Nomvember

(^See what I did there??)

Now, I know I haven't been blogging nearly as much lately. It's just so much effort when my everyday activities don't seem overly exciting. I'm not traipsing around beautiful South Africa or exploring Seoul these days. Instead, I'm back in the grind at Babson, focusing on classes and the job search.

But, in the spirit of Thanksgiving I figured I'd put up a blog post. First, for those of you who don't follow all of my social media platforms, you may have missed the many pictures I've posted over the past few days. As such here is the visual story of my Thanksgiving:

Ready to make my pecan pies! I made 1 special (with rum) and one normal
(without rum).  I'd just like to say the only pie that was completely gone Friday
morning was my special pie.

My buddy, Riley. He got a haircut just in time for Thanksgiving. Isn't he adorable?!

The table is set! Dinner for 16 all at 1 table. Go ahead, be impressed. But that's
 not even where I would eat dinner. I went down to visit the other side of my
family where there were about 20 other people. I'd just like to add, I finally got to
 sit at the adult table. 21 years old and these are the big things in my life.

Dessert is set! My pecan pies in the back, 2 pumpkin pies, 2  lemon sponge pies,
 and 2 apple pies on their way shortly after. Since I ate dinner with Dad's family
I was back with Mom's family for all of this dessert...Nom noms!

After dessert, Brady decided it was time for a tea party. As the only child in the
 family he pretty much runs the show.

And no, he did not find it necessary to wear his shirt (he's only 4)

Naturally I couldn't let him go a day without learning a lesson. Brady gives big
to the pig! #Babson. Fortunately there was only 1 broken item for the evening,
and he was really cute when he apologized so I couldn't get upset with him.

You'll notice there's a lack of pictures of actual eating. We were all busy eating. Sticky fingers can't touch cameras so just go with it. In a nutshell, the food was delicious, as always. Turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, squash, candied sweet potatoes (the BEST!), carrots, rolls, stuffing. SO MUCH FOOD. The good news is, because we have the same menu every year we know we can skip something and get it next year. NOM NOM NOM!!

But let's trace back a bit, because it's been a while since I posted. October was filled with midterms and job interviews. Nothing overly exciting there. Until...

HURRICANE SANDY aka FRANKENSTORM!!!!

Now, we didn't get hit nearly as bad as New Jersey or New York, but we still got a day off from school due to the hurricane. We have quite a few trees down, and a lot of people lost power for a while. This was tricky as it was right before Halloween and whole neighborhoods were still down (and naturally kids have to follow the rule of not visiting houses without lights on).

Notice the towel blocking the rain from coming in. We had
to replace that quite a few times.

Quite a few trees down. This one is behind Putney.

All the rain seemed to drain right into that one little nook.

A few days later the rain was subsiding, but the wind was still blowing the trees.

And finally we were left with just a few clouds!

(^ It's a video of the storm looking out from my suite)

With that I suppose I should say how thankful I am that everyone I know came out of the storm safe and sound. Other things I'm thankful for?

Being home. As much as I miss being abroad, it is good to be home with family and friends, and of course my Riley. I've really been making an effort to spend as much time as possible catching up with people who I went so long without seeing. Naturally there are people I don't see as often as I'd like, but it's been great.

But it's not all catching up. As per usual, I'm meeting new people. As I was gone for a year there are many people who I didn't get a chance to meet before but heard about from my friends' stories, if at all. Shout outs go to a few of them:

Hilary: Don't know how I'd missed out on this little nugget. She is also from Maine and when we were pulling together a suite Amy suggested we bring her in. So glad we did! It's helpful to have someone else around who understands what it's like to be from Maine ;) #ImAMainer

Wendy: For about one moment during the semester I had nothing to do so I decided to participate in Wednesday Night Trivia. We somehow ended up on the same team and absolutely dominated. We've been friends ever since, and I've dominated at trivia ever since (although not always on her team...)

Taran: the newest of the Players, Taran's a freshman at Babson. He's from Idaho, as you can clearly tell from talking to him (not just because of his very prominent accent, either). He's also quite hilarious. Always fun to hangout with Taran.

