Run!

Shenzhen Bay Bridge

Like buttah

One challenge to Americans in Asia is that we don't use the metric system like the rest of the world.

This becomes the biggest challenge for me in the cooking. Case in point: baking cookies tonight the recipe called for 1/2 sick of butter. Well news flash, not all butter in the world is sold in the same size blocks. I did know that 1 stick in the US =1/2 cup. However my butter in Asia is weighted by grams. 250 gram blocks. I thought I converted correctly, but this was my result

 

Um that would be buttery flat oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.

They were yum though!

 

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Food Labels?

Here's a couple of interesting labels on food:

Exactly what is "edible essence"?

Happy I figured out that here they label manufacture date on foods needing refrigeration instead of expiration dates. This is the first milk I bought here when we arrived the December 5th.  I had wondered why stores only had expired foods...

Guessing they mean crackers and not carckers. Wonder if the brand should actually be "Digest"?

Local Exercise

The Chinese seem to be aware of the importance of fitness.  I love that in the morning I can walk outside and see sword dancing, tai chi, fan dancing, jogging, shuffling, walking and lots more.

Below our apartment there is an exercise yard. Early in the morning you can see quite a few elderly people using the equipment.  The boys and I checked it out the other day.

Massagy

Today was a great day.  Cole had his first full day at preschool.  I'll pick him up in an hour so can't report how the first long day went (8:30-4), but I'm sure he did great.

After yesterday's hike and the previous days 5 mile run my legs were through, but I got invited to get a foot massage and lunch so pushed myself to get a run in before.

I dropped Cole off at school and headed toward the bridge for my run. I knew if I didn't do too much weaving around it would be about 3 miles.  I pushed myself and got the 3 miles in under 30 minutes (yay me!).

After I got home I played with Kenney and got myself fixed up.  I was looking forward to some girl time and with my ayi to care for Kenney it was all possible.

I took the subway and met up with Joyce and Sarah.  We went to a massage spot Joyce likes for foot massages.  We were in a private room with big comfy chairs for the massages.  It was so nice!

Joyce got a back treatment called gwaa shaa where they scraped her back with a plastic tool after putting on some theraputic oil.  This apparently helps stubborn sore muscles relax, releases toxins and increases circulation.  She came out of it looking like she had been brutally attacked, but I assure you she was not screaming during the treatment - I can only say this because I watched it being done. She said the skin will look that way for about 5 days, but that the results were instantaneous relief.  Who knows maybe I'll try that out some day...

As for me today was about the feet and legs.  My poor feet have been long neglected and they asked if I wanted the heel shaving treatment.  I'll admit the feet were rough from lots of barefoot walking on the hard floors of our apartment so I was happy to get it done. 

The first clue about the seriousness of the situation was when the man grabbed a lighted headlamp to work on my feet.  I thought a jackhammer was coming next, but alas it was just a razor blade. Haha.  I think I need to wear socks more now.

Our friend Sarah had a good massage too

After we met some other ladies at a spot called Gypsy for lunch.  The food was great and they had awesome salads.  Here's my citrus salad: romaine lettuce, pine nuts, walnuts, mangoes, pomelo, oranges, tomatoes, avocado, cucumber, chicken, red onions and a yummy dressing. 

Joyce also gave me a pack of Chinese fruit leather.  It was really yum - made from jujube.

No, not this:

But this

I looked up what jujube was and here's what I found (trying to make my blog educational - haha):

"The Jujube originated in China, where it has been cultivated for over 4,000 years. The fruit is round to oblong and the size of a plum with thin edible skin and white, sweet flesh. The immature fruit is green, but turns yellowish with mahogany colored spots as it ripens. At full maturity, it is completely red. The ripe Jujube looks like a date, but tastes like a sugary sweet apple. Most people like to eat the fruit at the stage when it is yellowish-green with red spots, because then it has a crisp texture. Tests have shown the Jujube to be very high in vitamin C. The trees are 20 to 40 feet tall, with branches that naturally droop to give it a graceful appearance."  

It tasted like an apple. That works!

I have to throw in - as I was typing Kenney wandered out from his room where he was napping.  He walked by me to the kitchen where Ahwa was cooking and resumed his nap...

Hike!

Wednesday I got to hike up Nanshan Mountain with some friends.

The scenery was beautiful as we entered the park.  We started out on a road that led up to what I didn't realize was the first of many many steps - 1500 to the top! Nanshan Mountain rises 350 meters above the city to give an outstanding view.

When we started the hike I turned on my Run Keeper app to track our progress.  Well these steps were so steep that the autopause feature kept asking if I was done with my workout because the forward progress was so slow - we were just going up! Hopefully I can figure out how to have it track the progress by elevation or something?  Anyways it was a pretty overcast day, but the views were still impressive.  My girlfriends and I have decided to do this hike every Wednesday.  The hike itself is about 1-1.5 hrs long depending on how fast you go and the path. 

Joyce, Jane and me!

 

Had to add this pict - granny is flexible! She had to be in her 70s or 80s!

Oh So Soft and Cuddly

Remember Monchichis?  They were the trendy cute soft cuddle monkeys of my childhood.  Well for all you former fans - I found them - here in China