Fit Mom Travels Finding a healthy balance while living overseas

Holy smokes, I am so tired.  We had a very busy day today at school.  Today is Isreal’s national day and we celebrate it at our school so the first half of the day was filled with an assembly and activities.  A group of scouts came from Isreal and performed at our school.  It was very “Glee”-like actually.

They really wanted the kids to join in and dance along which the girls were happy to do.. but, the boys not so much.  When they came dancing into the audience trying to pull the boys onto the stage they were absolutely terrified!  I saw a girl dance over to James and I have never seen him shake his head so vigorously!

see what I mean? (the boys are on the right and the girls are on the left)

It was also a “special lunch” day because we actually got to eat meat!  Since the kitchen at school is kosher it can only serve meat or dairy, not both.  So our kitchen is a dairy kitchen.  Today we had a special treat and they did some kind of cleansing process of the kitchen and we had a special hot dog and hamburger lunch.  Yay!

After lunch we headed to the Aberdeen Sports grounds for our Sports Day.  This is one of my favourite days of the year (probably not a surprise since I teach PE).  It’s a lot of work and exhausting but it’s great fun and really nice to see the kids try their hardest and cheer each other on.  I took some pictures of the field before we got started.

My green team - they are quite the bunch

James and his friend Lucas, waiting for the games to begin

Mark started the races with a blow horn (he had way too much fun with that) and I was time keeper.  Both the kids did very well but unfortunately we only got pictures of James running.

That’s me in the green and white hat – don’t be jealous. 

Go James go!

So I’m sitting here tonight quite tired as I type this and quite sunburned (oops) but it was a good first sports day at Elsa.  I saw on facebook last week that SSIS just had theirs and I was a little sad.  I miss those kids and all the festivities.  Since Elsa is only 3 years old we’re still getting things started so we are slowly adding events and traditions.  We’ll get there though.

Tomorrow is Friday and the weeks are going by really fast right now.  I have been busy with school work and work at school (that sounds weird) and plan to plow through as much as I can until the summer is here.  James and Mark are going on a school trip to Germany and Czech Republic half way through May and Abigail is headed to Yangshuo, China with the grade 6s in June.  Then we are homeward bound!  oh yeah!  It’s been a tough year, I’m not going to lie.  Sometimes a girl needs time with her family to take a breath and let the weight lift off for a little while and that’s my light at the end of the tunnel right now.

Ok folks, off to bed.  It is a school night after all.  Good night and hope everyone’s week is going well.

Hello there.

I haven’t written in awhile.  Life has been such that the blog had to take a backseat for awhile.  .. let’s leave it at that.

We’re on break from school right now which is nice.  My brother Michael and his girlfriend Lisa are here visiting (which is also nice).  Spring has arrived in Hong Kong and we’re having that perfect weather that’s not too hot, the sky is blue and there is a nice breeze.  It was a long, wet winter (almost everything in our apartment has had mold growing on it) so I am thrilled that we are able to get back outside and really enjoy our new home.

We had a few busy and exhausting days with Michael and Lisa.  On Sunday (Easter) we went for a hike in Sai Kung that lasted about three hours and had some intense hills.

Yesterday we went to Hong Kong island and had lunch at the Flying Pan, walked around the zoo and then Hong Kong Park.  The boys went to paintball for James’ 15th birthday party and the girls stayed in town for gelato and a movie.  It was a lot of walking around and trying to fit quite a bit into one day so we were pretty tired.  The idea of having a day at home appealed to everyone so that is what we did today.

After breakfast James, Abigail, Michael, Lisa and I went to play some basketball.  Then Michael, Lisa, Abigail and I went shopping for James’ big day tomorrow.  We were pleasantly surprised to find out that the bowling alley in the clubhouse of our apartment complex is finally working after being broken for months so we went and bowled for about an hour.  Abby and I played tennis while Mark and Lisa went out for a run.  As I’m going through all this in my head it doesn’t seem like such a low key day!

