"Chinese" New Year's

This year for New Year's I thought it would be fun to share some of the "Chinese" goodies I have learned to make with my family and friends.  Harrison and I went on a big shopping spree to Hy-Vee to get all the goodies that we needed.  While looking through the crazy maze of this gigantic grocery store I made two observations....number 1 - produce in the US, well, at least in the Mid-West pales in comparison to that in the UK...I've been totally spoilt.  Number 2...I've switched to now feeling frustrated not being able to find things I can easily find in my UK grocery stores and now can't find in the US.  One of the dishes I wanted to make is called Aromatic Crispy Duck and I searched everywhere for the pancakes used to wrap up all the goodies.  After some confusing discussions with a random group of Asian folks in Hy-Vee and the employees of the Oriental Supermarket that I went to, we concluded that this "English-developed" Chinese dish is similar to Peking Duck, but no one knows what I'm talking about with these pancakes.  So going along with my motto, if you can't buy it, why not make it!!!  I found a recipe for Chinese pancakes so I got them rolled out and Kevin helped me fry them up.

This was my first attempt at making Crispy Duck from scratch let alone the first time I've ever roasted a duck. Wow...these suckers are really greasy. I had to drain it about 5-6 times, but the final dish was absolutely amazing. Even though pancakes were a little chewy, they tasted pretty close to the real thing. Everyone was a little skeptical about the cucumber and spring onion slices and wondered what this Hoisan sauce was but after the first bites they were in love.

I also made an attempt to make sushi. Now when Min had her Chinese cooking night I hopped right in and did a great job at rolling these things up, but failed miserably several times today. I took so much time to get all the little pieces to go into this cut up and prepped.

Now I didn't make the raw fish sushi stuff. I made them with seaweed, rice, mayo, cucumber, crab sticks, avocado and spring onions. What makes this dish taste great is dipping it in soy sauce with a squeeze of wasabi.

Another favorite of Kevin's and mine is chicken satay. Min bought us some marinade and dipping sauce. After cutting up the chicken it has to marinade for several hours and since I was running out of refrigerator space so I set it outside on mom and dad's porch because it was pretty chilly that day. Also in true fashion we had to fire up the old BBQ to grill these chicken skewers. With subzero temperatures outside, Dad and Brad were real troopers to cook these up for me.

An absolute favorite of mine are spring rolls. I can totally appreciate paying what I do to have someone else make these things. Now spring rolls are a bit different than egg rolls...thy are much smaller. My mom didn't have a wok so I used her cast iron skillet which worked pretty good. I had to kind of improvise on some of the ingredients in these as well since I couldn't find everything.Kevin helped me to scoop up the good stuff onto the spring roll wrappers as I wrapped them up. The recipe makes a lot of spring rolls and I know Min said you could freeze them, but we made them all up.

One Americanized Chinese treat that we haven't found at all in the UK are crab rangoons. They are so American that the Wong's had never heard of them before. Kevin and I love them and so I took this opportunity to figure out how to make them so we can make them back in the UK.

Kevin braved the elements outside as well to fry up my spring rolls and crab rangoons. Crazy thing is that the spring rolls started to explode in the deep fat fryer. Not totally sure why, but we're guessing that they were so freaking cold from the outside air and when they hit the hot grease they just went crazy.

I also made up some sweet and sour chicken. After I got Min to clarify a few things on her original recipe to me, I have been able to make my best S&S chicken yet according to Kevin.

We had quite a spread and it took all day to get ready, but all of it tasted great. I hope that Min is proud of me. She has been a great teacher to me.

Most of the night we ate food, the guys played cards, and some of us played mom and dad's new Wii. My sister, her husband and my nephew came over but headed home before midnight. Kevin's great friend Brad, his wife Jaye and son Colin came all the way from Ankey to spend the evening with us since we weren't really able to go out (little Harry not on the bottle yet). Also my dad's brother, Kris, and my cousin, Kanaan also came over. We all had a blast!!!

