but as a nice unexpected surprise, we are sticking around Michigan for an extra month.  and since it was last minute and unplanned, we have a much quieter month ahead of us.  so this past weekend, we kicked it off with an improv picnic on the deck followed by a bonfire and s’mores.  it was the girls’ first bonfire, hannah’s first time roasting marshmallows, and kaylah’s first taste of marshmallows. a yummy time overall.

for those of you in michigan, i may be taking a few sessions for the month of september while i am here.  contact me if you are interested.

so here is my latest accomplishment in fresh goodness:

homemade yogurt and granola.

i was actually quite surprised and excited to see how easy it is to make both of these.  all those years just buying it off the shelf – who knew it really is quite simple to make on your own.  and it costs a lot less too!

this whole attempt to make yogurt evolved because Kaylah is at the age where yogurt is a good healthy part of her diet.  but the yogurt available here is all very sweet and liquidy (you need a straw to drink it).  no plain, whole milk, thickened yogurt.  so i decided to try it on my own – followed directions from this book, but you can easily find directions online as well.  then as i was reading about how healthy yogurt is, i felt like i should have some myself.  and fresh homemade yogurt is not as tart, which is more to my liking.  but then i thought it would go nice with granola.  hmmm… another rare/nonexistent item to around here.  a quick search on www.allrecipes.com and i whipped up a batch in no time.  hannah loves the granola too – both making it and eating it!

i shared my accomplishments with another foreigner friend in China.  found out she makes her own yogurt too.  and she quickly explained how to make your own cottage cheese and sour cream as well! (variations on the yogurt recipe)  i tried the sour cream recipe a few days ago and it worked as well!  chicken paprikash and baked potatoes this week…

we ventured out with some of hannah’s classmates to the surrounding countryside to go strawberry-picking.  me and hannah were both excited as we have never picked strawberries before and hannah *loves* strawberries.  and it was a chance to get to know her classmates a little more.
the countryside really is beautiful this time of the year.  the yellow flowers you see are *everywhere*, even in random empty lots and roadsides within the city.  they are from a chinese vegetable called 油菜 (literally translated “oil vegetable”)  how convenient that a staple food also blooms such wonderful yellow flowers.  i soo want to find someone(s) willing to do a photo shoot in one of those fields.  =)
after driving around for 1 1/2 hours (should’ve only taken 20 minutes), stopping literally 15 times to ask for directions, winding along seemingly random unmarked roads that the locals told us to follow… we finally found the place to pick strawberries.  but i did enjoy taking in the scenery along the way. the strawberry picking place was basically just at someone’s home and farmland (no big signs saying “U-pick”).  their house and property had a lot of character and photo-potential, and if i wasn’t toting 2 kids by myself, trying to keep up with 15 other people, i would’ve taken more pictures around their property.   oh wells… if only i could find my way back there, i’d find me a few more someone(s) for another photo shoot.  =)
oh and yes, the strawberries were delish.  i liked how they made my whole car smell of strawberries.

and with a continual stream of customers, they have the place well organized.  first you must pay and get a token.  then you patiently wait until your number is called. meanwhile, you can see them methodically alternate between filling the 10+ griddles with batter, checking them on occasion, and seeming to know exactly when they are ready.

mmm… fresh off the griddle.  they are crispy on the outside, airy and soft on the inside.  warm and lightly sweet goodness.

on mondays, i go to the traditional market and load up on lots of fresh goodness.  there are aisles and aisles of vendors selling everything from fresh meat and veggies to live seafood to tofu products to preserved goods, and so on.  while there are many traditional markets that vary in size and items they offer, here is a small glimpse of the one near my house that i usually go to – 三水湾菜场.  the vendors already recognize me and will ask me where my daughters are if i happen to go by myself.

much of the produce selection is seasonal, so i am excited it is currently strawberry season and am loading up on them while they last.  i will say that i have not been brave enough to try everything offered here – such as live frogs or chickens.  (though today i did purchase some live shrimp for the first time…)   but for the most part, i find it quite inspiring to go there.

we arrived to find out it was actually a New Year FAIR.  the guys seemed much more relieved and excited once they saw that we were not just going to see flowers.  we were also told to avoid going at night or on Chinese New Year’s Eve, lest we be trampled by the extraordinary crowds going for last minute purchases and bargains.  So we went during the day, one day before CNY Eve… but as you can see, there were still plenty of people to squeeze alongside with.

It was a feast for the senses.  rows and rows of tents and vendors, selling anything and everything to celebrate this CNY, the Year of the Tiger.

So aside from seeing a huge selection of flowers, there was also the festive…

the novel…

(notes: upper left is a McD’s “tiger pie” dispenser.  and those stuffed animals are actually hand mufflers)

and all things Tiger…

and finally, what is a fair without food?   you could find fresh sugar cane juice, stinky tofu, butter cuttle, egg waffles, candy-coated fruits, stir-fried noodles, and so much more – sometimes unusual, usually tasty, always interesting

with a full-size oven, i was excited and inspired to go all out for Thanksgiving.  I bought one of 4 frozen turkeys being sold at Metro – probably the only 4 frozen turkeys available in all of Jiaxing (city population = 3.3 million).   It was 6.9 kg (15+ lbs) – the smallest one they had.

