Fuling pickles

The city of Fuling where Anslee was born is famous for zhacai, or the Fuling pickled vegetable. When they are selling it raw, it looks like kale. (Some recipe books refer to it as Sichuan Hot Pickle.)

This is from The Soup Bible (a very big book of soup recipes) compiled by Debra Mayhew. Make sure you use a spicey hot packet of Fuling vegetables, so you can get that great tangy taste the recipe is going after:

Fuling Pickle Soup
Ingredients:
Serves 4
1 quart chicken stock
12 ounces egg noodles1 tablespoon dried shrimp, soaked in water
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 3/4 cups finely shredded pork
1 tablespoon yellow bean paste
1 tablespoon soy sauce
4 ounces Sichuan Hot Pickle (zhacai), rinsed, drained, and shreddeda pinch of sugar
2 scallions, finally chopped, to garnish

1. Bring the stock to a boil in a large saucepan. Add the dried shrimp and noodles and cook until almost tender. Drain the noodles and reserve the stock. Lower the heat and simmer for 2 minutes longer; keep hot.
2. Heat the oil in a frying pan or wok. Add the pork and stir-fry over high heat for 3 minutes.
3. Add the bean paste and soy sauce to the pork and stir-fry for one minute. Add the hot pickle (zhacai) with a pinch of sugar and stir-fry for 1 minute longer.
4. Divide the noodles and soup between individual bowls. Spoon the pork mixture on top and sprinkle with scallions. Serve at once.

Fuling Pickled Vegetables and Pork
Ingredients:
cooking oil
1 packet of Fuling picled vegtables (zhacai)
2 tsps soy sauce
1 tsp cooking wine (red or white)
1 and 1/2 tsp corn starch
1 spring onion, chopped
1/2 tsp. fresh ginger, minced
1/3 pound or 150 grams lean pork, finely sliced
dash of sugar
1 tsp. sesame oil

DIRECTIONS
In a bowl, mix sliced pork with soy sauce, cooking wine, and corn starch. Set aside.Chop green onion, separating white part from green. Mince ginger. Heat cooking oil in wok or fry pan until you can feel the heat with palm of your hand about six inches above the pan. Put in ginger and the white part of the green onion, stirring rapidly until you can smell them cooking. Add pork, stirring until it is about 80% cooked.Put in one bag of pickled vegetables (zhacai). Stir. Add sugar and continue to stir.When you can smell that the pickled vegetables and pork are cooked, turn off the heat and stir in the green portion of the spring onion and the sesame oil. Serve on rice or noodles.

Here is a local company's website:
http://www.flzc.com/english/index.asp

Andrew and two of his best buddies from school.

Today Anslee and I ate lunch with Andrew and his kindergarten class. All the children in his class are so sweet. When the children see Anslee they all want to give her hugs and to help feed her. She loves the attention!

When Andrew was little I was always so worried about him getting sick and having to go to the hospital that I never wanted children around him - much less take him into an elementary school.

In addition to the fact that they are so totally different as babies, the fact that we aren't worried about her health all the time is such a wonderful, freeing feeling. Now when someone sneezes or coughs in the vicinity of my baby, I don't freak out :-).

T

The never ending cleanup...

Today was one of those days! It seems as if every time I thought I was caught up, I had so much more to do. Let me give you the condensed version:

This morning was okay.
I picked Anslee up from Tina's and drove home.

She fell asleep in the car which is always baaaad as she won't take a nap later.

When we got home I changed her poopy diaper which she grabbed and flung across the floor while I was cleaning her up. It got on the floor and on her hands, then face, then my pants etc. So I quickly bathed her and got her redressed. Then changed myself.

I heard Andrew's bus coming so I had to grab Anslee and run out to meet him - in the pouring rain - without an umbrella.

We got inside everyone got into dry clothes and I proceed to clean up the house.

I do laundry (my least favorite thing in the whole world - I'd rather clean the poopy diaper mess), fold a ton of clothes and then go check on Anslee.

She has been playing in Buster's food and water and is soaking wet.

I change her (for the third time in less than 3 hours) and bring her upstairs to play where I can see her while I finish cleaning up.

After putting another load of clothes in the wash I go into the bathroom and Anslee is playing in the toilet (YUCK! - even though it has been flushed and is clean) and she is soaking wet AGAIN! So I wash her with dial soap and change her again.

Just a little later Buster pulled two loaves of french bread off the kitchen table, toar through the bags and ate more than half of each one. Andrew complained for about an hour about me not taking him to Toys R Us to spend some of his birthday money. Anslee unfolded all the clothes that had been so neatly folded (but she looked so cute putting them on her head when I walked in that I couldn't be very upset). Neither one of them was happy that we had to make a trip to the grocery store (for more french bread) and Chipotle for dinner didn't turn out to be Andrew's favorite meal.