I got Addison to bed early but Harrison decided to stay up late and see the new year in with us all. We watched Ryan Seacrest ring in the New Year...they have really done a decent job of transitioning him into Dick Clark's iconic position. We just turned the TV on in time to see the ball hit the bottom and the 2009 light up. Wow...2009...it was exactly one year ago that I had that icky feeling all over and found out the next day that I was pregnant with our little Harry and here he was today in my arms falling back to sleep. We are truly blessed!

More Cereal, Please

Harrison is approaching four months old now and he is growing like a weed.  Since he is not taking a bottle and traveling has really screwed up my milk supply he seemed to be pretty hungry most of the time, so I decide to see if he would start eating rice cereal to fill him up a little more.  I didn't start Addie on cereal until we got moved over to the UK when she was about 6 months old, but I just felt that it was okay with the little guy to start earlier.  Harry really seemed to like the cereal, but it took some time to get used to having something other than milk in his mouth.  He spit it out a lot but I think he was playing with it with his tongue.  He was so cute because he would also try eating his hands at the same time.

Addie Gets Cookin'

For Christmas, Addison's Great Grandma Roux made her 2 new aprons and oven mit so that she could help mommy and daddy in the kitchen. Grandma Sally made her one too, so I think this could be a sign that I'm going to have my little girl grow up to be a famous chef some day. Well Grandma Roux made mommy a matching apron so we could coordinate in the kitchen.
It seems now that every time I start pulling out bowls and such out, Addison finds a stool or chair to pull over and jump right in the action. This morning we were making pancakes and she LOVES to break the eggs. I let her do it herself, but into a separate bowl so I can pick out all the shells. She does a really good job with it and is very gentle with the eggs when trying to break them on the counter but then squeezes the life out of them when she tries to break them apart. It's so cute.
Of course after a tough morning of baking she takes a break by reading a book to the little Christmas Granny.

Sunny Side Up

Today we made our way back to Iowa after spending a great week with Grandma and Grandpa Dea in Arizona. We had a pretty early flight so we got up really early, but what was really was that we flew out of the small airport in Mesa so we only had to drive about 20 minutes to get to the airport. Our bags were busting at the seems literally because we all got some really nice presents for Christmas. We ended up having to carryon our dirty laundry so that our bags weren't over the weight limit. After some teary goodbyes we made our way to security. Fortunately their was no line but in true TSA fashion they had about 10 agents all standing around and watched as I struggled with a screaming two year old who did not want to take off her boots. We got to the waiting area in plenty of time, we had about an hour before our flight was to leave. About the time that we were to be boarding we got that all too familiar message come across the loud speaker....flights were being delayed an hour. Here is the kicker...the reason we were delayed was that the plane had frost on it and we had to wait for the sun to come up to melt off the frost. Of course, we were in Arizona where frost probably only happens 5 days out of the year so they don't have de-icing equipment, well at least not at this little airport.

It was now 8 AM in the morning and our flight was supposed to leave at seven. Now I understand that security measures are supposed to keep us safe in the air. But because some morons screwed it up for all of us, we are now not to be able to bring water through security which really sucks. It is especially rude when the management of an airport doesn't open up the only store in the waiting area, so when a flight is delayed they obviously don't think about people having to be stuck on the other side of security with no way to get anything to drink or eat. Can you tell I was frustrated???? Any we finally got loaded up on the plane and got another pleasant surprise. The pilots announced that we have successfully melted the frost off one side of the plane but now we have to go sit out on the tarmack facing the other direction so the other side of the plane can defrost...WHAT!!! After another 45 minutes we were finally on our way and landed safely in Cedar Rapids about 2 hours late, but were greeted the friendly face of my father who always does a great job of defusing my frustration and showing the sunny side of life. Thanks Dad!

A Visit from Aunt Barb

Each time we visit Arizona we try to hook up with my Aunt Barb who lives north of Phoenix in Cave Creek (it's pretty fun to have family from both sides of our family in the same place far from everyone else.) This was Aunt Barb's first time to meet Harrison and it was fun to see her with him since she had gotten to see me preggie when we visited the UK this past summer.