There are others, too, but I think this provides a sufficient recap of what I've been up to recently. I know if I give you all too much to read you'll simply give up. So with that,

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Now time to go listen to Christmas music almost nonstop for the next month, yay!

Hong Kong: Silver Dragon Ball

Here's what I know at least a few people have been waiting on: FOOD

WARNING: Do not read on an empty stomach.

If you've ever been to Chinatown you know very well that the typical Chinese takeout is not quite real Chinese food. There were no egg rolls or crab rangoons. No fortune cookies either. Instead, there were magnificent palette pleasing creations.

Now, contrary to the title of the post (and much to your delight) you will find that this post documents almost every single meal I had in Hong Kong, organized by date. Ready?

June 21st, 2012

Fresh off the airplane, Saphia took me to the Cheung's apartment where we had lunch. Much to my delight it included fresh fruits and veggies. The main course here is a noodle with shrimp dumplings. It was really good...and it had dumplings (mandu or 만두 in Korean). The perfect welcome meal!

June 22nd, 2012

This is the day we went to Ocean Park (see earlier posts for details). It was also my first full day in Hong Kong. First thing's first: a good breakfast makes for a solid start to the day. This morning it was eggs and tuna, with (really good tea) and toast on the side. The yellow stuff in a jar is coconut egg spread. It was something new, and it wasn't bad. I spread a bit on my toast.

Then, because they had learned that I like seafood, we had sushi for dinner! (and a tomato salad. But let's be real, I'm fruit picky; I don't like tomatoes). That was followed by chicken & potatoes, fish & corn, and more veggies (^.^). Then it was time for dessert: cheesecake and fresh fruit, yummm.

June 23rd, 2012 (Ranee Cheung's 21st birthday, from halfway around the world)

Saphia and I started the day by going to the dragon boat races, then it was off to the Rotary Ball (the namesake of this post). We started with a traditional Chinese dumpling that is sticky rice filled with anything really, sweet or savory, then wrapped in a leaf. When yo eat it you take the leaf off, then you can put honey, syrup, soy sauce, sugar, or whatever else you may like on it.

While we were out we stopped for coconuts. Fresh, crisp, and full of sweet milk :)

Then we wandered through the shops in the area and I found a some interesting treats (a few of which I brought home for my family to try). Melon flavored Kit Kat (seriously, Japan loves flavored Kit Kats!), Korean noodles, and many other treats not pictured.

Our final stop on the way home was the wet market so we could bring home lunch. Quick briefing, wet market I'm pretty sure means they have to keep the fish wet because they're all still alive...and jumping. Seriously. Also pictured, blocks of black jelly (that's really what it's called), durian (smelly fruit), the inside of a cafeteria style restaurant, spit roasted duck, lychee, and dumplings.

 Lunch: chicken & lamb curry, black jelly, and lychee (thank you Parth for teaching me how to eat them! Who knew it would come in handy so soon? >.>)

Next meal was dinner. This was the fanciest dinner I had ever been to, just take a look at the table setting! But hey, this was, after all, the Rotary Club of Kowloon Golden Mile's Silver Dragon Ball (long enough name for you?).

We were also delighted by a pre-dinner show:

 Also, look at that chandelier!!

And then it was time to eat. First course was salmon, silver leafed almond paste, scallop, and unknown really good food

Then we had abalone soup. In case you aren't familiar with abalone, it's kind of like a mussel or a clam, except it's a bit more substantial. They are quite the delicacy and run around I think $20/lb. It was good, but I felt out of place eating it.

Third course was the most tender piece of beef I have ever eaten. If only all beef could be that tender. As a reference, it's about a 1.5 inch cube, and it was fork tender. Yumm ^.^

Finally it was time for dessert. Silver leafed chocolate wafer, ice cream, chocolate truffle brownie, and silver painted, white chocolate dragon head. The little boy pictured is Ranee, Sultan, and Saphia's young cousin who also came to the ball with us. He was the hit of the party. The main dessert was also accompanied by a variety of bite size delights.

And to top it all off...me at the really fancy ball!

Well, I think that's about enough for now. Up next: DIMSUM!!! Stay tuned ^.^