Pot stickers from Costco

For dessert we had pineapple tart cookies homemade directly from Singapore (a friend of my hubby's) and another kind of flaky New Years cake from Taiwan!

It was a wonderful evening and we stuffed ourselves!

Can't wait to see what has been the centerpiece of your week! Please share recipes, DIY posts, tablescapes, mantlescapes whatever you have been working on. We will highlight some of our favorite posts next Tues!

Linking up to

Between naps on the porch, Busy Bee Blog Hop

Lets dish, whatits, weekend wrap up

Foodie Friday

Karin

 

I haven't blogged in awhile because I was traveling for the first time to Asia! Hong Kong and Macau to be exact. We had a great time and I did really good on the long long flights to and from Hong Kong. 14 hours plus 3 1/2 from Dallas to Los Angeles. I really have a hard time sleeping on the planes though. I don't think I got more than 2 hours each way! If I could sleep it would go by so much faster!

The photo above is of a Chinese temple that we saw in Macau...look at all the detailed carving on the top of the building. It was truly amazing.

We also went shopping at the famous "Ladies Market" in Hong Kong...where everything is outside in these little tent-like kiosks with merchandise displayed way up high on the walls. You can find tons of knock-off purses like Coach, Louis Vitton, Gucci, and watches like rolex, Tag Howard etc... for cheap cheap!! Look at the photo below and you will see some of the purses stacked up on the wall. It was really fun to wheel and deal with the gals to get the best price and sometimes they will take you to their secret stash of things.... up a creepy stairwell and in a locked room! But it was worth it!

Most of the food we ate was really delicious and very American but one night we had a traditional Chinese dinner. It has about 10 different dishes that get put into the center of the table and everyone eats "family style" I am not a seafood lover so most of it I did not care for. This photo below is of the first thing that was brought to our table. It is a baby pig!!! With the snout and all! You only eat the skin of the pig. You pick up a piece with your chopsticks and place it in between two small white dumplings with some slivered vegetables. I just kept telling myself.....it is bacon...this is just a piece of bacon...but it was so hard to eat it while looking into the face of the little pig :( They continued to bring out tons and tons of seafood (whole fishes with they eyes still in), shark fin soup and some funky dessert that had the texture of....dare I say... snot!!! I could not get past the texture of some of the things. I did try most of it but I just did not care for it.
Poor little piggy!

My oldest daughter.... Madeline and her dad actually put together most of these decorations while I prepared the food with my mom and mother-in-law sister and sister-in-law.

We used Emily's high school T-shirts and Sweat pants to decorate the table and outdoor space by hanging some of them with tape in the windows.

Don't you just love how cut up watermelon always looks so beautiful! My mom made it look like a flower.

Here is a picture of the high school t-shirts hung up along with her gigantic MUM (the silvery thing hanging up in the background with long ribbons.)

t is a Texas Oklahoma tradition.

After we ate dinner we all went to a free outdoor concert where a Salsa band was playing and we all got up and danced and it was so much fun!

Congtatulation to our Cute Emmy-Sue! You have done well and I know you will go on to do many more great and fabulous things.

My hubby and I shared some fish and chips and a shake..I wish we would have gotten a raspberry one as those seemed to be "the thing" to get...but our cookies and cream was still pretty good. My hubby who is normally Mr. Healthy even ordered cheesy tater tots! He said we needed to experience the whole thing...they were as gross as I remember....I'm so not a tater tots fan :( Sherry and our daughter Emily seemed to enjoy their food as well.