December

The holidays have begun.

So has the season of baking, celebrating, and partying. I think in the past two weeks, the group has had a handful of get-togethers. I have made three batches of cookies (chocolate chip, heath bar, and brownie). Last night was R's birthday and I made wonton chicken cups. It's that time.

The holidays can be a hard time to be away from home. I hit my one-year at Post two weeks ago and it is amazing how fast time flies. Today we were decorating the CGR for the Christmas party next week, and I kept saying, "Last year we had the kids do this..." and "When we had the party last year..." I couldn't believe that I was one of the longest-standing people at post when in that group of people. A resident Shenyang expert? Maybe.

As I mentioned last year, the season is a great time to be in a small community like ours. Nothing brings people together like being away from our families. To be honest, I've created a family of sorts here among my friends. I feel such a tight connection with the people here that I can't imagine leaving in one year. True, many of the people here now will already have departed post, but there will be the people who have just recently arrived that I will have to say goodbye to. I can't imagine the tears!

~
Last weekend was completely splendid. Saturday I spent at the gym and around the apartment during the day, putting together some things for Christmas gifts. In the evening, I joined a group of people from the Consulate at a new Indian restaurant opening. Good restaurants in Shenyang are few, and when we find favorites, it's great to give them our business. Pakwaan, an Indian restaurant that we often order from for lunch, opened a new shop across from the consulate district (coincidence? Me thinks not). They had their opening last Saturday night and it was a great success. I guarantee that we'll be heading there for lunch more often now.

Sunday was a day of relaxing. In the morning, A and I went over the BFF's to make breakfast (bacon and pancakes, in that order) and watch the Pacquiao/Marquez fight together with the husband and an out-of-town guest. I'm not a fan of boxing (typically) and I wasn't really looking forward to the fight. But boy -- was it an interesting match!! What athletes!! What muscle structure!! What a knockout!! With a broken nose, Marquez landed a TKO punch against Pacquiao in the 5th Round that ended the match just as Pacquiao was heating up. Certainly brutal and hard to watch, but there was an impressive show of athleticism that I was not expecting.

After a nap and a shower, we headed back over to the BFF's for a cocktail party. The theme was "Elegant." I know how to do elegant. After channeling Holly Golightly, I headed over to enjoy some homemade cocktails, courtesy of their guest from London's mixology skillz. On the menu: ginger-infused martinis, lemongrass gin and tonic, a Chinese-style negroni, and more. It was a brilliant evening. There was brie. There was dancing. It was wonderful.

This weekend, we will have another get-together at the BFF's: a brustilli baking party. I plan on making a batch of my family's traditional People Puppy Chow (that I will try my hardest not to eat in one sitting). Sunday will be a snickerdoodle baking party at my place and then early in the week is the Consulate Christmas party. Time flies! It's 13 days until Christmas and I hope my presents get home in time for everyone to open them. I'm slowly accumulating a pile under my tree to open via Skype with my family. Plans are in the works for Christmas eve and Christmas day parties. What a season to be surrounded by friends who are basically family. In this holiday season, I don't have anything to complain about. My only wish is that I could spend it with my real family too, and then it would be the best of both worlds. <3

First (Annual?) Shenyang Pre-Thanksgiving Block Party and Pie Contest

Arriving last year around the holidays, I enjoyed the many parties and gatherings at Post that allowed me to interact with my colleagues (soon-to-be friends) on a personal/social level. That season has official begun again.

This weekend, the citizens of the 17th floor hosted the First (Annual?) Pre-Thanksgiving Block Party and Pie Contest. Over 50 people were in attendance, crowding the halls of the shabbily decorated Crowne Plaza apartments. Despite the ugly carpets and grandmothery decor, the mood was lively and wholesome, with tons of food to boot.

I made three dishes, two from recipes of Mom-Mom Brosious (courtesy of the family cookbook): the traditional green bean casserole with French's french fried onions and Cambell's cream of mushroom soup; the Brosious-style sweet potato casserole with marshmallows and (hidden) pineapple flavor; and a from-scratch recipe of pigs in blankets from handmade dough. Since they were based on tried and true classics, I knew they would turn out okay. I mean -- how can you go wrong with brown sugar, sweet potatoes, and butter topped with marshmallows?

Ready for topping and baking

Among the other dishes present were delicious traditional must-haves like stuffing, mashed potatoes, potatoes au gratin, and of course turkey! We had three people brine turkeys for the event and each one of them was divine in its own way. My favorite was the beer brine. Yum!

You can never have enough potatoes

In addition to the dinner feast, the BFF organized an official pie contest. This contest was serious, folks. Not only was their an engraved glass trophy for the winning Pie Master, but on competition day, my boss (one of the 5 judges) unveiled his scoring scheme, complete with pre-printed score cards that rated the pies on density, composition, appearance, and "mouthfeel." These guys meant business.

The contestants:
1. Pecan Pie A
2. Blueberry Pie
3. Pecan Pie B
4. Apple Pie
5. Pumpkin Pie
6. Coconut Creme Pie

The full pie spread, including those not up for competition

 Needless to say, it was a night of epic eating proportions. Shenyang, you did not disappoint!
After eating, some of the musically-inclined participated in what others have referred to as a hootenanny. Someone might have even fashioned together a washtub-bass. I might have lent my vocals to a song or to, but others had much better pitch than I.

"I think I'm turning Japanese" was actually one of the songs we sang

After all was said and done in the hallways, we retired to the BFF's apartment to finished off some of the mulled cider wine and relax in peace. As I said on FB, thanks to all for great memories and a feast-well-done!

Winter Arriving, With Perks?

