What's for dinner- all week!

I wish I could say that I am always organized with my meal planning.  I try to be and sometimes it works out great, other times....not so much.  But we aren't talking about that today.  The week of my birthday worked out fantastic!  I think it went like this:

 On Monday I cooked some brown rice and made this  broccoli quiche that I found on Pintrest. I had to look up how to cook brown rice, but it is not too difficult.  I really like brown rice.  I have heard that it is healthier than plain white rice, so I have started mixing it with white rice in casseroles and even Fried rice.

This quiche/ pie was pretty good, but it was pretty bland.  It could have used more cheese and more salt, but I will try to make it again.  There were no left-overs, so it couldn't have been that bad.

The next day was my birthday, so I did not want to slave in the kitchen, but I still wanted to eat something yummy.  I made some potato cheese soup.  I did not make it from scratch.  I used one of the big soup bags from Bear Creek.  All you have to do is add water!  We buy several of these soups when we are home in the summer.  They are great to have on hand, especially for cold and rainy days when we do not even want to go out to the market.  I also had some bread mix from Tastefully Simple, all you have to do is add a can of beer or soda and bake.  These breads are always terrific!  We did have some of this soup left over, and we had a guest for supper.  One bag makes a huge pot of soup.

Wednesday, I just threw some chicken in the crock pot with a can of condensed soup.  I served this with some canned green beans.
Thursday, we had Tacos!  This was a special treat.  We usually do not have taco shells.  They are very hard to find.  Truthfully the shells were not very good, but Hallie was very happy.  She likes crunchy tacos.

The best part of the week, was I made a casserole with the leftovers from the week.  I had left-over brown rice from Monday, chicken from Wednesday, cheesy soup from Tuesday, and a spoonful or two of green beans and a tiny bit of salsa left from taco night.  I mixed it all together and topped it with some shredded cheese and breadcrumbs.  It was really yummy!

I wish I could be this organized every week!  Then again, we ate mostly American food that week.  We usually eat at least some Chinese food.

The next few food posts, I will talk about some Chinese food that we eat.

Noodles! (what's for dinner)

Last week, or maybe it was two weeks ago now, we had Noodles for supper.  It was one of those nights that I did not have anything planned for supper, and I had to just see what we had in the kitchen.  

I had bought a tiny carton of some kind of broth in the store.  Was going to use that to cook my noodles in, but it was not enough to really have a taste when mixed with the water in the pot.  So we decided to add a packet of good ol' onion soup mix. 

We have a lot of that.

  

We bought more than we meant to this summer.  One thing about shopping soon after we arrive in the US, is that many times, I forget what I have bought, until I start packing it all.

We also added a sliced carrot.  I could have also added some Chinese cabbage.  I let the soup boil for a little while to soften the carrots and then I added the noodles.  

Chinese noodles are super cheap.  They also cook much faster than noodles that we normally cook in the  US.  If you are making this in America, you could use spaghetti, but if you can find Chinese noodles, it would be better.

I felt a little guilty about this being such a skimpy meal, so I also fried up some peanuts ( I bought them raw).  They have protein, right?  My kids LOVE peanuts.  Jon added them to his bowl of noodles.

I also fried up some frozen spring rolls.  Our ayi (domestic assistant) has started getting these for us and they are really yummy.

Noodles! ( I guess, Hallie had something in her eye when I snapped this pic).

One strange thing about Chinese noodles is that the longer they sit, the more they soak up liquid.  By the end of the meal, the noodles were just as delicious, but there was not really any soup left.

Based on the sound of slurping at the table, I would say that this cheap meal was a success!  

What's for dinner? "corn dog muffins"

One thing that is always a challenge for moms is deciding and fixing dinner most night.  Jon can and will cook, but it is usually my responsibility.  Living in China adds both great opportunities and extra challenges in this.  I usually enjoy cooking (at least when it goes well).  I hate trying to figure out what to cook.  I like when I have a menu planned.  Then I don't have to think about it as much every night.  From time to time, I will try to blog about some of the things we cook.  If I remember, I might even post pictures.

