Why Can't I Say No?

I've been pretty busy the past several weeks. Besides taking my relatives around, I've been busy at Matthew's school. I've been participating at the morning coffee's with the principal, PTSA activities for fund raising and been working with the class mom for upcoming events. I've also joined a committee at our compound. Today, I had back to back meetings. Principal coffee, PTSA and class meeting for upcoming events. After a quick lunch with my friend Anne, I rushed home to attend the committe meeting on the compound. Reminds me of the days when I was working and getting paid for what I was doing. Fast forward, one year later, gainfully unemployed, extremely busy but not getting monetary compensation for my work. Oh well.

As of today, I've been roped into doing the following for the school: baking for the class Halloween party (last count- 36 cupcakes, 36 Halloween cookies), selling tickets for the upcoming International Fair, baking and selling the goods for the International Fair, organizing the Thanksgiving meal, baking for Christmas, doing something for Chinese New Year (though I can't remember what at this point). For the compound, I'll be starting a book club, organizing retreats and will help start a newsletter. I must have the following words tatooed on my forehead: "Sure, no problem. I can't say no. Just tell me what you need. If no one will volunteer, you can bet that I will".

I was class mom for many years. It started when Matthew was in nursery school and continued through 4th grade. It wasn't enough to be class mom at the elementary school, I did it at Chinese school and also helped out at the after school program. I really wanted a break this year. I was willing to help but, didn't want the responsibility of planning things or baking everything. Now, we're a month and a half into the school year and somehow....I can't say no. Old habits die hard.

Go.......Be Free My Little Friends

Today is Tony's birthday. He's been feeling pretty miserable about his birthday and on top of that it was a horrible weather day. It's been raining non-stop for the past few days ever since Typhoon Wipha. I dragged him into the city to have brunch at our favorite place ... Moon River Diner. Only this time, I thought it would be nice to go to the newest location ... near the Portman Ritz Carlton Hotel. I thought it would be a 5 minutes walk to the diner from there. So, we hopped the shuttle bus and went into the city. We arrived and walked ...... and walked ..... for about 20 minutes to get to the diner. Tony was literally soaked to the bone. We ordered breakfast and by the time we left, it stopped raining and the sun was coming out. Of course, Murphy's law. You know how it is.

We sauntered back to the Portman and there was an Expat Show at the Exhibition Center. We wandered in and picked up a bunch of brochures for different places. Information that will come in handy one of these days. We were getting ready to leave and Matthew decided to participate in the Decathalon exhibition for the kids. A bunch of games set up and the kids get to win prizes. He caught three cat fish, which he promptly named: Loco, Chimichanga and Burrito. Don't ask why the Mexican theme but hey, it works. He brought them home on the shuttle bus and promptly released them in the pond in the back of the house. He did this last year at the old apartment as well. He caught about 20 goldfish and released them all in the pond in front of the old apartment. Everyday, he would check on the fish at the pond and on occasion, would feed them as well. The fish were still alive when we moved in May and I suspect that they will be alive for a while. It was Matthew's contribution to the apartment building. So, Loco, Chimichanga and Burrito have been released in the pond and will live very happily in their new home and I'm sure Matthew will go searching for them from time to time.

Meet Me At Beefsteak Charlie's

Well, against my better judgement, I am turning 45 this Sunday. One of my best friends, who is also named Anthony, was born on the same day and year as me. I know, kind of freaky. So every year we would make plans to go to Beefsteak Charlie's a local food chain that would give you a free meal on your birthday. Yeah, that means we'd eat for FREE, the both of us. We really wanted to see their faces when we told them we were both celebrating our birthdays and we weren't paying a dime for it. Oddly enough, we never did it. Every year we would make plans but would not carry it out. Years passed and Beef Steak Charlie's eventually went out of business, probably from all the free birthday meals. Well now I am middle aged, living half way around the world away from my good friends and so I say to Ant, I'll meet you at Beefsteak Charlie's and "Happy Birthday".

No Snow Days Here...Just Typhoon Days

Shanghai is in the midst of typhoon season. Typhoon Wipha has been dumping tons of rain and causing havoc on the traffic. 1.8 million people have been evacuated from the coastal area and we've been experiencing winds reaching 165 miles per hour. Tony was at a meeting in town yesterday and it took him over 4 hours to get home last night. The journey started at 5:30PM and he walked in the door at about 9:30PM. Matthew returned from school completely soaked from the run from the bus stop and it took me almost 3 hours to get home from the center of town. The roads were flooded and it was like a large shower turned on and was left on. Tons of rain clogged the roads and it was pretty dicey that I could make it home. It was surreal to see people on their bicycles trying to navigate through the high waters on the roads. Visibility was pretty poor and cars were stuck on the side of the road because of the high water levels.

Matthew and I moved all the patio furniture to the corner, brought in the bike and razor scooter and took the umbrella off the table. The last thing I need is to see anything flying through the deck doors. Nope- not on my list of things to do. All I can say is thank goodness I have things in the freezer to make for dinner. I was supposed to go out today with my cousin to go shopping and pick up food for tonight's dinner. In fact, we have enough food in the pantry to last us a week if needed. Those who know us, know that you will never starve in this house.

