Playing Catch-Up: A Special Evening in Ann Arbor

A few weeks ago, while on our way back to Hong Kong from Virginia, Katherine and I had an all-too-brief stay in Ann Arbor. On our last night there (which was pretty close to our first night ;>), Vera and Chris hosted a wonderful potluck for us...

Vera makes final preparations for dinner (while Linh and Nick wait patiently ;>)

Vera's famous lasagna

Outstanding broccoli bread from Anna and Raomir

Nancy's zesty eggplant compote

Jen provided one of the best salads I've ever tasted

Anna and Jen, keeping most of the children entertained (not far from Andrei's watchful eye)

Vera and Carson are happy accomplices in Jen's plot to steal Luciano!

Linh, Chris, Sander, and Raomir hide in the corner with Luciano

Rounding up the usual suspects
(Salome, Luciano, Mahala, and Andrei)

Big apologies to Nancy: Somehow we got pictures of your husband and son, but not you! :( We didn't get pictures of ourselves either, though, so at least you aren't alone. ;>

It was a night filled with wonderful food and favorite people - we look forward to doing it again soon!

Jamming Roselle!

As you may remember, we picked up some roselle fruit from the Central Pier farmer's market on Christin and Jared's last day here. The farmer who sold them to us said that it was very easy to make jam with them, so today Katherine and I decided to find out, and boy was she right. Using the simple recipe she taught us, we turned the amount we bought (half a catty, or about ¾ of a pound) into a jar of jam in no time!

Wash the fruit thoroughly!

Slice off each stem

Push the seed out through the back...

...until it pops out

Now the fruit is ready to cook!

Heat the water to a simmer, add the fruit and sugar, and stir constantly.
In a matter of minutes, all the fruit will melt and become...

...a jar of jam!

It is very thick - no added gelling agents (like pectin) required

The roselle fruit very much reminds me of rhubarb in color and tartness (though the flavor is not quite the same), so it really does makes a great jam. If you can find some, give it a try!

Happy Boxing Day!

Christin and Jared in Hong Kong: Day 11

On their last full day here, we sailed to Cheung Chau - a well-known outlying island that I had yet to visit...

Before leaving Hong Kong Island, we stopped for brunch in Central at Tsui Wah...

The Wellington Street location of a popular "tea restaurant" chain

Christin's HK-style "borcht" with fusilli

Christin's crispy buttered bun

Katherine's macaroni soup with ham and abalone

Katherine's meal also included ham, eggs, and a crispy buttered bun

Jared and I couldn't resist another dose of HK-style French toast

While moseying down to the Central Piers, we stopped just before pier 7 and took a peek at the local farmer's market. Within we found a fruit that we'd never seen before, so we had to get some...

Roselle

All aboard at pier 5!

Let's get this show on the road!

A half-hour later, we appeared in Cheung Chau...

Ducking in and out of shops along San Hing Praya Street (with the Adamasta Channel to our right)

...shops like BB KILL!! And, no, I have no idea what that means (the Chinese is equally odd: "BBQ Murderer")...

...but I do know that it sold dried seafood and was guarded by this cat

"No touching the merchandise!"

We also found an Indonesian restaurant selling delicious thousand-layer cakes
(with flavors like durian, chocolate, and pandan)...

...so we had to try some

Clotheslines are good for drying clothes AND squid!

Crawling the public beach

...which had quite a few rules
("But I want to throw disc!!")

Hiking up the lush mountainside

...where we learned all about "fire beaters"! Contrary to this description, though, fire beaters are not solely for putting out fire...

They are also good for sweeping

...and sparring!

Block, parry, strike!

I am defeated!

Fire beaters safely back in their resting place, we worked our way back down to the village

...and rested with bowls of 豆腐腦

While waiting for the next ferry back to Central, we ran across this pet shop...

You would think they had triple the dogs of any other pet shop, but in fact they had none

They did have this mini Fui Fui, though!

The ferry eventually arrived and swept us back to the Central Piers, where we promptly boarded another ferry - this time to Tsim Sha Tsui for our dinner spot...

A view from Star Ferry: Soon to be the tallest building in Hong Kong (upon completion) and fourth-tallest in the world, Kowloon's International Commerce Centre gets lost in the clouds.

Their last dinner in Hong Kong was at Din Tai Fung (鼎泰豐), a magnificent Taiwanese restaurant chain that specializes in Shanghainese food...

It is always packed, but the service is very fast and friendly

Dried beef shank

Stir-fried string beans

Fresh soy milk

Hot-and-sour soup

"Little steamer dumplings" (小籠包)

Sesame-peanut noodles

Shrimp dumplings in a spicy sauce (紅油抄手, a variant of 酸辣抄手)

Sweet "little steamer dumplings" filled with red bean paste

Eight treasure rice (八寶飯)

Perhaps saving the best meal for last!

One last squeeze through the streets of Tsim Sha Tsui

One last peek at Victoria Harbour (during the nightly laser light show)

Katherine and I absolutely loved having Christin and Jared here. We had a wonderful time and very much look forward to their return!