The other day for lunch I made " corn dog muffins".  I got the idea from Pintrest.  I tried it once with the kids, but I did not add enough hot dogs.  This time, they turned out great.

Getting hot dogs here is a challenge.  I really do not like Chinese hot dogs.  They are more like big Vienna sausages.  But I can sometimes find "one bite beef sausages" by Hormel.  They look like lil' smokies and taste like regular hot dogs. I sliced up two packages, and just added them to my corn bread recipe.  We ate these with ketchup or mustard (depending on what we like on corn dogs).
You could use a corn muffin recipe if you want, but I think that Jiffy muffins are too sweet for this kind of muffin.

The kids really like this lunch.  We will make these again.

Hallie's birthdays.

I am very far behind on the things I should have blogged.  This blog should have been posted back in November, or at least at the beginning of December.  Oh well, better late than never.  By now this is old news, but you have not seen the pictures!

On November 9, Hallie turned 11.  This year she wanted a banana cake.  I made it from scratch. which is good because cake mixes have been hard to find in Hangzhou lately.

A couple of weeks after her birthday, Jon found a letter in our room from Hallie.  She said that she wanted to be baptized.  She felt that she was ready.  I am not really sure why she decided to write a letter.....

About a year ago, she thought she was ready, but when we asked her some questions about it, she did not have an answer.  Jon told her to study some and do some more praying and thinking on it.   I kind of expected something to happen this summer.  I kept praying for her but was very careful not to push her.  This had to be her decision and it needed to be for the right reasons.

After we found the letter, we talked to her again.  She told us why she felt that she was ready this time.  She told us that she had read that book twice...Am I Ready to be Baptized? (AP press).

We encouraged her to write all of her reasons down, so that if years from now, she has any doubts, she can look back at her thoughts and decide if she really did know what she was doing.

Then we decided that she would be baptized that coming Sunday.  We were all super excited.   Jon sent a message to EVERYONE in his phone.

Jay Beamon and his daughter came from Jinghua!  Some of Jon's students came.

Here Shelly is showing some of Jon's students how to find the passage we were reading.

The two girls in the front are part of Jon's English corner group.

This is Shelly.  She was very happy too!

We all shared gave her encouragement and advice.  It was really nice.  Jon did not cry (hardly at all).

Margaret and Elaine talked about how Hallie is an example to us all.  Margaret had some family in town and they wanted her to not go this morning, but she told them that she HAD to go and could not miss this.  They were actually interested and wanted to come to, but Margaret thought it would be too many people.

Lots of smiling faces in the hallway outside of the bathroom.  They were all so excited for her and our 

family.

I am so proud of her and the young woman she is becoming!

Looking back!

 At the beginning of 2012, I thought I would take a quick look back at 2011.  I looked back at my blogs and Facebook status since last January.

In January, we gained a new sister as Jane (Ge wen) was baptized.  We also had snow twice.  Our breaker box broke and we were with out electricity for one night.  Our washing machine broke at the beginning of Spring festival time. 

In February, we celebrated Chinese new Year, and after a few weeks,  the washing machine was finally fixed. 

In March, Hallie cooked dinner for the family, and we paid off our school loans and are debt free!

In April, I had my second oral surgery.  It was not as bad this time.  I was very thankful to have that behind me.  We met a girl from Ningbo that needed someone to baptize her.  (Jon did it)  Jon’s computer died.

We celebrated Easter.  We had 18 at our apt. to color eggs, and we had 56 at the Easter egg hunt.

In May we went out to the country- side with Li wen’s family and had a cook-out.  Our Ayi (on her e-bike) got hit by a bus .  Thankfully she was not hurt too badly.

Liam turned 8!