Massive flight delays and the storm is not at it's worst. We're expecting the worst to take place this afternoon. The City of Shanghai has ordered all schools and businesses to be closed today. Matthew's pretty happy since he doesn't get snow days here anymore. It doesn't snow in Shanghai. He gets typhoon days instead. It's never a dull moment with us.

Zhouzhuang

Took a two hour car ride with Cheung Yau and Gloria to a water village outside of Shanghai called Zhouzhuang. It's a water village that is nine hundred years old. Zhouzhuang's claim to fame is due to a Shanghainese artist named Chen Yifei who painted scenes of Zhouzhuang. Zhouzhuang has many beautiful sights and has several very well preserved homes dating back to the Qing, Ming and Yuan dynasties. First stop, the Zhang Residence. This home was built in 1449 alongside the Ruojing River and has six courtyards and 70 rooms. The house has a pond next to its main hall where riverboats dropping off visitors could turn around. Something of a private slip and only can be achieved if one is wealthy enough to have one. We then stopped to see the Chen Residence which had seven courtyards and 100 rooms including separate men's and women's quarters as well as furnished bedrooms, a large kitchen and a shrine. It was amazing to see how well preserved all the homes were and to marvel at the antique furniture. I fell in love with a table and was trying to get my cousin to help me "borrow" it from the residence without getting stopped by the security group.

Of course, where there is tourists, there are vendors who are very eager to hawk their goods. As we wandered down the alleys, we were accosted by many vendors who wanted us to either buy their goods or eat at their restaurant. Every restaurant was pushing their menu of fish and shrimp. I'm sure the food is fine for the locals. I just won't eat any shrimp or fish if it's not from a reputable restaurant. That certainly didn't stop them from running after us. No visit is complete without buying at least one local specialty food. We picked up the soy braised pork leg. OK- not high on my list of things to try but, Cheung Yau was insisting that we give it a try. We picked one up and it'll be on the menu sometime this week before he leaves. Tony and I will try it to be polite. I can tell you that Matthew will not touch it and will find a way to excuse himself from the table.

Wujiang Road

My cousin Cheung Yau and his wife Gloria arrived yesterday from Hong Kong. They will be here for a week and that's plenty of time for us to catch up on things and putz around. We made plans to go to Xintiandi for dim sum today. In Shanghai, everything requires a reservation. In my haste, I forgot to call to make a reservation for lunch. As a result, there was a 45 minute wait. Add a very cranky and hungry child on top of that and you get a very good idea how horrible the waiting time was. We were finally seated and we quickly ordered our lunch. It was well worth the wait. The food was really good and received the seal of approval from two Hong Kong natives.



After lunch, Tony took Matthew home while I wandered around with Cheung Yau and Gloria. We took the train to the Shanghai Train Station to grab a cab to visit the Jade Buddha Temple. The Temple is located in the middle of Shanghai in the middle of a residential area and is home to a pair of jade Buddhas from Burma. In 1882, the monk Hui Gen from Putuoshan Island (which is near Shanghai) returned from his pilgrimage to Burma with five Sakyamuni Buddha images that were each carved from a single piece of jade. Transporting the Buddhas was very difficult and as a result, two were left behind in Shanghai and a temple was built to house them. Hui Gen was able to transport three of the Buddhas back to Putuoshan Island and eventually, all three Buddhas have disappeared. The two Buddha statues were absolutely beautiful. One is housed in the Jade Buddha Hall on the second floor and is a creamy white luminous statue and shows Buddha sitting in a lotus position at the moment of enlightenment. It is estimated that this Buddha is 6.3 feet tall and weighs about 2,200 pounds. The other Buddha is located on the ground floor and is in the Hall of the Reclining Buddha. This one is smaller and depicts the Buddha at the moment of death.




Afterwards, Cheung Yau and Gloria wanted to try the snack foods on Wujiang Road. Wujiang Road is a pedestrian street and is lined with little food shops. I'm sure it has lots of health code violations and you can be sure that items dropped on the ground are put back into the pan to be served. However, the locals flock to it and you can find lots of local specialties. Cheung Yau read about the fried dumplings from this one particular shop and wanted to try it. We found the shop and there was a long line. He stood in line to place his order. After much anticipation, it wasn't as good as he expected it to be but, he can at least say that he's had it and has been on the food street. We wandered through the street and looked at all the snacks available. Some of the stalls were bustling and some were pretty empty. Safe bet that the ones that were bustling were the good ones and the not so busy ones .... well, you'd be taking your chances if you tried their food.

We'll be heading to Zhouzhuang tomorrow for a tour. It's a nine hundred year old water village about a two hour drive outside of Shanghai. I've never been there so I'm pretty happy to tag along for the ride.

Breakfast

Tony returned from his business trip last night. Matthew was very happy to have his Dad home. We ate dinner and had our usual Friday movie night together. Matthew went off to bed and Tony and I stayed up to watch a movie for us. Nothing G rated...something PG-13. Yipee! It ended at 2 AM and I declared that I wanted breakfast.

