Thanksgiving: Shanghai Style 2013

We had a blast celebrating Thanksgiving with friends here in Shanghai on Saturday.

The day started with our annual trip to Bubbah's Texas BBQ to pick up our smoked turkey.  The kids loved playing the golf video game while we waited.  Note the Nebraska Cornhusker's pennant flying proudly over their heads.  We love our Huskers - even if their regular season ended with a thud earlier today :(

The kids and I enjoyed cutting the turkey; Asa was so excited he decided to turn the green cutting board into a gong to announce the cutting of the turkey!

Once again Emily did an amazing job in preparing the side dishes and pies.  She managed to stuff her little "easy bake" oven to keep these dishes warm.

Once the dishes were laid out we had the beans, sweet potatoes and turkey all laid out over the cover of our stove top in the kitchen.

She also kept the mashed potatoes warm in the crock pot.  They had cream cheese in them and were amazing!

Emily and Miriam also did an amazing job of making pies - apple, peach and pumpkin; including my favorite pumpkin pie with a gluten free crust!

Before digging into the food Salome and her classmate had a blast playing.

They also had fun at their "little girls" table on the deck.

The older kids enjoyed eating with their tutors and friends at the big table in the middle of the living room.

The party ended with games and everyone putting a leaf on the "Thankful Tree" to list something they were thankful for.

Saturday Food and Fun

Today was not only beautiful weather wise, but a day filled with family fun and delicious food!

Our morning started with Danish Pancake Balls (Aebleskiver), which is a family Christmas tradition that Emily was so kind to make as a treat.  Miriam accidentally called them apple cider!  LOL!

Next Salome and I (Joab) went with one of her preschool classmates, Tong Tong, to a performance of Cinderella.  The girls had a blast!

It was pretty funny to see the "VIP" kids who got to go on stage before the performance.  Talk about organized chaos!

Later in the day we continued the Danish theme by going to "Andersen's Ice Cream after dinner.  It was fun to eat at a place that almost shares one of our family names - my mom's maiden name is Anderson.

Silas got into the ice cream action too.

On the way home we FINALLY found Miriam's favorite Chinese Sweet - Bing Tang Hu Lu.  It is traditionally a Beijing treat, so finding here in Shanghai is a challenge.  It is even harder to find when it is always sold by hawkers who travel throughout town trying to avoid the police.  Now that we found a seller I made sure to get his phone number so that next time we can call him and just go directly to him to get the treat!

As you can see from this "Wanted" Sign Miriam has been desperately looking for this candy for a long time!

What was most fun for me about finding the Bing Tan Hu Lu was the fact that I did it with all three of the big kids on our electric bike! What a fun Shanghai memory!

On a related note, here is a great video summarizing some of the most famous Shanghai Snacks.

ICS 5th Anniversary Celebration

For the second year in a row we were a part of the anniversary celebration for our church - International Church of Shanghai (ICS).  Like last year we continued the with the carnival and talent contest theme.

However, this year our family participated in the talent contest with a puppet show to the Journey song "Faithfully".  Here is the video of our family's puppet show.

Before the performance we took a family picture.

The kids enjoyed the games and candy from the carnival area of the celebration.

Miriam and Asa enjoyed the Angry Bird themed game

Asa loved the cotton candy

Silas had a blast on the bouncy castle

The girls loved getting their faces painted

We were also excited to see local charity organizations had booths at the fair - including a group selling cookies made by children from Huge Grace Orphanages, which cares for about 20 disabled orphans in suburban Shanghai.

Here is a copy of the brochure they handed out.  For those who live in China you can
order cookies and other goods to benefit the children at the orphanage through this website.