Anyway, we ended the day at the beach that is just a few minutes walk from our place.  It was really nice to walk along the beach at dusk.  The water was warm and calm and we saw about a billion star fish.

Mark and Lisa had run to the Hyatt close to us and picked up an apple pie from their bakery.  It’s made with apples from the 10,000 buddha monastery that is also in this area.  Quite yummy!

That’s all for now.  Was just thinking that I would post about the day.  It’s James’ birthday tomorrow.  Chocolately cereal, presents and Outback Steakhouse for dinner are on the agenda.  Enjoy your week!

This morning Abigail and I ventured out to HK island around 8:00 and took the peak tram up to the top of Victoria Peak.  It was threatening rain and very cloudy but we were mostly looking for a bakery that I heard about for a late breakfast.  The bakery is called Saffron Bakery and it was a really neat place.  Yummy baked goods and retro decor.

Abby and I shared a slice of quiche, a sausage roll and a lemon scone and then headed back into the mist to hike down the hill.

there are some pretty swanky places on the peak

Once we reached the MTR we headed to an area called Mong Kok where the “Ladies market” is to do a bit of shopping.

I got in big trouble with the shop owner when I took this picture but I really liked this painting

The main reason for going to the market was for Abigail to buy Beats headphones.  Apparently these are THE headphones to own right now and run about $1500 in the US.  She bought some fake ones for less than $30 US,.. we’ll see how long they last.

You’d think we would have had enough by then but we headed one more stop on the MTR to see the bird market.

We were mostly there because I wanted to buy a bird cage, not for a bird, just for decoration.  We didn’t spend very long there since our feet were pretty tired by then.  I did end up getting this bird cage though.

So we’re home for the night and relaxing on the couch.  All in all a really good day with Abigail.  Mark was at school for professional development all day and James has been at a Model UN meeting since 7:30 this morning.  I think I’ll bake some banana bread tonight and head to bed early.

Enjoy your weekend!

Let me tell you about my night last night.

Abigail’s has become fast friends with a girl at school named Ellie and it was her bat mizvah last night.  We knew the event would be pretty fabulous but I had no idea what was in store!

The party was at the Grand Hyatt in Hong Kong and when we walked in the entrance to the ballroom had been transformed to look like Ellie’s invitations.

When we checked in we were told that Mark and I were seated at the “Picnics and Pegasus” table and Abigail was at the “Wizards and Wysteria” table.  The theme of the bat miztvah was a fantasy garden and Abigail was seated at a sort of head table for lack of a better description where the birthday girl wanted to sit with her closest friends.

We arrived at about 6:45 and hostesses were handing out fruity cocktails and appetizers while everyone arrived and took a pictures with Ellie and her parents.  There were also artists available to do caricatures!  We mingled a bit and then were allowed into the ballroom.

Check. It. Out.

these were the centerpieces at every table

After everyone had pulled their jaws off the floor the dancing began.  We were one of the few non-jewish people there so we just watched.

Then Ellie’s dad said a nice speech thanking everyone for coming and saying how proud he is of his daughter which was really nice.  It’s hard to see but that’s Ellie being hoisted up on a chair in the photo above.

Then… it was time for dinner!  All you foodies out there are going to love this.  I risked embarrassment and humiliation and took pictures of everything that we ate.

These menus were at every place on a block of glass

I know it’s hard to read but it doesn’t really matter.  The first course was salmon served 4 different ways and I loved it!

Then pumpkin soup which Mark really liked.

During the soup Ellie came out and thanked everyone for coming.  She had a speech in her hands that she had rehearsed with her parents and she tore it up in front of everyone and said she was going to ad lib!  It was cute.

The next dish that was brought to the table was called “Professor Trelawney’s surprise”.  I love a Harry Potter reference and this definitely was a surprise!

Is that cool or what?!  It’s raspberry sorbet that is sitting in a bowl of dry ice so the smoke was billowing up all around it.  It was perfect for the fantasy theme.

Then this arrived..

