This Great Work

Before we moved to China, my dream life was to stay home and make dinner for my neighbors.  If asked of a place I'd like to travel, I would usually comment that I would rather have a kitchen remodel than seeing far away places.  That is because I have come to really enjoy having people over for dinner and a kitchen remodel would make that much easier on me--which I cared more about than seeing the world. (It also illustrates my extremely low need for adventure to be happy.) Thankfully I have been able to continue that hobby in China. It is a bit more of a challenge here because of an even smaller kitchen capacity, lack of ingredients and my concern about feeding Chinese people food they might actually like.  For my personal records here are dinners I have photos of. Tina and James (our liaison for our landlady) Sherry, Talia & Stella (Tom's co workers; and Stella tutors me in Chinese) Penny (one of my Chinese teachers) Melissa's cousin (someone from CCID branch asked ...

What I really, really want is to have someone over for dinner.  It is something I think about every. single. day.  Back home it was what made me tick and that hasn't left me, but here there are just so many hurdles.... ❇ I'm very happy to eat Chinese.  I want to learn to cook good Chinese food, after all that is what is cheapest and most accessible.  But I *am not* going to feed Chinese people Chinese food when they come to dinner.  Just not going to do that. (But, dear friends, when I come home, I will be able to feed you some pretty yummy Chinese food, and I'm very excited about that!) ❇My ability to find foods from home is challenging.  Ingredients are hard to come by.  Dairy is especially hard--good cheeses, Greek yogurt and sour cream.  Good meats.  Fresh herbs.  Some produce items such as avocados. Condiments (US mayo and dijon for salad dressings).  Chipotle peppers and canned tomato products...I could go on and on.  Tho...