Keith is out of town tonight so thank goodness both of them are in bed sound asleep looking so sweet.

Just in case you lost count. Since 1:30 this afternoon, Anslee has had three baths (including her night time bath) and 5 clothes changes. No wonder there is always a ton of laundry!!!
I know every mom has had days like this, but holy cow!
T

I love this picture!

It is a small sampling of the animals on my sister's farm.

You can see her blog here.

Anslee now walks around saying "ar ar" which means she is calling Buster. That's her barking noise. She loves any animal she sees and wants to kiss it .... on the lips! She is having a hard time getting Buster to hold still and not lick her while she is trying to kiss him. Andrew has deduced that babies must not be able to smell very well. He said if Anslee could smell Buster's breath she wouldn't try to kiss him!

T

Interesting article

Tuesday 25th April, 2006
China official defends 'one child' policy

Big News Network.com Monday 24th April, 2006 (UPI)

China's current family planning policy must be kept stable to cope with a fourth baby boom in the next five years, a family planning official has said. Zhang Weiqing, director of the National Population and Family Planning Commission, told the Study Times newspaper the one child policy was not to blame for China's growing gender imbalance, the South China Morning Post reported Monday.
The main reason for China's rising gender imbalance is the entrenched concept 'boys are better than girls,' he said, citing the abuse of ultrasound technology.Experts say 117 boys are born for every 100 girls in China, far exceeding the normal ratio of 104-107 males to 100 females. South Korea, India and Taiwan also have growing gender imbalances, but do not have birth control policies, Zhang said.
Throughout China, cities enforce stricter family planning policies than in rural areas, but do not have different sex ratios. While Beijing's most difficult challenge is to change the Chinese preference for sons over daughters, Zhang said, China also has to improve the population quality, make greater efforts to manage China's floating population, and reform its household registration system to give migrant workers access to urban services and social security.

In this picture, Andrew is teaching Anslee how to blow bubbles. She knows to put the wand in the bubbles and then she pulls it out and sticks it in her mouth and manages to blow a few tiny bubbles with her lips :-). I think she likes the taste of the bubble solution!

Her favorite toys to play with are of course the remote controls, house and cell phones, dishwasher, and anything inside a cabinet she isn't supposed to find.
Toys aren't very entertaining. She has however discovered Andrew's light saber and thinks that is the coolest. She is taking it everywhere and it's taller than her. She keeps us laughing.

T

Baptism

Anslee was baptised today. Dr. Martin did a great job and we loved the ceremony. One special thing today was that in the bowl of Holy Water, Dr. Martin added some water from the River Jordan. I am so happy that my parents and Keith's Mom were all there with us today.

Anslee looked adorable in her long gown (which took me forever to find exactly what I was looking for!) and Andrew looked so handsome in his tie. Several people came up to us later and told us that they've never seen a big brother look so proud. They said when Dr. Martin was walking around the church with Anslee he was just beaming.

We have such wonderful, caring, supportive friends. It is amazing how much I treasure their friendship.

What does Baptism mean in the Methodist church? I looked it up online and this is what I found:

Baptism is a sacrament. In a sacrament, God uses common elements — in this case, water — as means or vehicles of divine grace. Baptism is administered by the church as the Body of Christ. It is the act of God through the grace of Jesus Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit.

In infant baptism, God claims the child with divine grace. Clearly the child can do nothing to save himself or herself, but is totally dependent on God's grace, as we all are — whatever our age. In believer's baptism, the person being baptized is publicly professing her or his own decision to accept Christ. Believer's baptism is an ordinance, not a sacrament. United Methodists baptize people of all ages who have not previously received the sacrament. Even when the people being baptized are believing adults and are ready to profess their faith, our emphasis is upon the gracious action of God rather than upon the individual's decision.

I was raised in the Baptist church. My belief is that all children before the age of accountablility will go to heaven even if they are not baptised. I love the ceremony of infant baptism but I view it as a symbol of us trusting God with Anslee's life.

Terri

With Tina

Anslee loves going to Tina's house while I am teaching preschool. On Thursday when I arrived a little early to take her home, she was not pleased. She ran to a chair climbed up and put a pretend cell phone to her ear and looked away from me. It was hilarious! She loves playing with the other little girls there and she just adores Tina.

They go outside all the time. Going on a walk around the neighborhood is one of her favorite activities. One of the little girls in a pink dress is in my preschool class. She and her sister go to Tina's after preschool. She is always so proud that she is the only child in my class who gets to see Anslee. The other girls always ask her how "baby Anslee" is doing. :-)

Fun on the trampoline

Andrew got a trampoline for his birthday. He was so surprised. He has been on it every day for at least an hour since last Wednesday.