That is beef tenderloin with a banana leaf folded into a GRASSHOPPER!

While we were enjoying our beef a man on stilts dressed as a giant butterfly entered the ballroom with 6 butterfly acrobats!  Crazy!

The final dish was dessert of course which was a meringue with ice cream inside and chocolate mousse.  It was super sweet but I enjoyed it.

So the moment that everyone was waiting for was the Maccabeats performance.  They are a Jewish a cappella group from New York City who have performed at the white house for Obama and Abigail and her friends were invited to perform a song with them for Ellie.  So they arrived shortly before dessert and sang two songs for us.  It was short but they were great.

(I tried to post the video that I took but apparently it’s too big – bummer)

So that was the evening.  Pretty spectacular and definitely something to write home about – which I guess is what I just did

Good night everyone, have a good week.

After an exhausting and emotional week I slept in on Saturday until 8:30 and decided to try a new recipe that I found on foodgawker.  Instead of cinnamon rolls these are peanut butter and jelly rolls.  They took more time than I usually want to spend on making breakfast but they were yummy and enjoyed by all.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Rolls

Ingredients:

• 3 tsp yeast
• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 cup skim milk
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 Tbsp butter
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 egg
• ½ cup peanut butter
• 1/3 cup jam

1. Combine 2 cups of whole wheat flour and yeast in a large bowl.
2. In a sauce pan with a heavy bottom, combine milk, water, butter, sugar, and salt. Heat over low heat just until small bubbles begin to form around the edges. Remove from heat
3. Add the warm milk mixture to the mixing bowl with the flour-yeast mixture and blend.
4. Add the egg and mix the dough for another minute until the egg is incorporated.
5. Add 1 cup of all purpose flour slowly to get a dough ball to form. Add more flour as needed. Once dough ball is formed, allow dough to mix for about 3 minutes or until you have a nice smooth dough ball.
6. Remove the dough and place into a greased pan and cover with a towel. Allow to rise for 45 minutes.
7. Once the dough has doubled, punch down and roll out into a rectangle on a floured surface.
8. Spread the peanut butter over the dough, then top with the jam, spreading out to cover almost all the dough, leaving a ½-1” edge.
9. Roll up the dough (starting with the side farthest away from you). Slice into 12 pieces and place in a greased baking dish.
10. Cover and let the rolls rise again for 30 minutes.
11. Turn oven on to 350 degrees.
12. Bake rolls 20-25 minutes and let the cool for 5-10 minutes before eating.
13. I warmed up some peanut butter, honey and cinnamon and drizzled it on the top instead of adding icing like the recipe called for (I didn’t have any powdered sugar).

Our Valentine’s Day went by somewhat uneventful this year.  Mark and I were hoping to go out for dinner at the Hyatt that’s close to us.  I had read about a special fondue dinner that they were doing and thought it sounded good but when I called to make a reservation they told me it was all booked.  I wasn’t really motivated to come up with an alternative so I thought we would just celebrate another night.  We have a family tradition of playing Valentine’s Day bingo every year (I bought the game at a teacher supply store 6 or 7 years ago).  I like it because I always buy the kids a few little things each for Valentine’s day and when they win bingo they get one of their gifts as a prize.  Of course I always buy the same number of gifts for James and Abigail so I rig who wins so they will win an equal number of games (they caught on to that a couple of years ago but they don’t mind).  Traditions are important to the kids, especially since we moved overseas.  I think it gives them a sense of normalcy.

Another tradition that we have around Valentine’s Day is Mark always takes Abigail on a father/daughter date.  The first one he took her on was when she was about 4.  Our church held the dance and it was a luau theme.  I remember racking my brain trying to come up with an outfit that she could wear in February (which is chilly even in Texas) and still fit the tropical theme without making her freeze.  In the end she wore a red top with a sunset on it, long khaki pants, sandals (with socks) and a flower lei from her dress up box.  She was pretty happy with that outfit and she was so excited to go to a dance with her daddy.  Another year it was a princess theme and they took a ride in a horse drawn carriage, she got to wear a gown and a tiara that year.  These dances are pretty common in Texas, I had never heard of them before I moved there.  The idea behind it is for girls to grow up having a special night with their dad and be treated the way her future husband should treat her and know that she should never put up with anything less than that.  I admit it’s a little over the top but we like the idea and since there are no dances available the tradition has now turned into an evening out just the two of them for Valentine’s Day.

