Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Thanksgiving 3x (+ Uncle Steven)

posted by Alan
click on pictures to see them full size

Almost a month since the last entry. Ouch. I'll try harder. For those of you who miss talking to me, if you call (516)360-3375, it comes right to my phone here in China. Just remember there's a time difference. Oh, and does anyone use WhatsApp?

Thanksgiving came early in Shanghai for us this year. In order to bring a little bit of home to China, Americans all over Shanghai put on huge Thanksgiving dinners. Turkey is hard to come by over here, but for the holiday, dozens of hotels and caterers ship them in and prepare Thanksgiving packages to order. We were invited to about six different dinners and had to whittle it down to just three during the week. See below:
#1

#2

#3


Just prior to that was my 30-something-th birthday, which my brother Steven flew halfway around the world for. For someone not big into celebrating his birthday and not a fan of cake, I'd say the 4 different cakes were a bit overkill. I don't even know how anyone knew it was my birthday. But one cake stood out above the rest. Our favorite Canadian chef, Andrew, was cooking dinner for us and he asked Daisy what my favorite kind of cake was. Knowing me better than anyone else, Daisy jokingly said "uh...a meat cake?" Not fully getting the joke, the most delicious cake I've ever tasted was born.


Thanks Steven for visiting, Daisy for the Doritos, Mint Choc Chip ice cream and being my wife, and mom for the Video Baby Monitor(must see TV in Janie's room) and all of Janie's new clothes.



Janie turns 1 on Friday! (whoa...)

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Play Date

*posted by Alan
click on pictures to see them full size


Please stay Jose!

Janie has an abundance of friends (although she doesn't know they're friends yet) around her age here. And that's just within the expat community. She also has plenty of local friends in our neighborhood that she sees on a regular basis too. Since Daisy is full time momming it now, she's been organizing playgroups with a bunch of the other new moms throughout the week. With such a diverse community, it's like a baby United Nations. I also went to my first children's birthday party the other week. Over here, the Chinese have their own special brand of children's entertainment. By special I mean impossibly high-pitched voices and awkward clappy dancing. But I don't think it matters where you go, one thing remains true: cute babies will never fail to make grown ups act like fools to entertain them (myself included). Janie is still at the stage where she just stares with a blank look at them. That's my girl.




Daisy and I also recently attended the wedding of our friends Sandro and Stella. It was probably the highest wedding we'll ever go to, on the 96th floor of the Shanghai IFC Tower in the Park Hyatt Hotel. I was unexpectedly asked to semi-officiate the ceremony which was a first, as I have no powers vested in me, but it was nice to be able to pray for their marriage at the wedding. Sandro is Italian and Stella is Korean-American, which combines to form an awesome dinner menu. Congrats guys, have some really good looking mixed babies!



Still 70 degrees and sunny in Shanghai. Sorry New York!