She came down to have lunch with us and then she went golfing with Kevin, Mike and I at the course near Kevin's parent's house. This was the first time I had been golfing since just after we moved to the UK, so I was a bit nervous (I think more nervous to leave Harrison alone - eventhough I trusted totally trusted Grandma to take care of things, we had been trying like crazy to get him to take a bottle with absolutely no success lately). It was great to see Aunt Barb and for her to see the kids...funny thing is that I've seen Aunt Barb more days this year than I have ever before and I live thousands of more miles away.

Visiting the Old West Hollywood Style at Apacheland

Today we went to check out a new tourist site in the Mesa area called Apacheland. Actually Apacheland was a famous filming site previously located several miles from this site and it was use for the filming of a lot of old Western movies that starred Clint Eastwood, James Garner, Charleston Heston, Ronald Reagan and more (these are the people I recognized). A few years ago many of the buildings caught on fire, but they were able to salvage some things so they moved everything they could to this site at the foot of the Superstition Mountains. We checked out the stable, the gallows, and the mining site...they church and the jail were closed because it had been raining a lot and it was pretty muddy.
There also used to be a pretty ritzy hotel called the Grand Hotel where all the stars would stay.  It has now closed and the area is abandoned desert around Mesa, but they brought the sign to Apacheland.

Merry Christmas!!!

Christmas morning was awesome. Kevin and I got to sleep until 8AM, take showers and get dressed before both of the kids woke up. I told him though that this would probably be the last year that we could do this for a while. Once Addie got up she needed a little prompting to check out the tree, but then once she discovered that Santa had come to visit she was sooooo excited.
Addison and Harrison got some great gifts from Grandma and Grandpa Dea and also from Santa, but the kids got a special gift from their mommy. Since the week before Thanksgiving I had been working on sewing together a "quiet book" and I finished it on Christmas Eve. Addison loved it and I'm sure Harrison will get to play with it someday. Her favorite page was the one with the mirror and comb. I'd like to start making something for our kids each year for Christmas.

Grandma Sally always makes such lovely homemade gifts as well. This year she made Addison her apron and crayon/coloring book case and she made Harrison this super cute bib that says "My Daddy is a CAT Man" and she also made a little tie bag that he can use to hold toys.

We brought back a few fun things from England for everyone. We shared some Thorton's chocolates with the family, but I picked up a Tesco Big Blue Bag for Sally since she shops at the Fresh and Easy in Mesa. I know it's a little corny but I think she liked it.

This year I thought I did really well for Kevin for Christmas. A month ago Min and I ordered Danny and Kevin the official rugby shirts for the Leicester Tigers who are sponsored by Caterpillar. They both had been talking about wanting one for such a long time. I was so excited to actually find them and get them at such a good price, but then Kevin came home one day and said that the team was going to show up at the office and be selling their shirts for a discount price. This was just days before we planned on leaving for the States. I panicked and ended up having to tell him I got the shirt for him so he didn't go and buy one at work. I think he really likes it though because he's worn it a couple of times since we've been back. To make sure he had something to open I wrapped it up and put it under the tree. I also got him the book called "The Last Lecture" and I wrote him a little note listing out 25 things I loved about him. He got me the Mother/Daughter and Father/Son Demarco figurines, two Yankee candles and the movie No Reservations...awesome!

Both of the kids got some really wonderful things, thank you Grandma and Grandpa and Santa!!! Addison did really well until her brother was "opening" his gifts and then everything he got was "mine" to Addie. We've got a little jealousy to work on Little Misses.

Some family pictures with the grandkids and kiddos!!!

Sally made us a wonderful meal of ham, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, oriental salad, rolls and fresh veggies.  Yummy!!!  Addison was so tuckered out from the morning that she slept through most of dinner.

