HAPPY HOLIDAYS

I hope everyone has had a wonderful holiday. We are off to Bangkok tonight to celebrate the new year with friends.

I apologize for the lack of posts. Between our travels, celebrating the holidays with our families and mandarin classes, there hasn't been much time for blogging. There is so much I want to catch you up on, but I will start with a photo journal of our first Christmas in Hong Kong.

We found great decorations at Ikea and the Hullett House Christmas Market to add some Christmas spirit to our home.

We had to buy 2 Christmas trees this year. The first tree from Ikea died the day after we received it because it did not get it a fresh cut before delivery. I guess we learned for next year.

Here's a picture of our partially decorated first tree from Ikea.

And the 2nd, much healthier tree from Anglo Chinese Florist in Soho. We were fortunate to have M's mom in town to help us decorate our tree. And a special thanks to our Aunt Titania for all the wonderful Christmas tree decorations!

And here she is all lit up!

I took Christmas Eve off from work to do something I really enjoy, which is cooking and baking. I made Smitten Kitchen's braised short ribs and mash potatoes. For dessert, I made Martha Stewart's lemon mascarpone crepe cake. All of the recipes were a labor of love, but in the end it was worth it.

Prepping the meat with thyme and pepper

Preparing the braising sauce

The braise is made of balsamic, red wine, port wine and beef stock - smells so good!

I modified the recipe slightly based on the ingredients available in Hong Kong. I substituted kale for Swiss chard (I literally laughed out loud thinking about how to locate Swiss chard in this city) and small red onions for the pearl onions.

The onions and kale

The mash potatoes

Voila! Let the feast begin

If you have the time, I highly recommend Smitten Kitchen's braised short rib recipe. The meat was truly "fall off the bone" delicious and I couldn't get enough of the onions and kale.  I think it may be our best home cooked meal yet.

I also made a cake, because what is Christmas without one? I had seen the lemon mascarpone crepe cake recipe in Martha Stewart's Living December magazine and couldn't get it off my mind. If you plan to make this recipe yourself, I highly suggest you invest in a crepe pan. I didn't have one and as you can see, my crepes were far from perfect circles and came in many different sizes.

The batter yielded 19 crepes, but I had to discard 2 being new to crepe making.

Lemon curd frosting

Putting the cake together one crepe at a time

The crepe prior to being frosted

Frosting the cake

The crepe cake is really nothing special until you cut into it. I wish I got a better picture of a slice, but these will have to do for now.

On Christmas Eve, we stayed up late to track Santa on Norad and luckily he made it to Hong Kong!

On a sad note, my Great Uncle Jul passed away today in Minnesota. My mom was with him holding his hand as he passed away peacefully. I will always remember his hearty laugh and wonderfully thick Minnesotan accent. He never passed up a game of domino's or my mom's chocolate chip cookies and adored spending time with family. He was a great husband and Uncle. He will forever hold a very special place in my heart.

HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS

This year marks the 2nd Christmas that M and I will be spending alone without our immediate families. Two years ago we had an unplanned holiday in London due to weather travel delays. On Christmas day, we watched Santa travel the world on the Norad website and celebrated the holiday with a vegan meal at a special restaurant in London.

Snowstorm in London Grounded Our Plane

Exploring the streets of Knightsbridge

 Visiting the London Eye in Safari Gear

Our Vegan Christmas Dinner

Tracking Santa

Since this is our first Christmas we plan to spend home alone, I want the holiday to feel extra special. I picked up the December issue of Martha Stewart Living and was inspired by some of her DIY ideas. But, what caught my eye the most, was a special Lemon-Mascarpone Crepe Cake just perfect for the holidays.

Doesn't it look delightful? Layered between 20 plus crepes is a delicious lemon curd filling. It's topped with a thick mascarpone frosting. The exact recipe above has yet to make it to the internet, but I found a similar recipe on her website. You can also watch her make a Lemon Meyer Crepe Cake on her show.  I should warn you, this cake is truly a labor of love. I think it will take an entire day to prepare, but I am up for the challenge.

With a partial meal planned, now I need to find the decorations. First on the list is a tree, which I have no clue where to find in Hong Kong. I will keep you posted on our Christmas adventure.

FALL IS IN THE AIR

Today finally felt like Fall in Hong Kong. Mind you, the high was 75F and I wore flip flops during my commute to work. But, after the long, often unbearable summer, I can sense that Fall is on its way.

When we lived in New York, I would always celebrate the season change by making a big bowl of Chili which seemed like the perfect dinner option for tonight. I am also leaving M on Saturday to travel home to visit my family and to attend a wedding, so I think he will appreciate the leftovers.
So where did I find said Chili recipe? I follow a blog called Daily Garnish. Not only is the blogger a Denison grad (like me), she is a trained chef and shares amazing vegetarian recipes. I followed her 20-minute 4-bean vegetarian chili recipe tonight with some slight substitutions because not all the ingredients you would find in a US grocery store are available in HK. It took no time to prepare and the finished product was hearty and delicious.

The ingredients

Sauteing the onions and bell peppers

Washing the beans

Mixing it all together

I also roasted some butternut squash and leftover onions in the oven for 35 minutes at 400F (add olive oil, salt and pepper). The squash and onion mixture made for a great combination.

And for the finished product...

Happy Fall and Halloween!

CHINA TRAVELS

I have spent most of the weekend in bed with a bad head cold/flu, which is really depressing since I was really looking forward to spending the weekend with our friends in Hong Kong. I think the travel and late nights at work caught up with me and my body put me on a serious time out.

There is so much I want to update you on, but I will have to start with my business trip to China in September, where I spent 9 days in 2 cities - Qingdao and Shanghai.

Over the past year, I have visited 9 different cities in China and I think Qingdao may be my favorite city outside of Shanghai and Beijing. It's home to the famous Tsingtao beer and is a major seaport. It was also the host city for the 2008 Olympic Sailing competition. The air feels cleaner there and the skyline on the water is beautiful. After visiting the Qingdao, I can understand why it's a popular tourist destination and a place where many hope to retire to.

View of the city from my hotel room

I didn't expect to see this outside my hotel window.. People protesting against Japan and the disputed islands

I had a couple of hours one day to take a walk along the harbor. It was a gorgeous day.

An Olympic torch

And I couldn't leave without tasting a Tsingtao beer in Qingdao...

My next stop was Shanghai.

View from my hotel

Dinner near the Oriental Pearl Tower

Dumpling making in progress at Din Tai Fung

We stopped by the Alfred Dunhill home. The interior design is remarkable and worth the trip if you are in Shanghai. While there, you can also shop their latest collections or lunch in their beautiful private dining room.

Amazing goldfish tank

Their watchmaker hard at work

And we couldn't leave Shanghai without one more view of the amazing Pudong.