Sylvia's Journal

We never made it to Chinatown, partially because we didn’t get out of the house until it was well into the afternoon and also because we did not need to. This allowed us to hang out a little longer with Sita and Jim before they headed back West to their home and the kitties who will, by now, have been introduced to the vacuum cleaning robot. It also allowed me to receive the cookbook present that came in the afternoon mail. I picked a recipe that did not require a trip to Chinatown.

We dropped off my passport and all the required passport pictures for various visas at work and then turned around to join the shopping mall traffic that looked just the same as regular rush hour. Back home I tried my hand at a hearty Tibetan soup from ‘the other China’ that had the bread and butter part integrated (toasted barley flour and butter) and so makes dinner a one pan and one bowl soup. Of course the butter was supposed to be yak butter and the meat yak meat. The American adaptation was pretty good although it required several bowls and pans, and looked nothing like the illustration.

Tessa and Steve gave us all sort of household and kitchen stuff for Christmas that is usually given to newlyweds – it was a commentary on the content of our kitchen drawers and shelves. We didn’t think we needed anything new and matching but somehow we produced this child who likes things to be just right, which means matching. It is probably a reaction to the general messiness of our house. We now eat our food with shiny (and matching) silverware from China and beautiful sparkly new (and matching) wineglasses from France; even our well worn placemats were pushed aside by new ones from India; all on the condition that the old stuff leaves the house. So Sita and Jim went home with the ousted cutlery with the handles that had started to crack but we held on to the wine glasses and old placemats (for now).

And now we are off to DC to celebrate Chris’ 60th birthday. His wife Carol decided that we are to be one of his presents. It will be a short trip, we return on Monday afternoon, but hopefully just long enough to see some friends in addition to celebrating the important milestone.