Happy New Year! Happy Chinese New Year! Where has the month gone? As is normal during our breaks from school, we try to get outside, play with friends, and eat with friends... Our favorite meal to host is hotpot (fondue) because you just gather all the ingredients and dip them into a pot of water or stock right on the table. Ours is an electric model - like those electric skillets or griddles you can buy in the states, but with deeper sides. I've used it to stir-fry in as well. We learned in Japan that some things cook so fast that as you swish the meat you say "shabu-shabu" and it will be done! (Shabu-shabu is hotpot in Japanese.) As all the ingredients cook, the resulting soup becomes flavorful (like the old stone soup tale) and then you make noodles at the end to enjoy with the broth. We must have had hotpot at least half a dozen times already - it's a great winter warmer with the steam rising off the pot and friends and family gathered around!

New Year's day we had a nice walk in Tai Tam Country Park and dinner at a friend's home on the island. The girls all met each other around age one (!) at the YMCA playgroup in TST and we try to get together once a year.




During the four weeks until CNY break Alex participated in his first soccer tournament that took all afternoon on a Sat,

then the next day woke early to run in a 3k race with his school's jogging team (I ran too since I had to bring him there). His coach got 2nd female overall and Alex was one of the top kids - too bad they didn't track them, only top three overall.

Later that afternoon we went for a bike ride with friends and had dinner outdoors at a Fotan dai pai dong. That was a long, fun day!