Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Random Events, Pictures, and a $100 Turkey

My mother visited us for most of the month of November. One of the places that she likes to visit is a place we call "junk street". Junk street has a mix of "antique" looking and eclectic items and negotiating is the norm to determine the sales price.
The shops, as you can see, are very small and in some cases "hole-in-the-wall" facilities. But the shop owners are typically pretty cheery, friendly, and are proud to share off their wares. The lady above is from Tibet as were most of her items. In this picture two gentlemen are making a woven rug right in the street. My mom also likes to take a look at the simple things. Here she and Ava found some hand made brooms in one of the vacant homes in our neighborhood. These are made from weeds and grass wrapped together and bound to a stick of bamboo that serves as the handle. We also were invited in for dinner to one of my employee's, Jason, homes. Here Jason's mother is making a spicy type of soup that is then mixed with home made noodles. It was a very good time and a chance for my mom to experience a local food....though she still struggles with the chop sticks. ;) Thanksgiving has come and gone and yes, we had a turkey at our home in Shanghai. Our tradition over the past years has been to get together with other families in our housing compound. Our turkey was a 20 lb. Butterball. However, turkey is not raised in China so all turkey must be imported....all of this adds cost and the turkey was about $5 a lb. Sabrina cooked the turkey and it looked and tasted as good or better than any turkey I have had. This was a tall task as our oven wasn't cooperating. We did have to inspect it a number of times because our oven broiler kept turning on... Chinese ovens??

Until next time...we are now in the States and hope to talk with you while we are back.