Market Q&A

In reference to the market post, my Mom asked about a vegetable that she ate while visiting us.  It is in season in the summer and we love it - it's called "Kong Xin Cai" or translated, Empty Heart Vegetable.  The stems are hollow so that's the only reason I can guess for the name. It's yummy!
Also, my friend Christine asked if we cooked western or chinese food with the food we buy at the market. I cook western, but if I'm buying for my househelper she will cook chinese!  I've tried my hand a couple times at some stir fry Chinese, but honestly I crave American food enough to keep me busy cooking western dishes!
I'm trying to think of a good next post for "local life"....
Also we'll be traveling soon, so I may not blog for a while (except I'll try to post Peyton's 4 month pics soon!)

Local Life #1 - the market

I've wanted to post more pictures / stories about what life is like here. I don't have a lot of time (or patience) to sit and write a lot of text, but hopefully I can share some pictures that give you more of idea of what our life is like here!

Here are some pictures of the fresh market where I buy most of my food.  I buy all my fruit, vegetables and meat at the fresh market. I actually only go to the supermarket a couple times a month for dry goods (peanut butter, diapers, toilet paper, etc).  We have a mini-mart type convenience store across the street from our apartment complex that has some things that we need regularly. Also, we have our milk delivered to our door (in big boxes of 6 1 Liter boxes - UHT - boxed milk - doesn't have to be refridgerated before opening).
So here are the pictures:

So I actually took these pictures back in November but never got around to posting them until now. This market has actually moved to a new location now, closer to our home, in a new two-story building.  At fresh markets here there lots of different vendors that sell the same stuff.  You just walk around and choose one to buy from - ask them the price, which they tell you per 1/2 kilogram.  Then you choose the produce and they weigh it and bag it.  There are also meat vendors, egg vendors, fish vendors and dry goods vendors (rice, oils, seasonings, etc.).  I don't cook every meal of every day for my family - we go out to eat a lot, both local food and western food, or we order in.  But I do cook some and enjoy being able to get good fresh produce at the market. :)

What questions do you have?

Peyton - 3 months

Peyton turned 3 months old on December 28.  We think he's collicky although I read recently that colic is supposed to last from 3 weeks to 3 months.... he goes in spurts of being more fussy and not as fussy. I still haven't determined whether it's totally related to my diet.  But regardless, we love him and he really is a sweet baby (with some strong lungs!)  He was turning over in his crib from stomach to back for a while but has seemed to have stopped. He eats every 3 hours during the day and does a couple longer (4-6 hours) stretches at night.  Basically he feeds about 7 times a day.  His neck is getting really strong and he can hold his head up really well, especially during tummy time.  He weighs 15 pounds and is 24.8 inches - between the 75th & 90th percentile for both! He's bigger than Mason was at this age, but maybe not as big as Reister (I don't have exact records from 3 months of age for the bigger boys).  It's kind of funny - I found out recently that in the states you take your baby for a well check every month. We mainly just took our boys at 2, 4, 6 months for immunizations and it wasn't always to a doctor, sometimes just to a foreign nurse who was qualified to give the shots.  So this time around I realized I could / should take Peyton each month and it will be nice to have proper scales/measuring instruments to monitor his growth. We have an international clinic here that partners with our health insurance so it's really easy (and clean and not crowded).

Anyway, here's what you really want - the pictures!

I like to call this one Chub in the Tub - look at those thighs!

the shirt is a hand-me-down from cousin Jackson

"playing" with his big brothers