Thankfully, we had about 12 people over who could help demolish the 15 lb turkey.  None of them had ever seen a turkey before, or celebrated Thanksgiving.  It was a great time, with relatively little turkey left over.  Amusingly, a couple people were surprised the head and feet were already removed from the turkey.  But it makes sense that they would wonder, as most whole chickens here are sold in their entirety.

And then in addition to roasting a 15 lb turkey for 5+ hrs, I proceeded to cook the most traditional American Thanksgiving meal I’ve ever made.  In the past, I’ve made a mix of American and Chinese, with possible random Korean or Middle Eastern or something else thrown in there.  But I decided to go traditional for my first-time Thanksgiving guests.  So this year it was sweet potato casserole, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, green bean casserole, cranberry apple stuffing (first time i’ve made american stuffing!), and pumpkin pie.  And since there are very little to none pre-made/ prepackaged/ canned items here, everything was made from SCRATCH.  I had to scour the recipes that used only fresh ingredients.  =)  Despite the extra effort required, it was all very satisfying (and probably more healthy because it was fresh?)  And I could not have pulled it all off without my wonderful oven.  =b

a couple things you should do today to celebrate:

1) eat mooncake

for several weeks now, the supermarkets have been filled with tons of varying gift boxes containing mooncake, and everyone seems to be getting or receiving mooncake from one place or another.  mooncake comes in varying sizes, outer decoration, and inner filling… so it’s a good excuse to try lots of them.

2) go outside and gaze at the full moon.
the moon is supposed to be at it’s fullest of the entire year during the Mid-Autumn festival.  and tonight’s is supposed to be the brightest in many years.

tonight was a clear comfortable night, and we enjoyed some time gazing at the moon and stars with a couple friends and visiting family.  and yes, the moon really was very bright and round.  I feel like it’s been a long time since i’ve taken time to just look up at the sky and take in the stars and find constellations.  it was a nice feeling.

so a glimpse at some things in our apartment during that time:

dried lemongrass – to make lemongrass water that is to be poured on your body after showering. the theory is this protects you from getting cold.  cold is a *huge* thing to be avoided in zuo rezi.  both outwardly and inwardly.  that means no direct exposure to cold air (i.e. air conditioning vent), no drinking cold drinks, no eating cold foods… and traditionally, it even meant no bathing for the first month to avoid getting cold.  thank goodness for modern technology that gives heated water and indoor shelter…  so i was allowed to bathe.  =)  just as long as i used the lemongrass water afterwards, of course.

a fully stocked refrigerator and freezer – filled with things that are nutritious and help to 补 “bu” your body.  some of the more unique things include pig’s feet, kidneys, tripe, fish heads…

chinese herbs – boiled each day to create a drink for me, which again, is supposed to be good for all kinds of things and to continue to 补 “bu”

more chinese medicines and ginseng wine – to be taken in the latter part of the month to continue to 补 “bu”.

other traditional rules i’ve heard of that i didn’t quite follow include:
no leaving the house for the entire month (thus the term confinement month)
remain lying down for as much of the time as possible
wearing long socks, long sleeves, long pants, etc… to avoid being cold.  even in the dead of summer
not bathing to avoid catching cold

it was definitely an experience for all of us.  =)   now that the month is over, all constraints are off… and i celebrated with a nice scoop of *cold* ice cream.  =)

so what are some 坐月子 traditions you have heard about or tried?  or what do other cultures do?

anyways, i digress.

last week, a local friend told me about a fruit called “yangmei” or 杨梅.  according to wikipedia, it could be translated as Chinese bayberry.  i had never heard of it before, and my friend did not think it’s available in the US.  apparently, it is special to this region of China, and when it is yangmei season, it’s a *huge* deal here, and people go crazy over them and have like a festival or something.  to heighten the hype, this yangmei season only lasts a couple weeks… which happens to be right now!  then you have to wait until next year to get them.  hearing all this, i was really curious to try this new fruit.  
fortunately, a couple days after i first heard about them, another friend brought some yangmei to a gathering and i got to try it for the first time.  and this past weekend, we went to the market to get some for ourselves.  now that i know what they are, i notice them in all the markets and on street carts.  and i hear of people organizing outings to go yangmei-picking.  here’s what they look like:

they are large, sweet berries with some tanginess to it.  and rather photogenic.  but i guess you’ll just have to pay us a visit if you want to experience first hand what these fruits are like.  =)

the tradeoff to having good fruit here, is that usually they are only available when they are in season.  so while we were in the US, we missed strawberry season, and will have to wait until next year to eat strawberries.  =(  luckily, i got my fill while we were in the US.