I decided that I would take the opportunity to do something with James and we hadn’t been for a hike for awhile so I thought we could try a hike from a book I got at the used book store that recommends various hikes around Hong Kong.  This particular hike was close to us and had a 5 out of 5 difficulty rating!  I knew James would be game so we set out to Ma On Shan country park.

Unfortunately after attempting to find the entrance to the trail three times we decided that we had taken a turn onto a legitimate hiking trail but it wasn’t the one we wanted to take.  We ventured on to see where it would take us and it ended up being my favourite hike in Hong Kong since we got here.  Of course the company had a lot to do with that

The terrain was really different after we had been climbing for awhile.  It was grassy and there weren’t a whole lot of trees.  James said it looked like Africa (of course, he’s never been to Africa).

see what I mean?

I could tell that we were approaching a lookout and since we weren’t on the intended trail I didn’t know how long the trail we were on went and at that point we need to back track in order to be in a civilized area when it got dark.  So we decided to just go to the lookout and turn around.  At that point we saw some men running with hydro packs and they had race numbers on their shirts.  That was interesting so after the third or fourth person with a race number passed us James and I decided that we would pretend that we were in the race too!  There are very few things that James loves more than bounding across rocks, I’m convinced he’s part mountain goat actually.  If he was a wizard I’m sure his patronus would be a mountain goat (that’s for all you Harry Potter fans out there).  So I tried my best to keep up and then we ended up at a spectacular lookout.

The picture really doesn’t do the view justice but you can see how high up we were.  I was noticing very large piles of manure along the trail and thinking maybe someone had brought horses up there but there were cows along the field by the lookout.  Just grazing wild.  There was a baby too!

so cute!

There was also a parchuter getting ready to jump off the edge when we approached so we hung out for a bit to watch him.  Of course James desperately wants to parachute now

James let me take one picture of us.  It’s not a great one but it’ll have to do.

So after a quick rest we headed down the hill.  James wanted to run it so we got down pretty fast.  We were pretty tired but all and all a great afternoon just the two of us.

Hi there, remember me?  It’s been almost 2 months since I last posted.  Not good, I know.

I hope all of you have had a happy beginning to your 2012.  January was busy with settling back in to life after Christmas.  James is busy with basketball, Abigail is doing textiles, glee club and is participating the Get Fit club I just started at the school.  Mark started his Master’s Degree after Christmas and it pretty much takes every minute that he is not working.  We also had a week off school for Chinese New Year.  We didn’t go away since we were barely back 2 weeks from Christmas break.  The weather ended up being horrible (cold and rainy) so we didn’t venture out much.  The first day of the break Mark, Abigail and I ventured out to the Chinese New Year Flower Market at Victoria Park.  It was huge and is a big part of how HKers celebrate the holiday.  This was new for me because it wasn’t part of celebrations in Suzhou.  I loved how there were flowers everywhere in the city.  All the grocery stores were taken over by flowers and everyone walking around is carrying a bouquet.  Here are some pictures

We ended up going home with a bamboo tree and an orange tree.

Like I said, the weather was horrible so we mostly did inside activities.  I took Abigail to high tea one afternoon which she loved.

We also went bowling as a family one afternoon.

check out that score! woo hoo!

When the rain subsided we tried to get out a bit and stretch our legs.  Mostly we walked around the corner and played basketball.

I ran stairs between games, .. good workout

So we’re well into February, it was Mark’s birthday on Friday and Valentine’s Day tomorrow.  I’m actually not a huge fan of February but it seems to be passing quickly so it’s not so bad this year.  Hopefully I’ll get back into the swing of posting.

