First XiGua of the Season

 Ah... Watermelon. Or, as it's most commonly known around here, XiGua. One of the things I so enjoy about Shanghai is how inexpensive watermelon and how early it arrives here. Last week I decided to go ahead and try the small watermelons I saw at the fruit stand. And while it didn't have the height-of-season-absolute-sweetness, it was really really good.

 Hadassah was pretty excited to see what we were having for lunch!

 I made broccoli, carrot, lemon sage pasta for lunch too. The meal just said spring time...

 We all ate a lot of watermelon. Granted the pieces were small, as the whole melon was no bigger than a small kickball. But still... I was especially impressed with how much Hadassah ate!

 Her enjoyment of it was so cute I just had to take a lot of pictures...

It reminded me of the blue eyed baby we moved to China with... Here's Hadassah in June 2014, 7 months old and totally enjoying her watermelon.

At almost 2 1/2 years now, it's still one of her most favorite things ever. :)

Another Apple Pie

Despite Apple Pie being about as iconic American as you get (or perhaps due to that!), it seems quite popular in China! After teaching a class on it in February, the organizer of them asked me several times if I could teach one again at her house. Due to life being busy and then moving, it didn't work out until about 2 weeks ago, on a Saturday afternoon.

Not going to lie... when the time to leave rolled around, I really didn't want to go. Saturday afternoon nap times are such a cherished time for Ryan and I to spend time together. I didn't want to leave him, but I also knew this was a good opportunity to be a good ambassador, and I do enjoy teaching and cooking. :) Plus, it's likely to be quite a while before I have time to do this again, as when our little Ellie joins us, life will be even more full!

I'm always amazed when the Chinese characters in an address someone texts me and I paste into an all-in-Chinese taxi app actually gets me to the right place, but it worked! Only, due to mis-reading numbers on my part and the taxi driver, he ended up dropping me off at the wrong apartment complex. Thankfully, it turned out to be just next door to the one I needed, so after wandering around for a while with an armload of baking necessities, I made it to the right place!

 There were a lot more children than I expected! The organizer had made it into a "tastes of the world" afternoon, with ladies from Germany, Indonesia, and China demonstrating other dishes after me. I thought it would be more for adults to learn, but they made it into a fun time for children!

I definitely don't usually cook on such a low table... it was a challenge. But, it allowed the children to get close to watch, which they enjoyed.

The pie turned out to be one of the prettiest I've made... Always nice when you're doing it for a demonstration! ;)

While it baked, they asked me to give a short talk about America. It was pretty much on the fly. ;) I talked about how the country is diverse, like China, with northern cold with lots of snow, to southern heat, to oceans and mountains and vast open farmland... America is truly "the beautiful" and living away from my home country makes me appreciate it more. :)

I did look up one thing to pass on to them: the origin of apple pie. Turns out, like almost everything else in America, it actually originated in England and we just borrowed and brought it to our country, taking it over as a signature dish of our own!

 The pie baked beautifully, even better than it does in my oven at home. I've had a sneaking suspicion that our large toaster oven isn't doing it's job (as baking/cooking almost anything takes twice as long as a recipe says, and even then often isn't done), and this confirmed it - her smaller toaster oven baked it better! But again, great for demonstration to have it turn out so well!

The children were enthusiastic in giving me plates to put little pieces on, and the pie disappeared quickly, seeming to be thoroughly enjoyed.

With my duty done, though they were still in the midst of just the 2nd demonstration, and I am interested in learning to cook other dishes, I was happy to go home to my husband and daughter now up from her nap. :)

We planned to go swimming, much to my daughter's excitement, until we were turned away by a worker telling us it was dangerous for a pregnant woman to swim during pregnancy. Never mind that I'd gone the two weeks prior. Never mind that it's one of the top recommended exercises for pregnancy in America... We tried to argue our point, but with their limited English understanding and refusal to budge, we finally left. Yet another instance where they are overly careful in what they allow pregnant woman to do in China... I appreciate their concern, but it can be hard at times as I can't just stop living because I'm pregnant! ;) But a walk on campus soon cheered Hadassah up... It is good to be a family together.

China Cuisine and Bugs

The rain finally held off this morning. It has been raining so much lately, that getting to walk somewhere without carrying an umbrella is now a special treat! I have also missed my longer walks as it's hard to carry Hadassah very far these days, and her stroller molds if it gets wet...

So this morning I was glad for the excuse to walk 15 minutes to a nearby apartment complex, for a get-together with friends. Through the American families we've been getting to know better, I got to know a really sweet Chinese lady. She speaks very good English, having spent a few years in the states, and also stays home during the day, which is rare here. Last time she made some delicious food, so I asked if she would show me how to cook some Chinese cuisine!

 She showed me 3 dishes this morning, and then had us and some other friends stay for lunch. A happy stomach and a happy heart is what we left with. :) It is good to fellowship. The above dish, simple steamed lettuce with soy sauce, oil, and garlic, is both Hadassah's and my favorite. Hadassah isn't yet to the point where she'll eat raw lettuce - she tries sometimes, but always takes it back out of her mouth with a strange, "why am I eating a leaf?" face. But when it's lightly cooked? "More lettuce?" is what I heard over and over during lunch today!

I have been wanting to learn some authentic Chinese cooking for a while now, so I am very excited to find someone with time to teach me!

On the way home we were on a fairly empty (in terms of pedestrians) stretch when a grandma came toward us and I heard a whirring sound. She was carrying a large beetle by the wings, and stopped to show it to me, talking excitedly as if we were good friends (to my knowledge, I have never seen her before). I didn't understand most of what she said, but as she held the bug out to me multiple times, I recognized the "want or don't want?" phrase. "Don't want" I told her a few times, but she kept insisting.

So... yup, those are my hands. I am definitely not a hold-a-bug kind of person, but I didn't have much of a choice! ;) Hadassah was interested, as long as it didn't get too close to her. She has a healthy fear of bugs too. So when the grandma was far enough away, I asked Hadassah "should we say bye-bye to the bug" and she smiled and said "Bye-bye bug" so I let it go and it flew away.

Life in China... You never know what you'll run into while you're out!