YongheGong Pictures

GATE at the Lama Temple



Mr. Turtle, Helen and Deep Green--Chinese style



Tradition clashing with modernization



Enlightened Alley



Turtle Dragon Friends



Don't feed the turtle dragon!



Close-up of incense burner



Regal Red Gate



One of the many temples



The BIRDS--I've never seen so many birds at one time in Beijing before!




Lots and lots of stores selling incense and lotus flowers. Guess what color I bought. Hahaha. Very hard, huh?

(Some Chinese lady was yelling curse words at this foreigner. Adam and I couldn't figure out what he did to deserve such treatment! He just stook there wondering what was going on!)

Food for thought (December 14-17, 2006)

This weekend was a lot of fun! I had a banana split night, a cooking lesson and went to the Yonghegong Lama Temple and Wan Ton (to celebrate Adam's birthday). Unfortunately, my wallet was stolen!! =( I guess thieves are on the rise as a result of the upcoming holiday season. =( A$$hole!! I hope he rots in hell--and for the fact that he could have allowed me to not be able to return home by taking away all my money!!!

BANANA SPLIT NIGHT: December 15, 2006


LEARNING TO MAKE GONG BAO JI DING, DI SAN XIAN and YOU MAI CAI
(I KNOW, this blog is becoming a food blog!)

Preparing to cook the veggies and meats




DI SAN XIAN




YOU MAI CAI




FINISHED MEAL

Such is life...in Tongzhou

I haven't really done anything TOO exciting lately. Well, anything that requires any pictures anyways. I went to Starbucks last weekend and bought some coffee beans. I also got a coffee maker. On Friday night, I am planning on having a banana split night. Haha. OK, so much for the large amounts of gorging and eating horrible foods! I need to get back on track!

I can't think of anything else too exciting that has happened recently. I discovered a flea market type market recently and went back there today. I got some Christmas goodies for my students. I think we are all getting a bit restless these days--especially with the cold weather.

Matthew and I are planning a Christmas event on Christmas night. We are borrowing one of the school cafeterias that night. We all know what we want to make--problem is knowing where to find the right ingredients!

OH, and I have recently been addicted to www.baidu.com and spending/wasting a lot of time there and on www.youtube.com

ARGH!

I think thats about it. Its all pretty boring at the moment. Although I should be preparing for my speech next Wednesday..I SHOULD BE...and writing my backup teaching notes...

But Procrastinators rule....yeah...

Crab Louie Salad anyone? :)

I was craving a seafood salad today. So I invited Kevin and Jacin to come and enjoy a Western Salad experience. I included some: shrimp, eggs, imitation crab meat, chicken, cucumbers, carrots, tomatoes and of course, lettuce! ;) I used the traditional Thousand Island Dressing. Jacin added some apples and pears...it was a very tasty complement to the seafood!


Colorful crab salad!

I am still in the midst of writing my final exams and planning on what to say for my lecture.

Saturday Night "Fusion" Dinner (December 2, 2006)

Lately, I have had a great desire to learn how to cook Chinese food! =) So, a few students of mine came over and cooked. It was a lot of fun! We had "suan cai" fish (it was a little depressing to see the fish being killed and gutted in the store though!), eggplant, spaghetti and salad--an American/Chinese fusion meal! Hehe.



Cooking spaghetti


Forina cooking fish!

Alex chopping vegetables and meat!

Lear and Mear Waiting for food!

Finishing up the meal..

Yummy!

Fusion!

Clean-up!

Happily washing dishes!

All cleaned up now!

Unfortunately, I must have eaten something bad during lunch because I felt very dizzy and threw up everything afterwards! ;(