Have a Happy Valentine’s Day tomorrow!

Happy Holidays folks!  We are in Calgary relaxing, still fighting a bit of jet lag but Christmas day was wonderful as usual and we are enjoying our time with family.  I hope all of you are doing the same (aside from the jet lag part).

The flight from Hong Kong went well… a little too well if that is possible.  We all slept quite a bit and have had many nights when our bodies just didn’t want to go to sleep after about 4 hours.  We seem to be in the clear now but we’ve been here for 11 days.  Mark goes back to Hong Kong on Sunday and the kids and I will fly back the following Friday.

The day after we got here we ran in the RunSantaRun 5k.  James, Mark and I did the 5k and my mom and Abigail walked the elf 1k.

James crossing the finish line

Me and Mark crossing the finish line (quite a bit further behind)

As you can see every runner got a Santa suit to wear (including a beard).  That was funny before we started but got annoying very quickly.  I also over dressed (it was an unusually warm day in Calgary) so it was a hard run for me.  It was my slowest 5k in over 10 years.  Not good.  I’m sure it was a combination of jet lag, elevation level in the mountains and over dressing but it was still a bummer.  I ran with Mark the next day before going out for brunch and still found it hard.  My brother and his girlfriend got me a one month pass to their gym so I’ve gone a few times and definitely prefer it.

My parents live next to a very big park in Calgary so we go for walks every day in the woods.  It has become a bit of a tradition to go for a walk on Christmas Eve and take some family photos.  Here are a few from the walk this year.

my dad snapping shots of the melting ice

my parents with the kids

feeding the chickadees

So Christmas 2011 has come and gone.  We had fun with my little niece and nephew on Christmas day and of course ate lots of good food.  Our Christmas eve tradition is enjoying my dad’s incredible seafood chowder and Christmas morning is always enjoyed with his homemade cinnamon rolls and a breakfast casserole called wife-saver which we have nicknamed wife-beater over the years (sick sense of humour – sorry).

playing Life (a Christmas gift for Abigail)

my mom and my niece Makenna

Today we decided to try a new adventure and give geocaching a try.  Mark found a GPS in a drawer in my parents house and thought it might be fun to find a geocache in the park behind their house (apparently they are all over the world – it is like a giant technological treasure hunt).  So we set out with our little receiver..

the device

this is where the geocache was supposed to be

looking...

Pictures I took while everyone else was searching …

demon squirrel

So we never did find the geocache.  I don’t know if it was buried in snow or if someone swiped it but we had to eventually give up.  We may try again and look for a different one in the park if we have time before its time to fly home.

I found a quick, yummy recipe to make for the kids today.  It’s basically a pillsbury cresent roll with half a cheese stick and a slice of pepperoni rolled up inside and baked.  They loved it.

Tomorrow is pedicures in the morning and going to a performance of Beauty and the Beast.  I will try to squeeze in another post before its time to return to HK.  Hope all of you are enjoying the holiday season!

My goodness its been a long time since I posted!  No excuses, just haven’t gotten around to it.  I wanted to send a quick note off to everyone who reads FitMomTravels before we fly home for the holidays at the end of this week!

Before I go on to other topics I want to tie up what I wrote about 3 weeks ago, exam week and helping the kids with their studies.  The week went well.  Abigail worked so hard studying every moment she could and James did well considering he takes a less aggressive tactic   We found a website that allows you to create online quizzes (kind of like jeopardy) to help with studying.  So you plug in specific questions along with their answers from notes, study guides and review sheets and then have your kids select a category and a level of difficulty and you get the correct answers in front of you to check to see what you know and what you need to work on.  I would highly recommend it if you are helping your kids study.  In fact James and Abigail made quizzes for each other one afternoon and they really got into it.  Here’s the website http://www.superteachertools.com/jeopardy/editgame.php

This is our last week of school before the winter break.  We have early dismissal on Friday and then fly to Calgary via Vancouver on Friday night.  My parents and brothers live in Calgary so even though we fly to eastern Canada every summer to see cousins, aunts and uncles we fly west at Christmas to see my parents.  We’ve spent the last 4 Christmases in Calgary and the kids are so excited to be back there next week.  It will be great to see my parents again and especially my niece and nephew who I don’t get to see as often as I would like.

