Growing Up

Meliya is now one year and 3 months.  She still can't walk, and can only say "mama," but we still feel like she is growing up fast.  She can crawl pretty fast, and enjoys going to the jungle gyms to go down slides and crawl up and down the gym.

She enjoys breads, crackers, and cheese still.  She also really likes spinach, yogurt, and oatmeal.  She doesn't particularly like oranges or green beans.

She enjoys breaking down the Duplo Legos that she got for Christmas, and threading large beads on a stick.  She enjoys things with latches, and could play with them for a long time.


















She also has improved in her sign language. Now she can do the following words: more, please, milk, eat, all done, hat, outside, book, and bowl. Surprisingly, she likes to do "hat" a lot. We are shocked at how quickly she can pick up a work.  Sometimes we feel like we say it a couple times and she starts using it.  Although some words like "water" or "drink," she still hasn't used even though we used it for a couple months.

Can you tell which signs she is using?

Walking on Ice

One of the things we wanted to try out with our friend Angela was walking on ice. It has been below freezing temperatures here in our city for awhile, and the lakes have all been frozen. At one of the parks, you can walk on the ice for free, and you can also rent a wooden bobsled to slide around on the ice. We decided to take our friend, since she was coming from Singapore where there is no such thing as frozen lakes. We also thought we would pack a lunch and eat at the park before we got on the ice.

But the day we went, the temperature was really cold. That day, it had a high of 20 degrees Fahrenheit, and a low of 8 degrees. Also, it was really windy and there was some snow flurries. We walked the 20 min. to the park, sat there in freezing temperatures as we ate our lunch and fed Meliya, ran out on the ice for 5 minutes, and then walked back home. By the time we got home, our faces and feet were frozen. Meliya did pretty well, but at the end did have a little bit of a whine.

It was a unique experience. The ice felt super thick. The next day, a whole bunch of the expats were playing Broomball on the ice. They got their 80 cents broom from the store, and just jumped on the ice. This is a lot cheaper than playing broomball in the states, but a little more dangerous since there is no guarantee that the ice will not break.

Have you walked on icy lakes before?  Would you want to try in China?

Christmas Parties

The week of Christmas was pretty busy. We had a ladies Christmas tea on the Saturday before, at then on Sunday we had two parties in a row at our house. The first one was with the parents and kids from our complex (mostly locals), and the second one was with Alvin's company's interns.
 Here is the kids' party: 

Here is the interns' party: We were about to read the Christmas story and sing songs.

Here we are on Christmas Day at our friend's house:

















My friend Angela, from the states, also came to celebrate Christmas with us:

Christmas Tree

Earlier this month, we decided to buy a Christmas tree for the first time in Alvin and my life.

 So here is our family's first Christmas tree:

Meliya didn't seem to care about the tree. The first day, she was curious, but after that, she wasn't interested in going near the tree. Sometimes I wondered if she was a little scared of it. She never even tried to touch any of the ornaments.

Playing in Taiwan

While we were in Taiwan, we also went to the Da' An Park.
 

 It was Meliya's first time on a swing. She loved it:

















Here we are enjoying our last day in Taiwan:

Taipei Zoo

This is Bethany.  It has been a while since I have blogged, but I blame our internet connection.  Due to internet blocking issues in the country we're in, I'mm unable to sign in to edit the blog at home. Alvin, on the other hand, is able to connect through his work computer. If you have questions about that, just ask Alvin.

Last week, we took a trip to Taipei to visit friends and family. Our first day, we went to the zoo.  This is Meliya's second trip to a zoo.   We went with our friend Shirley who also came to visit Taipei at the same time.

Here is Shirley feeding Meliya to the lions.  I like that the animals felt so close.

This is the second time Meliya has gone to see pandas.

Also, the most interesting part  was seeing the gorilla.  Shirley's parents, kept telling us to go see King Kong, but when we went to visit, the gorilla was eating.  Then after closer inspection, we found out what he was eating.  (Viewer discretion advised, this is not for people with weak stomachs.)

Yummy Double Thanksgiving

We celebrated Thanksgiving twice.  Once last Thursday, and once last Saturday.  On Thursday, we had the three intern trainees from our company come over to celebrate with us over a Thanksgiving dinner.  It was fun to see them try and enjoy new foods that they had never had before.  We didn't have turkey for Thursday's dinner, as we were only able to get our hands on one turkey this year, and we needed it for Saturday.  Thursday was also a bit of a dry run for us for the dishes we would need to prepare (again) for Saturday.  For Bethany, that meant brining a chicken.  And for me, that meant making fresh baked rolls.

We got through our entire Thursday evening, and I realized that I only took a picture of the spread on the table, but completely forgot to take pictures of us with the interns.  Oops.

Thursday night's hits included the chicken, the cranberry sauce, the sticky rice, and the rolls.  Our guests thought the mashed potatoes were a little bit strange.  Oh well, more leftovers for us!

Having mastered the art of brining a bird and cooking it in a small toaster over (that barely fits a 9x13), Bethany took on the much more complicated task of doing an overnight apple cider brine for a 15-pound turkey and then cooking it in a larger toaster oven.  This would be for a Thanksgiving potluck dinner gathering we would be attending on Saturday evening.  My task was to improve on the rolls which I had made on Thursday.

We borrowed the larger toaster oven on Friday, and had the turkey all ready in the evening for an overnight brine.  But we still weren't sure where we would find a pot large enough to brine the turkey.  Fortunately, a friend here recommended that we use the vegetable drawer from our refrigerator - that's  what they had just done the day before after reading the suggestion online.  What a great idea!  So that is what we did.

And then came Saturday - what was going to be a long day.  Oh yes, we also woke up once on Friday about 1:00 AM in order to turn the turkey over once in the brine.  Then, on Saturday... we woke up at about 6:30 AM to prep the turkey for the oven.  That was because we also signed up to run a 5K at 8:30 AM.  So the turkey went in the oven for about 45 minutes.  And then we turned the oven off, got Meliya dressed for a cold morning outside, and participated in a 5K with other foreigners here.

When we got back at 10:00 AM, the next 5 hours was spent roasting the turkey while taking it out to baste every 30 minutes.  Bethany and I started to get pretty efficient at cooperative basting - the bird was out of the oven for maybe 3 minutes, and then back in it went.

In the meantime, I re-made the rolls from Thursday, but this time made them smaller, since they were for a potluck that would have a lot of food.  I used the Cloverleaf Roll recipe from the Joy of Cooking.  they turned out well.

The turkey was a success.  Cooked just right.  Flavorful.  Moist.  Tender.  This was Bethany's second turkey ever, and she did a great job.

And today, we used the leftover bones to make a yummy pot of rice porridge, as do most Chinese (American) households post-Thanksgiving.

Some friends have mentioned that all they ever see for pictures here on our blog are pictures of Meliya or pictures of food.  What do Alvin and Bethany look like these days?  Here's a picture shot of us on the cold morning of the 5K...