In June we found out that Jon’s job situation was not what we had thought and he had to start job hunting.  It was stressful, but it all worked out and he signed a contract two hours before we left Hangzhou to start our trip to the US.  Hallie had a Bible study with her friend Bliss.  We flew home to the US for a needed visit with friends and family.

In July, Jon worked fireworks, Hallie went to camp, and Jon and I celebrated our 16^th wedding anniversary. We got to spend some time with our Clear Creek family.  The kids made friends with Odie (the Golden’s dog). We drank as much Dr Pepper and Sweet tea as we could and loaded up on American junk food for a year.

In August, due to some paperwork issues Jon could not make the trip back to China at the same time as the rest of the family.  Many people were nervous, but the trip went smoothly and I was fine.  Eryn turned 7! I learned to make yogurt and granola.  Eryn had an ear infection but we treated her and she was fine.

In September we had ants in the kitchen and Hallie and Eryn had their first modeling shoot.  Jon also started teaching classes at his new school.

In October, we took a trip to Shaoxing. The Rays and Proyers visited and Jane (a different Jane) was baptized. Shane was also baptized.  Our oven broke, but we got another one for free.  Hallie shot a commercial.  We celebrated Halloween with real orange pumpkins, cool costumes, and too much candy.

In November, Hallie turned eleven.  She was also baptized!  Her school computer died, but she got a new one.  We celebrated Thanksgiving with a huge dinner (30 + people) at our house.  The Russells came to visit.

In December, the Zhengs ate lunch with us after church and we celebrated Christmas. 

I had thought that especially last school year had not really been a good year, but when I looked back on it. I could really see the blessings. 

We were extremely blessed in 2011!  We are looking forward to another great year in 2012!

New Beginnings

The holidays can he hard here in China.  We miss our families.  We miss tasteful decorations.  We even miss the commercials on TV.  China kinda celebrates Christmas, but they don't get it right most of the time.  It is just weird.  We also do not have time off of work.  We do get Christmas day off, if we push it, but Christmas usually falls during or near final exams, and we must make up the class.  Thankfully, in the last 4 years, we only had a problem with this our first year.  Every other year, Christmas fell on a day that we already did not have class.

As far as being homesick, this year was not that bad.  But the holidays seem kind of...anti climatic.  But the really cool thing about being in China, is that once the New year rolls around...things start gearing up for Chinese New Year (aka Spring Festival).  This is China's biggest holiday.  It is a HUGE deal.  ( here is an video I made last year about the holiday)

In preparation for the new year, many people will get a new hair cut, new clothes, sometimes new jobs or homes.  They clean their apartments from top to bottom.  They want to start the new year with a "fresh slate".  I am not sure the Chinese exactly make new years resolutions but they do have the idea of a fresh start.

I feel like it is sort of a second chance for a new beginning.  I did not really make any New Years resolutions but I do plan to for Chinese New Year.    One thing I want to do better for the "new year" is to post more on this blog.  I have plans to post about 3 times a week.  Some posts will be very simple... like Thankful Thursdays, and maybe a picture with not much writing to go with it.  But I need to post more.

We also do the whole deep cleaning the house thing too.  Jon just emptied out the vacuum bag and we (he) just vacuumed the whole couch and all the corners in the living room, plus the heating/ ac unit.  I put cotton balls in the bag with tea tree oil and eucalyptus essential oils.  Everything smells fresh and clean!

I love new beginnings!

Hallie the Star

I mentioned in a previous post, that Hallie was in a commercial.  The commercial was filmed over two days.  The days were very long.  We arrived at the first location around 6:30 am and were not finished until 9 pm the first day and  about 5 pm the second day.  Hallie was great.  She got up early and did not complain.

The production director is a Chinese born Canadian living in China.  The camera guy or filming director was from New Zealand.  The main director working for Turner (CNN) was from Singapore and spoke English with a British accent.

The commercial will be shown on CNN in the US and Europe.  It will be about a family visiting Hangzhou on vacation.  It should be on very soon.