Over the past weekend, the season in Shenyang switched from a beautiful autumn brisk air to a harsh, bone-chilling wind from Mongolia. Oh, I guess Winter's here. =P

Foreign Service people are clever, and after surviving my first winter here last year and talking with my colleagues at post, we have devised ways of dealing with the desolation of winter. You ready?

1. House parties: Since Shenyang is a small post, it's quite easy to host a party at one's home and not be completely overwhelmed by the thought of having EVERYONE that you invite show up. Whether it's having people over my apartment after book club to decorate Halloween cupcakes or throwing a Thanksgiving Weekend block party in the halls of the Crowne Plaza, house parties are easy to arrange and certainly fend off any blues associated with the impending cold of the changing season. So far, we've had pizza nights, pasta nights, and cookie baking nights. In the near future, I'll probably host a taco night for sure. ^_^
2. Concerts: Surprisingly, Shenyang does have a bit to offer in terms of arts and culture. Never could of guessed it? Me either. In the recent months, Post has been invited to two international orchestra concerts, and two bigger philharmonic orchestras (like the Philly Orchestra and NY Philharmonic) will be coming back to Shanghai/Beijing later in the year. Classical music not your style? Last night, a group of us went to an old abandoned electronics warehouse (a legit concert venue, apparently) to see a indie/folk/post-dubstep artist named Jamie Woon. After coming home from a long day and a quick 5K run at the gym, I almost skipped out on this event. But I'm soooo glad I didn't. Jamie Woon is British, but his parents were Malay Chinese and Celtic Scottish, a combination that results in... well, awesome music. Woon's style is based on his beautiful R&B voice, a keen sense of beat, and an innovative use of a loop sampler to create multi-layered tracks. The following video is 11-minute documentary introduction of his 2011 album "Mirrorwriting", which gives you insight to his inspiration and also his style: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0aLNS13f_o -- Check him out!
3. Traveling out: As one of my colleagues said to me recently, the best thing about Shenyang is the proximity to other places to go to. So true. With a three-day weekend, a trip to Thailand, Singpore, Korea, or Japan is completely feasible. There's also so much to do in China itself, from the mainland cities of Beijing and Shanghai (cheap plane rides!) to the off-shore hotspots of Taipei and Hong Kong. Another colleague has spent the majority the weekends of his two-year tour outside of Shenyang, for both work and pleasure. To be honest, it's more of a shock to see him around on Saturdays and Sundays than it is to hear he's traveling over the weekend. It might take a few months after he's PCSed from post to realize he's actually gone for good!

Armed with these strategies and the warm friendship of the other people at post, I'm pretty sure Shenyang Winter 2012-2013 will be even better than last year!

Cinnamon Rolls

As if I needed an excuse to bake. 

The BFF organized a cooking feast at her place this weekend to include hands-on cooking with about eight of us from the Consulate. Everyone was tasked with participating, whether that would be bringing some ingredient, an entire dish, or a set of working hands to help. J hand-made the pesto and dough for gnocchi and he and P rolled the little balls of deliciousness out together. R made a great tomato onion soup (on the spot!) while the BFF made the innards of stuffed peppers. A contributed the peppers while N provided the pre-dinner cheese, straight from home in Washington state. My contribution? Well... I've been dying to make these cinnamon rolls that my office-mate's wife made for a summer BBQ. They went so fast at the BBQ that I didn't even get one; I did hear, however, just how good they were from everyone else. So here it is:

1.  Make 2.5lbs of dough in bread maker. Place ingredients in bread maker in the following order:

1. 2/3 c milk (warmed to 80~90F)
2. 3 eggs (room temperature)
3. 6 Tbsp unsalted butter
4. 1/2 c sugar
5. 1 tsp salt
6. 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
7. 4 c bread flour
8. 2/3 c cornstarch
9. 2 1/4 Tbsp yeast

2.  After kneading and rising (about 1 hour and 40 minutes depending on bread maker), punch to deflate. Divide the dough into 2 portions.

Dough, punched to deflate

3.  Let rest 10 minutes.
4.  Meanwhile, make cinnamon filling.

• 1/2 c brown sugar
• 1/4 c regular sugar
• 2 1/2 Tbsp cinnamon
• 4 Tbsp melted unsalted butter

5. Roll the dough out into two rectangles (about 1/2-inch thick).

6. Brush each sides of rectangle with melted butter.

Who doesn't love some melted butter, sugar, and cinnamon?

 7. Sprinkle cinnamon mixture (No.4) on dough.

Leave the top edge clean to allow for better sealing.

 8. Roll as a jelly roll, pinch along the end to seal.

Note: roll the dough from the side closest to you; it's way easier

I used a little bit of water to help seal the edges.

9. Cut with a knife into desired thickness.

I cut the rolls about 1 1/2 inch thck

 10. In a butter-sprayed baking pan, arrange the rolls close together, cover with plastic wrap, and let them rise (Yes! Again...) for 35-40 minutes. I put them on my dryer while it was on to help the process.

Cinnamon rolls before the final rise

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At this point I let them continue to rise for about 2 hours until we made and started dinner, when I put them in the oven after the salad was finished. Once I brought them over to the BFF's, I put them on top of the distiller (also warm) and they puffed up nice and thick. By the time we were done cooking dinner, they were ready to bake.
~~~
11. Preheat oven to 350F.

12. Bake for 25-30 minutes (or less depending on how brown you like them).

13. Cool 20-25 minutes (we couldn't wait that long) and frost!
 
Cream cheese frosting:

• 4oz cream cheese
• 1/4 c unsalted butter (room temperature)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 c powdered sugar
• 1 tsp milk
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice

The final product at the BFF dinner:

Can I get a YUM?!