Tony walked into the kitchen and whipped up two egg white omelets with caramelized onions, mushrooms, ham and cheese. I prepared the toast and we ate our omelets in the kitchen. Coffee was going to be a stretch but, fresh orange juice was good. Cleaned up the kitchen and we know that Matthew's going to be pretty unhappy when he gets up to find that we ate breakfast without him.

Then again, that's going to be in a few hours. Maybe we can have our coffee then and....perhaps some yogurt and fruit.

Mid-Autumn Moon Festival

The Chinese are gearing up to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival (also known as the Moon Festival). The Moon Festival falls on September 25th this year. Every year, on the fifteenth day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar, the moon is at it's maximum brightness for the entire year. The Chinese celebrate this holiday with family reunions and eating moon cakes. There is a legend surrounding the moon festival. This is the one that I know:

Many years ago, ten suns took turns to illuminate the earth. One day, all the suns appeared together and scorched the earth. The scorching earth was saved by Hou Yi, a very famous archer who was married to the very beautiful Chang E. Hou Yi succeeded in saving the earth by shooting down nine of the suns. The Goddess of Western Heaven, awarded Hou Yi with the elixir of life. However, his wife, Chang E drank the elixir and found herself floating to the moon. Hou Yi tried to stop his wife from floating to the moon by shooting her down with his bow and arrow but didn't succeed. Chang E was transformed into a three legged frog as punishment for tricking her husband.

It is believed that Chang E lives on the moon in a magnificent jade palace, where she presides as the Goddess of the moon. Her companions include a Jade Rabbit who sits under a cinnamon tree preparing a recipe for the pill of immortality. Chang E regretted her selfish action and would long for her husband. It is said that Hou Yi built himself a handsome palace on the sun and he became the God of the sun. Every month on the fifteenth day, Hou Yi is allowed to visit Chang E and she is transformed into a beautiful princess. On this one evening, every month, the moon shines brighter because of their love.

Moon cakes are traditionally given as presents to friends and family. The moon cake would be filled with lotus seed or red bean paste and would have a salted egg yolk in the center to depict the moon. When I was a child, my parents would receive boxes of the moon cakes from family and friends. I would cut the cake into quarters to share with my sisters and I would rip out the yolk. I should tell you that the more expensive boxes would contain double egg yolks. A complete waste if it was coming to my home since I only like the red bean paste.

Fast forward, years later and we're now living in China. It is now our turn to give out the moon cakes. The moon cakes are still available in the traditional flavor of lotus seed or red bean paste. It is amazing when you go to the market, how many different boxes are available. Besides the number of yolks in the box, it's also all about how ornate the boxes can get. The prestige of getting a very expensive box of moon cakes also gives the recipient bragging rights. The varieties available at the market range from the metal boxes with a picture of Chang E starting at about 48 RMB (about $6.40) a box for four up to 1,200 RMB (about $160 USD) for a box complete with dust collecting nick knacks.


The moon cake business is much like the fruit cake and panettone business. It's something that is given...but not necessarily eaten by the recipient. Over the years, many of the younger generation do not like the traditional filling. Besides being a diabetics nightmare and a heart stopper special, it's just not that appealing. Therefore, many moon cakes now come in new fangeled flavors. Haagen-Dazs offers moon cake ice cream (which I'm going to get a box for us to try) and Starbucks offers the moon cake in cheese cake latte flavor, mango and black raspberry with green tea.

Since we're going to present a box of moon cakes to Tony's driver, Mr. Miao, I opted to pick up a box of Starbucks moon cakes for him. It is something that the local Chinese wouldn't indulge in, and will certainly give Mr. Miao bragging rights that he's received a box of Western style moon cakes. Let's see if he'll actually taste it or just leave it out on the table to show off to his friends and family.

Laid Up

Well, I did it this time. I fell down the stairs and have managed to sprain my ankle. My ankle is pretty swollen and I can't put any weight on it. Dragging my leg around reminds me of the time when I was pregnant with Matthew and had very bad sciatica. I looked like Quasimodo going down Park Avenue dragging my left leg behind me trying to catch the Metro North train back to Connecticut....only now I'm doing it in Shanghai without a public audience. Oh yeah, I should mention that Tony's leaving for a business trip tomorrow and I'll be here in the house ALL BY MYSELF.....to hobble my way up and down the stairs. Not a pretty sight. I'm pretty miserable. Sitting around on the coach with my foot propped up on the pillows and taking Tylenol by the handful to reduce the swelling. I've been icing my foot as well to try to get this all under control. Definitely not pleasant for me...since I like to spend my days running around loose all over town. Those who know me know that I don't like to be inhibited....at all.

So, I've got Matthew and Tony waiting on me....hand and foot. I really don't like it since I like to do things for myself. At this time, there's no choice but to adapt and make my two boys my slaves. Matthew will have to be my slave tomorrow...all by him lonesome self until his father gets back. Who said that parents can't bully their kids into doing what they want?

My foot has to heal quickly since we're expecting my cousin Cheung Yau and his wife Gloria next Saturday. They'll be arriving from Hong Kong and will be spending a week with us in Shanghai. It's my duty to drag them all over town and take them sightseeing. If I can't walk around, this will definitely put a monkey wrench into my plans.