Making Baozi

 

Aunt liz taught us how to make Baozi which is a yummy steamed bun. Here are some of the steps. Make the dough and wait for it to rise. While we waited we ate a wonderful hot pot lunch!

 

Roll the dough and fill it with meat and vegetables, or sweet red bean.

 

Steam the buns.

 

Take them out and eat them!

Holidays in London 1

 

Here is a view of St. Paul's Cathedral. We visited the cathedral for mass on Christmas Eve.

 

Here is a photograph catching the full, busy streets of London and the soul of the city's old, beautiful architecture.

Holidays in London 2

 

This is a view of Big Ben and the lights of London from Trafalger Square. This was a great place to rest our legs, people watch and shoot a few photos.

 

There was great pedestrian shopping areas in London that had great stores, resturants and pubs. Here is a picture of the beautifully decorated Carnaby Street near Oxford Street.

 

Here is a picture of the family in front of an air-brushed Santa. We are at the huge Hyde Park in the heart of London which was hosting a "German Christmas Market". The mkt had German imported midway rides, ice skating, sausages, drinks, and soft pretzels!

 

London is full of great outdoor markets. Here is the "slow foods" market which focused on local/sustainable foods and products. Another favorite market was the Burrows Market that has so many super yummy products!

December

 

The snow is piling up for the holidays, making an adventure for walkers, bikers and drivers alike.

 

Who knew that part of this building would be tore down. One day we were walking in our neighborhood and were surprised to see this icon of Uptown being removed.

Movie: Slumdog Millionaire

If you find yourself with some time and wanting to sit in front of a large screen we would suggest you see Slumdog Millionaire. It has all the check marks of a film: love, truths, deception, and the human condition. Mix this with past and modern day Bombay/Mumbia and it is an electric film. And if you are an MIA fan her tunes rock throughout the film.

Movie: Slumdog Millionaire
Director: Danny Boyle
Watch a Trailer at: cruise over to cool links to get the official website/trailer

The ice is encroaching

 

I can't believe how much of the Lake of the Isles is covered with ice. I was also amazed by the circles that layed on the ice's surface.

 

Lake Calhoun is still ice free except on its perimeter. As the current of the water slid under the ice it made a relaxing rushing noise.

 

The ducks looked cold and without boots they only had the choice of putting their feet in the cold water or on the frozen ice!

Chinese Night and Snow That Stuck

 

A good friend of ours spent a year and a half in China around the same time we were in Taiwan. We all miss being in Asia. He had the brilliant idea of doing Chinese language and food night. He made spicy eggplant and bar-b-que pork ribs. We made homemade dumplings.

 

It is really cold right now. The low last night was 24 F. This morning we woke up to some of it actually sticking to the ground. That stuff is slippery and cold. The car tracks in fresh snow makes nice lines.

Snow Obama

It has been a week of many firsts: snow in our lives again and a new president.

Apple Cider

It is the season for drinking all things warm. If you haven't looked into the local apple ciders...get on it. It is really good warmed up on the stove. The Wedge sells one from WI that is good, but we picked some up at a Farmer's Market that is MN made that was yummy. They also sold it is cranberry/apple and rasberry/apple. So good.

Vote

Here is some cool information about the vote...
Anyone can do an absentee ballot. You can go to the city hall of the city you live/are registered in and show all the proper id etc. and vote now.
Check-out The City of Minneapolis webpage for information. Great way to vote by getting it done now.

Savanna Portage State Park

 

This was a camping trip of many firsts. Bog walks, wolves howling, night hikes with the moon's light, watching trumpet swans,and having a campsite equipped with a shelter, firewood and an outhouse with toilet paper. Here is a view of the sunset on the lake just steps from our campsite.

 

Here is a picture of the Continental Divide. An area where the St.Louis River (Which flows to the Great Lakes) and the Mississippi River are closest together.

 

Chillin' on the dock.

Button

 

We joined a friend at the Lyn-Lake VFW for a local art fair and picked up a cool button of Taiwan. This type of art seems to be pretty popular, but I can never find one with Taiwan on it. The artist who I got this from had a pile of map books and a button maker at the fair, so he made me one on the spot!

Fall in Minneapolis

 

This is a beautiful Maple tree by the Bakken. The color and the crown of the tree blew me away. Check it out if you get a chance

 

Ahhhh, calmness in the city. Having 10,000 plus lakes is pretty awesome. Going for a paddle, I want a canoe

 

The leaves are just so nice.

Minnesota meets Taiwan

 

We love to visit the Midtown Farmer's Market on the weekend to get fresh, local produce. Also today we hit up an Asian grocery store and found some Taiwan dried plums/prunes and mochi(a yummy red bean and yam sweet treat)! An interesting combo.

 

We have also reinvented our postcard wall...And we are still adding to it so send us postcards from the U.S., London, Taiwan, or where ever you are!

Apple Picking: We Want To Go!!!

Is there anyone going apple picking? We would be interested in going. The apples have been so good. We have been a big fan of the Zester. So drop us a line if you wouldn't mind two more for a ride to the apple orchard.

Best Tailor/Dry Cleaner in Minneapolis

If you are need of a tailor, dry cleaner, or just someone who can do some mending to save some bucks on buying new clothes....

I highly suggest Chi Tailors on Lyndale Ave next to Yoga One.(parking lot for Rudolphs) It has great service, high quality sewing, and really good prices. Forget those other places this is the only place to go.

Check it out it is well worth it!

Apartment and Shrimp Baskets

 

Finally one picture of our apartment. This is the dining room. We love this table and are happy to be eating at it again. The window is very nice and we also really like the dark wood molding. It is throughout the apartment. Wood floors!!! Just a little excited. It is our happy medium. Not WHITE tile floors and not tan carpet.

 

We ate these really unique shrimp baskets when we were in Palo Alto. Never had them before. It was crispy, firm, salty, and just tasty. Feel free to learn to make these and bring them to our apartment.

Ramen, San Francisco, Carmel Apples

 

Yummy homemade noodles in a broth with sesame sauce that looks like an oil spill in the broth. The resturant was in Moutain View a city outside of San Francisico.

 

Before a friend of ours got married at a great wedding, we spent some time in SF.

 

MN State Fair in full effect!

Some of the Summer

 

Our first meal in the States at CPK in LAX. Good but really expensive.

 

These guys are so cool at the MN Zoo.

 

If you haven't been to Duluth lately worth a weekend trip. When the boats come in it is amazing!

 

Some friends came into town from Taiwan, that's Spock. He really liked it in MN. We encouraged him to come again in January and see how he felt then.

Back in MN

We're back in MN!

Some noticings or what some folks would call culture shock:

It is really quiet, a little too quiet here all the time. Where are all the people?

There is a lot of space here in the Twin Cities...and a lot of it seems to be used for things like lawns and yards.

Real flat here in MN, our eyes are use to mountains, valleys, and the ocean.

It is cleaner but not really.

Nice to hear things in English and not worry about a language barrier. (but kinda miss it too.)

The air is nice to breath

There is more but we'll leave it at that for now.

Leaving Taiwan

We are hours away from our flight time. We had our last meal in the neighborhood, ate a great dinner with friends last night, chatted until midnight, and did I forget to mention cleaned and packed like crazy.

We look into our future and are very excited but also already longing for Taiwan. The two years we have spent here has challenged us and we have grown in ways that we are just starting to learn.

Thank you to everyone who has supported us emotionally, physically, and spiritully here in Taiwan and in the United States.

Always see you later never goodbye.

Dang that is a big spider!

 

Man we will be home soon if we don't get bit by any big spiders!