Anslee loves it too and isn't timid at all. The children are all really good when she is on it and they don't bounce as hard.
The three children you don't recognize are our adorable next door neighbors. Andrew has a crush on the girl sitting next to him. He said he is going to marry her and she can push my wheel chair and he'll push Dad's. :-0
Terri

On Andrew's birthday...

He decided he wanted mussels for dinner. So we went to a seafood resturaunt we'd never been to before. It is family owned and has only been open for two months. So I looked online to see a menu. I found a website where people reviewed it and said the food was great but the service wasn't. We decided to try it anyway. The food was wonderful and the service was good but sadly I don't think it will be around for long.

After dinner we went to Carvel Ice cream.

Andrew loves the all you can eat sprinkles :-)
Anslee loves the ice cream.

Easter!

We had a wonderful Easter. My parents, my mother in law, and some family friends came over after Church. We had tons of yummy food and and Easter egg hunt.

Anslee only wanted to pick up the yellow eggs. After she found one, she would sit on the grass and open it and close it over and over.

She found a grand total of three eggs.
Andrew wanted his hair all spiked up with gel for church. You can see Anslee liked touching it. He was excited about wearing his tie so he'd look like his Dad. Anslee had a really cute Easter dress with bunnies on the sweater. This is what she looked like before church. After church she looked totally different. Her bow was gone, her shoes and one sock was off, her dress was all wrinked and had juice spilled on it. I could tell she had fun in the nursery! Anslee with Grandmommie and Nana. How cute are all three of them?!
I hope you all had a wonderful Easter.

Happy Birthdays!!

We have three birthdays to celebrate today and one yesterday. My Dad, my sister and Andrew all share a birthday today and my nephew had his yesterday. I love that their birthdays are the same!

Andrew in 2004. He had a Chuck-e-Cheese birthday two years in a row.
It is hilarious to watch Keith there because he is just miserable :-). He is hoping Anslee will never want one there. This year Andrew wants a spend the night party at home. He is having a few friends over next weekend.

Andrew and his cousin at the beach. They are very best buddies! Listening to them together is hilarious!

I can't believe I have a seven year old little boy...

Nosey People

Obviously Anslee is adopted. When we decided to adopt from China we knew this would be apparent to everyone. Keith and I decided that this didn't matter because we knew our daughter was meant to be Chinese. While we were waiting for our referral I would see families with Chinese children. I usually just watched them for a minute but every once in a while I would ask the parents a few questions. For the most part the parents were very nice and were eager to talk about their experience. I always explained that we were waiting for our daughter's referral from China.

Even though Anslee's ethnicity is obviously different from mine, I am suprised at how often strangers come up to me and start asking me about her. I am one of those parents who generally enjoys answering people's questions about the adoption process. I've talked to many parents who've adopted who do not like to talk to strangers about adoption. They feel that people are just nosey and intrusive.

There are some questions that make me cringe, but I think that the people who ask them just aren't sure of the right words to use. I still usually answer them, but hope by my pointed response they realized that they either shouldn't have asked the question or chosen their words more carefully. I don't want Andrew or Anslee to feel as if we can't talk openly about adoption and even when the questions are rude I'm still very polite.
Some of my least favorite questions that I've been asked (usually asked in front of Andrew and Anslee):
How much did she cost?
Do you think it was worth it?
Is he (Andrew) sad he doesn't have a real sister?
Isn't it sad she doesn't look like she belongs in your family?
Are you going to adopt more or have one of your own?
Who does she look like?
I could go on and on....

One of the dumbest questions I've been asked:
Do you think she will be hard to understand when she starts talking, since she'll have that Chinese accent?

Even though I do get these occasional rude questions, I get many more thoughtful questions. There are so many people thinking about adoption and trying to get more information. It is a great feeling to be able to give them some information to help them make their decision.

Baby Oliver is here!

If you remember seeing the pictures of our trip in January, we had two friends who were pregnant. They had their babies within a week of each other. When we were in North Carolina we were able to see one of our friend's new baby. Big brother and big sister are very proud!

Spring Break

We went to North Carolina to visit my parents and my sister and her family. My sister is one of the coolest people I know. She can do anything she sets her mind to and has made the greatest farm with her family.

This is one of her "Rastafarian" sheep. Don't you love her dread locks?

Gathering eggs. Andrew's cousin is holding a big goose egg. We cooked three for breakfast and it was more than enough for five of us! They taste the same as chicken eggs but because the yolk is so much bigger, it makes them have a different texture. Anslee's aunt is helping her sit on a goat. The goat was either reaching up to kiss Anslee or to nibble her. Either way she didn't really care for it :-) .
Andrew is helping his cousin brush Ginger the horse.
I love the colors of this rooster!
Andrew is always so excited to visit the farm and "help" his cousins do their chores. His cousins are very sweet to let him get in the middle of everything because I know it is extra work for them. They better get prepared though because pretty soon Anslee's going to want to help also.