. Work one piece at a time into long rectangle. Roll dough tightly to form the loaf. Place in each loaf in baguette pan. Let rise again (about 20 – 30 minutes). Brush each loaf with a beaten egg white. Make three slits in top of each loaf with a serrated knife. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or until lightly browned on top.

One of the most handy birthday gifts I received this year came from Sean’s parents. They brought it to me during their summer visit. This amazing pan allows you to bake 3 loaves of French Bread at once. It’s made from Chicago Metallic, and called a Commercial II Perforated Baguette Pan. You can find one on Amazon.com. If you want to try making your own homemade French Bread, here’s a great recipe that makes 3 loaves.

French Bread
2 cups hot water
2 teaspoons salt
2 Tablespoons sugar
2 Tablespoons oil
Combine, stir until sugar and salt are dissolved, and cool to lukewarm

1/2 cup warm water
4 1/2 teaspoons active yeast
1/2 teaspoon sugar
Dissolve yeast in warm water

Add yeast mixture to warm water mixture. Stir in 7 1/2 to 8 cups flour. Begin kneading when dough becomes too stiff to stir. Knead 3 – 5 minutes. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled. Divide dough into thirds. Work one piece at a time into long rectangle. Roll dough tightly to form the loaf. Place in each loaf in baguette pan. Let rise again (about 20 – 30 minutes). Brush each loaf with a beaten egg white. Make three slits in top of each loaf with a serrated knife. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or until lightly browned on top.

> Parents were invited to watch their children perform Chinese dances for the celebration of the Chinese National Holiday in October. Megan’s class performed two dances.

> > Megan’s teachers are the ladies in the front and the back of her line.

> > Here is Megan sitting at her desk in her classroom.

> >

Parents were invited to watch their children perform Chinese dances for the celebration of the Chinese National Holiday in October. Megan class performed two dances.

Megan’s teachers are the ladies in the front and the back of her line.

Here is Megan sitting at her desk in her classroom.

Hearing car horns honking from my 8th floor apartment building is nothing unusual. But this morning while sitting down at my computer after the girls left for the bus stop, all of the sudden I became more acutely aware of some constant horn honking. This usually means there is a traffic jam on the street below our building. I walked over to the kitchen window to take a look and what did I discover…our school bus stuck in a huge traffic jam. The bus had not even reached the stop where it picks up the girls further down the street. AND this was happening nearly 20 minutes after Maddie had left for the bus! Evidentally, Maddie got to our bus stop and seeing that the bus was stuck in traffic, she and the other kids walked down the street to hop onto the stranded bus and sit to wait for the traffic to clear. When I came to look out the window, I noticed Maddie sitting in the front seat, so I called her. She said, “Yeah, we’ve been sitting here for 15 minutes!”

And here’s the cause of the traffic jam. A wedding! When the bride and groom arrive at their new apartment in the morning hours, they are followed by their guests all riding in red cars. Behind these two red cars you would have seen at least 10 more. This long line of cars basically blocks this already crowded side street, and impatient drivers usually try to go around them, which puts them into the lane of oncoming traffic. You can see where the problem comes in! This creates some very impatient drivers, and thus lots of horn honking. Here’s the happy couple.

Pulling into their apartment community followed by the small red car with the videographer.

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!