Instant Apple cider!

I am so excited! I made up a recipe.  I am not completely sure how I came up with this idea.  I think I may have actually dreamed it or at least thought about it as I was falling asleep the other night.

Hallie LOVES hot apple cider.  She was really excited when I said I was going to make it for our Halloween party.  I usually make it with apple juice, other ingredients and spices in the crock pot.  I guess I could share that "recipe" sometime but I am really excited that I figured out a way to make some instant cider.  Now we can enjoy it one cup at a time without having to make a huge pot.

I did some searching on the Internet and found a couple of recipes, but they all called for instant tea.  I didn't want spice tea.  I played around a little and came up with this recipe.

The good thing about this recipe is that I can find the ingredients here in China (except maybe some of the spices).

The bad thing is I am not sure if you can find all the ingredients in the US.  But if you live in the US, you can find instant cider packets.

The main ingredient is apple instant drink mix.  I used the Nestle brand because it is a little cheaper, but the Tang brand would work well too.  I am not sure if you can find anything like this in the US.

I also used some Orange Tang (Nestle brand) and Lemon Tang.  You could use some lemonade or leave out the lemon stuff.  

 Mix together 1 1/2 cups of apple Tang (or Nestle) drink mix

!/2 Cup of Orange Tang (or other brand) drink mix

and 1/4 Cup of lemonade Tang

Add

1 to 1/12 tsp of cinnamon

1/4 tsp cloves and

1/4 tsp. allspice

I also added a pinch of ground ginger

Mix well

 Store in an air tight container

To make a cup of cider, use 4 teaspoons of mix and add boiled water to a mug.

enjoy!

Let me know what you think.




Instant Hot cider:

11/2 (1.5) Cups of Apple Tang
1/2 Cup of Orange Tang
1/4 C. lemon Tang
1-11/2 tsp. ground Cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1/4 tsp. ground allspice
pinch of ground ginger

Mix well and store in air tight container

To make the cider, use 4 teaspoons of mix and add hot water.

Hardin Halloween

 Halloween is one of those holidays that China does not always seem to "get".  It is catching on, but slowly.  Jon has to work late on Wednesday (he gets home at 6) so we just planned to go to Pizza Hut. It has sort of been our tradition.  The kids dressed up in their costume and se headed out.  We started to take the bus, but it was super crowded, so we took a taxi. Even without walking the whole we, we were seen by many people and the kids did get more attention.  They loved it though, because it was on their terms.  Eryn even went out of her way to wish some security guards a Happy Halloween.

Liam was there, but he was sitting next to me and it was harder to get a good picture of him.

The next day we had a "mini" party at our house after Trick-or-treating with Margaret and some neighbors.

  Eryn is not unhappy here, she is just playing the part of an evil witch.

Liam was a skeleton (I made the leg bones with tape)

here, you can see his face.

Thanks to Shelly for bringing the hat and green face paint!  I am happy to report that she is no longer green, but her eyebrows are still a little darker.

She is the Wicked witch of the East--before the house fell on her and she lost her shoes to Dorothy.

Our front door.

Three witches riding together

The whole group that trick-or-treated.

Brownies, cupcakes,  apple cider, and good company

Happy Halloween!

Searching and Calling

A couple of weeks ago we had a visitor at church.  His name was Danny and he looked Chinese, but he was from Malaysia.  Danny is backpacking across China and Asia.  He is a member of Couchsurfing.com.  This is organization where you sign up and can stay with people for free (often sleeping on the couch).   Danny was here in Hangzhou on a short stay and was staying with James and his family.  James works for the government.  While spending time with his host, Danny asked James if he thought there was more to life...and they started talking.  James is searching.  In the past James had met Shelly (Xiao Li) on the train  and they had also talked about God.  James told Danny that he knew a Christian and Shelly got him hooked up with our group.
Danny mentioned James, his host, during the pray request that Sunday.  Then just as service was over, James showed up.  We all went to eat lunch together.  James has a son about Liam's age.

We invited James and his family to movie night that week, and they came! Liam and Kevin had a good time together.  Then the family also came to church the next Sunday.

James story is not finished.  I believe that God is calling him.  I think it is amazing to see how He is using others to get James to where he can learn more about Him.  Please pray for James and all of those who are in his story.