Christmas is all over Hong Kong at the moment!  Decorations all over the place and Christmas carols playing in the shopping malls and the grocery stores.  Very different from Suzhou where we only saw sprinklings of Christmas and mostly bizarre interpretations.  We have bought a little plant from Ikea and threw some of our ornaments on it and dug out our stockings so that it feels somewhat festive in our apartment.  I tend to be quite strict in December about watching certain Christmas movies when we can have a moment to sit down together so we’ve watched National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, Elf, The Polar Express, Shrek the Halls, and The Santa Clause – these are all on the list of must watch Christmas movies in the Smith house.  We’re not done yet though, we still have to watch Charlie Brown’s Christmas, The Grinch that Stole Christmas, and Nativity.  If you haven’t watched the movie Nativity I highly recommend it.  I’m always looking for the “diamond in the rough” movie, the one that no one gave a chance or even heard about but was actually brilliant.  In my quest for such a movie I have forced Mark to suffer through quite a few duds…  but we took a chance on Nativity last year and we really liked it so it has joined the list!  Am I revealing too much about my bizarre movie hang up and strict Christmas movie regimen ??  I’ll distract you with a new recipe.  It’s a Christmas recipe because I’m festive like that!

Chocolate Peppermint Bark

100 g dark or semi-sweet chocolate

100g white chocolate

1 tsp canola oil

3 candy canes (crushed)

Melt the dark/semi-sweet chocolate in the microwave for 1 min or until it is melted.  Stir in 1/2 tsp of oil.  Pour onto a greased cookie sheet and let cool in the fridge for about 40 min.  Melt the white chocolate the same way and add 1/2 tsp of oil.  Pour over the dark chocolate layer and sprinkle the crushed candy canes on top.  Cool for another 40 minutes and then you should be able to just break it with your hands.

Voila!

This would make a good teacher/neighbor Christmas gift too.

Since we are currently at a Jewish school we won’t be giving out teacher gifts this year.

Anyway…

On the exercise front I’ve been running a lot lately and have started doing long runs with Mark on Sundays (up until today and I’m feeling guilty about that right now as I’m sitting here typing).  We’ve also been waking up early on Wednesday mornings before school and running down to the beach for a boot camp routine I came up with.  Other than that I’m doing the speed routine I put on the workout page last month and an incline treadmill workout.  I’m sure the holidays will put a wrench in things but we always try to stay active going for walks, sliding on the hills and Mark and I always enjoy going for a run in the park behind my parents’ house.  It will be nice to change things up for a bit.

Alright folks, I’m turning in for the night.  Hope you’re all enjoying the holiday season!

Happy Friday everyone!  We have a half day today and I’m looking forward to the weekend starting early.  Next week is exam week and we will most likely be staying close to home so the kids can study.  The exam schedule was emailed out to parents a couple of days ago which I really liked because I can stay aware of what James and Abigail should be reviewing each night.  This the first time Abigail has taken exams so she is quite nervous.  She puts a lot of pressure on herself so I’m not surprised that she’s freaking out a bit.  James is usually pretty laid back about studying.  He ends up getting out what he puts in and lands with ok grades but I know he can do better.  I started to wonder last year if any of his teachers have ever taken the time to actually teach study skills.  I mean kids need tools, they can’t just be expected to know how to study.  They also need to be given a variety of study methods because there is no one way that works for everyone.  I’m starting to suspect that no one has ever taught James how to study.  I was talking to some other moms this summer and they were agreeing that there needs to be something in the curriculum that helps our kids out in this area.  But until then, it’s up to us parents I guess.  (sigh…)  I plan on getting involved with helping James and Abigail review over the next week.  James is in high school now.  In the IB program students complete the MYP (middle years program) in grade 10 and then go into an intensive diploma program where they have to take higher level courses in subjects that they select.  Their teachers meet and discuss at the end of their grade 10 year to decide whether they believe the student can manage the higher level work before they will be allowed to take them in grades 11 and 12.  So the work that he shows this year and next year will determine whether he can take higher level courses that will go towards his diploma.  Point being – it’s time to get serious.  I’m not saying that it’s up to me to hold James’ hand or do the work for him so it’s easier but if no one has given him the tools to be successful in the area of testing why would I just let him hang like that?  It’s not about doing the work, it’s about giving him (and Abigail) the proper tools so that he can see what works and feel like he can be successful.