After dinner Harrison took his normal position with Mrs. Claus on the floor for a little shut eye. We changed him out of his "My First Christmas" shirt because he has been drooling non-stop since we got to Arizona...we had to make a run to Wal-mart a few days earlier to get some bibs. I know this sounds weird but that was the greatest trip I've made to Wal-mart in over a year...well to start out it was the first time I had been to Wal-mart in a year but wow, I have really missed the all-in-one store even if it is Wal-mart.

Christmas Eve

Tonight Kevin, Addison, Sally and I went to Christmas Eve service. Addison was so well behaved and enjoyed the music a lot. After the service was over all the people around us said that they thought she did so well and that if it would have been their grandchildren, the place would have been destroyed. I guess I was pretty proud to hear a comment like that. It was also really cool to walk out of the church without a coat on (it was that warm) and to see the most beautiful sunset (mostly due to the smog in Phoenix).

I have also found it pretty interesting to see all of the regular Christmas decorations like icicle lights, Christmas trees, reindeer made out of lights and even motorized Santas jumping out of chimneys in a desert environment. It is still pretty weird to see all of these things with no snow but I seem to be getting used to it living in the UK because we don't get much snow if any there. Eventhough I am getting used to no snow for Christmas it is still crazy to see Christmas lights on cactus with an occasional Santa hat on top.

Mike and Sally's new neighbors were showing everyone up with their huge light display. We heard through the grapevine that they only did it because their grandkids were coming in from Denver, but we are glad they did because Addison love them. Every night Daddy or Grandpa would bring her out to look at all the fun.Tonight before we put the kids to bed to let sugar plums run through their heads we got some pictures with the lights.

Fresh and Easy - The American Tesco

Tesco is a huge grocery store chain in the UK and they now have about 100 stores in the US called Fresh and Easy. One of them happens to be just down the way from my in-laws house in Mesa, so I asked Sally if we could check it out. It's a pretty small store and doesn't look much at all like a Tesco inside but there are a few familiar things.

The cucumbers in the States are actually called English cucumbers ... kind of funny ... since these are the normal ones we can get in the UK.

Here are the eggs...in the UK eggs are displayed in the bread aisle of my local Tesco. Here as usual in the US the eggs are refridgerated.

I did see After Eight mints which are very decadent and Wheatabix cereal. They also had a lot of the pre-made refridgerated meals and there was a lady who was making bread pudding from one of those Italian fruit cakes and milk. It tasted pretty good but not as good as my neighbor Sarah Gorman's recipe.

After taking a few shots around the store, Sally and I had two people sneak up on us and ask if we needed any help. We said no...but then the gentleman said he was the store manager and asked why I was taking pictures and if I had permission from the home office. My mother-in-law chimed right in and said I was from England and shop at Tesco there and I was just so excited to be in their stores in the US. The manager said he was flattered but asked that I stop taking pictures....sorry Mr. Manager!!!!

Loads of Fun at Grandma and Grandpa Dea's

Once we finally got to Grandma and Grandpa Dea's house we all had such a blast.  Grandma Sally had a few early presents for Addison including a new apron so she could help Grandma make pancakes for breakfast.

She also got a really cool crayon and coloring book holder all decked out with Dora the Explorer and hand made by Grandma Sally.

Grandma Sally spent lots of time hugging and kissing on Harrison.

Grandma Sally made daddy's favorite dessert - cherry cheese cake. Addison had to get a taste for herself - she loves cherries!

Grandma Sally always has loads of tooth care products for us each Christmas since she has always worked at a dental office. Here she is teaching Addison how to brush her teeth with her new Crayola toothbrush. She really is sitting here very still and letting Grandma do this even though it doesn't quite look like it...we need to bring Grandma home with us because Addie won't sit this still for us.

Our friends, Todd and Lori Lincoln got the kids Iowa State shirts with the new logo on it so we "dressed up" the kids. Addison is such a good big sister making sure that Harrison is looking at the camera.

Grandma Sally collects snowmen and Addison had loads of fun playing with them. Here she is up close and personal with a few of them.

Grandpa Mike gets worn out pretty fast after watching Addison run around the house, so Harrison sits and keeps him company.