Valentine's Day Brunch & Glamour Shot by Diana

On Saturday, we invited a few of Lei's friends from work over to our place for an American brunch. I ended up making quiche, deviled eggs, chicken sausage and french toast. Here are some foodie shots...

No crust shall go to waste...so I made a few mini quiches.

Not bad for a glorified toaster oven?
(FYI: Chinese apartments do not have real ovens)


UNO jenga + friends = serious fun

Afterward we went to an event at our local mall called "What is love?" It was organized by some folks that we know here to "spread the love" on Valentine's Day. Two significant things happened: First, Lei got picked to go on stage and bust a move. Then, we celebrated by taking our first ever Valentine's Day glamour shot (below).


After all the festivities, we finished off the evening on a date.
Lei surprised me with pasta & chocolate.

Spinach Gnocci


Tiramisu & Hot Chocolate

Happy Valentine's Day!

Chinese New Year in China by Diana

For Chinese New Year we spent some time in Hong Kong and on the mainland. In Hong Kong the malls and parks were decked out with CNY decor. On the mainland, there were a lot of fireworks (every day for 15 days). Lei was quite excited when he was invited by a friend to light somefirecrakers together. It's totally legal here!

Consequence: one morning Lei woke me up to turn off the alarm clock (oops...I usually don't hear it). When I went to turn it off, I realized it wasn't the alarm rather the fireworks outside!

Hong Kong

Mainland: Lantern Festival in Yu Gardens

Since it's the year of the Ox, many kids walked around the Lantern festival with glow in the dark Ox horns. It reminded me of Halloween.

Imagine having to perform at a company holiday party. Well, apparently that's the culture here. At the company CNY party, Lei put on his emcee skills...

Yes, those are pom poms!

To eat or watch?