Ok, enough about that.  Let’s rewind to last weekend.  James has been asked to join Model UN and he had his first meeting last Saturday so we all took the train in very early to drop him off.  Once he was on his way Abigail, Mark and I walked to a little cafe called the Flying Pan for some breakfast.

This place was so cute.  It’s along a busy road on Hong Kong island so there is a lot to watch while you eat.  It is extremely tiny but they definitely capture the feeling of a diner and I love a place that serves breakfast 24 hours a day!  Anyone that knows me well will not be surprised that I ordered the eggs benedict.

The eggs were yummy.  Just traditional eggs benedict made the way they are supposed to be.  Why does everyone feel that eggs benedict needs a make over?  It seems like it is becoming more and more difficult to find it without an added twist.  Now it’s eggs benedict with pesto or eggs benedict with salmon – if it’s not broke…..

(although I did have eggs benedict with lobster last summer in Nova Scotia and that was delicious – lobster always gets a free pass in my book)

this happy girl had a pb and caramel smoothie with her eggs and toast

check out the clock - it's a "flying pan"!

egg shaped light fixtures. too cute!

Once we had finished our breakfast we ventured out to explore the area.  I knew that Hong Kong park was around somewhere so we headed in that direction.  After a little while we realized we had found ourselves at the Hong Kong zoo.  So we wandered around a bit.  It was a perfect, sunny morning and we pretty much had the place to ourselves.

the entrance to the zoo which is all on the side of a hill - just like the rest of Hong Kong island

Once we had our fill of the zoo we crossed the street and explored Hong Kong park.  There was a walk-through aviary that was quite nice as well as playgrounds, gardens and ponds.

a picture for my mom - the bird lady

inside the aviary

hello turtles!

my best shot of the koi fish - why do those pictures never come out?

Another special part of Hong Kong park is they have a teaware museum.  I love tea pots.  I have somewhat of a collection but it is spread out between Hong Kong, Truro, and Calgary.  I don’t know what it is about teapots.  They make me happy.  So I had to see the teaware museum.  It was really neat actually.  I’m glad we went in.  They even had a children’s room all set up with plastic tea sets and dress up clothes.

the front of the museum

spilled tea - I thought this was neat (Abigail thought it was gross)

This was taken on the way out of the park.

Another great day in Hong Kong!

James enjoyed his time at Model UN.  The season is just starting, they were just meeting to discuss what is required, what is going to happen and have their countries assigned to them.  James is representing Spain.

I'm thinking a field trip is in order - you know, for educational research

There won’t be as much to report next week but I plan on baking quite a bit since we are staying close to home.  The recipe I wanted to post for you that I mentioned last week is for coconut banana bread.  I’m not a huge coconut fan and James claims he doesn’t like coconut but he liked this.  If you’re looking for a yummy breakfast with your morning coffee I recommend it.  I’ve made it twice this month but the second time I added peanut butter and nutella.  I have to say it was better as the original recipe.  Here it is:

Coconut Banana Bread

1/2 cup vegetable oil (or apple sauce)

1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract
2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 medium overripe bananas, mashed (about 1 cup)
1 cup light coconut milk