It takes a big crew of people to shoot the video for a 30 second commercial.

Hallie on a boat on West Lake with some of the crew and her  "parents".

Wherever they were filming, lots of people took pictures.

Hallie's "parents" taking a picture of their girl.

Simulated sun set.

 

Our Super star!

Trick or treat

The Chinese do not really celebrate Halloween.  Like Christmas, Halloween is starting to catch on here.  But it is not really a big deal.  However, for my kids it is a very big deal. It is difficult to get good costumes or even the stuff to make a good costume, so I have to plan far in advance.

I got the stuff for the girls' costumes this summer while we were in the states.  I did not get anything for Liam.  Luckily I found the idea and directions to make this spider costume on the Internet.  Liam thought it was cool, and I could get the stuff to make this costume here!

Eryn was a princess.  She was going to be Rapunzel, but decided that she did not want to wear a wig.  I am glad she told me before I made the wig.

Hallie was Big bird.  The feathers were  boas that I bought at a fabric store in the US

Hallie was big bird and her best friend Bliss was Elmo.  (I made Elmo's hat too)  Jon helped.

Bliss, Hallie, Eryn, Carissa, and Liam ready to go trick-or-treating.

Margaret brought over several kids to all go trick or treating together.  This is not a normal Chinese activity, but she told several families to be ready for us.

I am thankful that the kids were able to celebrate and have a good time with their friends.

We found pumpkins!

Every year in October, we look for pumpkins that actually look like pumpkins.  This year, we were able to find three small orange (and round) pumpkins.  

When we cut them open, they looked like real pumpkins too!

Hallie actually carved her own pumpkin this year!

Here are the finished products!

And here they are all lit up!  They molded in a week--I did not take a picture of that.  

Guest Blog: the Russells

This past week, Marti and Ray Russell from Clear Creek were visiting China. I asked them to write something about how they saw China.  We have been here long enough that we do not see it as other people do.  Ray wrote this before he left our house.  They continued their adventure by taking to a train to ShaoXing, staying a couple of days, and then taking another train to Shanghai.  They are at a hotel in Shanghai right now and will fly home tomorrow evening.  You should ask them about their trip!

Here's the guest blog:

This week my wife Marti and I have had the unique experience of spending the week in Haungzho. As our week with the Davis and Hardin families come to an end Jennifer asked me to write down some thoughts and reactions to our first time in China. The first thing I would like to express is our gratitude to both families for allowing us to intrude their homes to experience what life is like. They have been so gracious and loving to us while we have been here. Now to the experience.... First, China is very different from what we imagined, it is full of life and is very modern in many ways. It is not however at the same level as we are when it comes to toilet hygiene. That may have been our biggest challenge when in public. Another challenge is of course the language, in many countries you are able to function through reading text or finding an English speaking individual, China is not one of those places. The language is so different that it is very hard to get where you need to be without a base knowledge of Chinese. We also realized the modern amenities we take for granted like clothes dryers and dishwashers, these things make our lives so easy and the lives of the families here in China so much more difficult. The final thing we have notice on the negative side is the second hand smoke! China has not received the news that smoking will kill you yet and they do quite a bit of indoor smoking! On the positive side, the food is outstanding! From the first morning where Jon took us to street a vendor the eating experience has been fabulous! The food is full of flavor and so very healthy, it is also very different from American Chinese food. I was also able to go to class with Jon and Josh this week which was a great. They both allowed me to to answer questions and ask questions Of the students who were so excited to speak to a 'real' American! Also I was given a Chinese name meaning 'so very handsome' much to Jon's chagrin. These students were fun to interact with and I was even given a demonstration of real Chinese hip hop dancing, if only I had thought to video! Finally, is it so very obvious to both of us that God is at work through the team here. The study I was able to experience was amazing and the believers here truly want to serve and follow. God is blessing these families and the work they are doing here in China!

Thanks for sharing Ray.  We had a great time with you!