Preheat oven to 350 and lightly grease your loaf pan (I use an 8×8 dish because my banana bread never cooks in the middle when I use a loaf pan).  Mix oil and sugar, add eggs one at a time.  Stir in vanilla.  In a separate dish combine your dry ingredients.  In a third bowl combine the coconut milk and mashed bananas (I know it’s a lot of dishes but it’s worth it).  Alternate adding wet ingredients and banana milk to the dry ingredients until well combined.  Add to pan and bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Good Morning!  Here’s another Friday morning post for you.  I think I’m most motivated to blog on Fridays because I know we are going to do something on the weekend that I will want to write about and if I don’t get last weekend’s event into a post then I will be officially behind (not much happens during the week that I feel like I need to share).

So last Sunday we headed to Lantau Island.

As you can see, it’s a pretty big island.  Lantau is where the Hong Kong airport is located, as well as Disneyland.  We took the MTR to Hong Kong island (we live in New Territories) and then took a 30 minute ferry to Discovery Bay which is a part of Lantau where a lot of expats live.

the ferry

Mark and Abigail on the ferry. It was actually a very comfortable way to travel.

approaching discovery bay

So we walked around Discovery Bay a bit.  It was a pretty area with a nice beach and a town centre with nice restaurants, boutiques and a book store.  It was Sunday so a lot of families were out having brunch by the water.  I started to wish we were aware of this area when we were originally looking at apartments.  The commute to work would be a ferry ride and then get on the mtr.  I would estimate it would take about an hour which is the same as what we have to do now but it would be 1 changeover from ferry to mtr as opposed to a shuttle bus to mtr and then switch trains twice.  We ate at Ebeneezer’s which was great because it had something for each of us and wasn’t too pricey.  What a random restaurant!  They served homemade pizza (prepared in front of you), kebabs, indian food (I had some yummy curry), and fish and chips – quite the unique menu!

So after our bellies were full we caught a bus to another part of the island and transferred to a bus that takes you to the top of Ngong Ping to see the Tian Tan Buddha.  You can take a cable car but we decided to take the bus and then hike down the mountain.  I had looked up the trail ahead of time.

the big buddha from afar

the entrance

a cow that was hanging out close to the buddha

The buddha is 34 metres tall and was built in 1993.  You have to climb 240 steps to get up to it.

getting ready to climb

getting closer ....

we made it!

At the top there are six smaller statues that are making offerings to the Buddha.  They offer flowers, incense, lamp, ointment, fruit, and music which symbolize charity, morality, patience, zeal, meditation and wisdom.  The Buddhists believe these are all necessary to enter into nirvana.

We looked around for about a half hour or so but it was late afternoon and I knew that our hike would take around 3 hours so we had to start out so that we would finish before the sun went down.

love this picture

The hike got an intermediate rating online.  It was quite hilly but after a certain point it is mostly downhill.  The path was paved nicely so you could just enjoy the views and not worry too much about where to step.

You can see the cable cars at the top of this picture.  We followed the same path but I’m glad we hiked.  It was definitely challenging and my calves were burning on Monday but we enjoyed it.

you have to push past this sign so that you are sure to see it

they weren't kidding. This was scary!

this was taken towards the end of our hike. I thought it was funny.

We ended up very close to the first apartment we looked at when we first got to Hong Kong so we knew the area a bit.  We had a quick dinner at Subway and then took the mtr home.  Everyone was exhausted but it was a good day.

As promised from my last post I made sure that I took a picture of James’ “lived in” room.  This is the real deal, I didn’t tidy it up.  What you see is what you get.

the window seat under his bed is quite wide so it doubles as a shelf or extra seating

his wardrobe on the opposite wall

And just to be fair, here’s a picture of Abigail’s room

And ours, just in case you’re curious…

I'm going for a simple/calm feeling so I'm doing the all white thing

I have a new recipe to post but I have to wrap this up so I’ll post it next time.

It’s Remembrance Day today – don’t forget to wear your poppy!