Visitor's arriving

Just a break from our vacation post today to let you know that friends will be visitin us today from the U.S.

We just spoke to Art and Judy, who are now in Shanghai, and will be flying down to Xiamen this afternoon. They got about 12 hours worth of sleep and they are hoping that they will be awake long enough to enjoy this evening's festivities.

Since this is now tradition, and one that we wouldn't dare of breaking, we will be taking our guests to our favorite place Temptations, which as anyone knows is the best place to dine in Xiamen. Okay, we're biased, but the super chef, Siew Hong makes outstanding dishes and tonight we have ordered our favorite, lamb and ordered our favorite dessert, the lemon tart. Sure she makes great
cheesecakes and apple crumble but the lemon tart is still our favorite.

So for the next few days, our guests Art and Judy will be writing about their experiences here in China. Then we will return to posting about the remainder of our European holiday.

Happy Birthday Mark!

Today is Mark's birthday, and as some of you may or perhaps not know, he's not one to remember it, let alone wanting to celebrate it, so his sister-in-laws, Hong and Yih decided that it would be celebrated the Sunday at Temptations. Notice I said, told, not asked. His only stipulation that there would be no theme parties and he wanted cheesecake. They acquiesced.

Though Hong would be in Malaysia, the other sister-in-law was in charge of his birthday dinner.

Siew Yih's friend, Lucas joined in the festivities and purchased a nice bottle of champagne to celebrate. Though he had one very persuasive Malaysian convincing him to buy it, nonetheless, it was very nice of him to do so.




We arrived early and Siew Yih had everything planned. We had soup, homemade bread, salad, pasta, Cordon Bleu, and a very yummy chicken dish.

For someone who has an aversion to celebrating his birthday, he managed to get Siew Yih to bake him a strawberry cheesecake, though, we had our doubts she actually baked it, and got the other sister-in-law to promise that she would bake him his favorite desert, carrot cake, once she returned from Malaysia.

Mark's birthday present- a new camera bag

Yea, he's not spoiled!

Xiamen Migration

Friday we decided that we would stay in or so we thought, since it has been a long and busy week for the both of us.

Now, if anyone knows Mark, his favorite dessert of all time, is the carrot cake. Siew happened to mention that she has just made carrot cake, and if we would like to come over and try it? Oh, she's good. Mark would not turn down such an invitation, so we wandered over to Temptations after dinner. Siew thought we should try the new sparkling wine, figuring it would compliment the carrot cake.

The chef, Siew and her carrot cake and apple crumble.

Wishing her a great holiday

And well, after sampling the sparkling wine, one glass was enough, we figured we would have a bottle of red to share with the two sisters, since Siew will be heading back home to Malaysia. Like many expat wives, quite similar to the wildebeest migration in Africa, it's that time of year when when they make their annual pilgrimage. Some go for a month while others for the entire summer, (many don't like the heat here in Xiamen). Then there are a few, like this author, will stay on and keep their husbands entertained.

So, naturally our dear friend, Siew was quite excited. Oh, she's been giddy for the past week. She's like a seven year old waiting for Santa to bring her presents. She's happy, dancing, singing, and talking up a storm, (now I know where Daniel gets it from) while sister Siewyih gives her the, well, let's just say there was a bit of sibling envy going on here.

Mark tried to capture her little dance, but she wouldn't do a repeat performance, but Siewyih manage to do a great impersonation of her.

We will miss Siew, (though Mark and I will see her this weekend) while she is enjoying her time with her family in Ipoh.

Wine Tasting # ?

A couple nights ago we were invited to a wine tasting at the Sofitel. The usual drink and chatter ensued and then we went to a private room for dinner. It's quite typical when you dine and want some privacy, the restaurants or hotels have smaller rooms where you can enjoy dinner without the loud conversations, plus you get your own waiters. This usually happens when Mark and I are eating with Chinese or in our case that evening, Malaysians. Yup, Siew and Siewyih and her husband Allen. The Food and Beverage Manager, Jacky joined us as well.

Since all of them can speak English, Mandarin, and Cantonese, they kept flipping from one language to the other. Mark and I looked at each other as if to say, Mandarin isn't hard enough to understand, now we have to listen to Cantonese? We learned a few words, but pretty much we stuck to our native tongue.
After dinner Jacky asked if we wanted to try one of his favorite desserts, and naturally we all said yes. The next thing you know, a portable stove, pan, bananas and a few other ingredients come out, and he's making dessert. It was delicious and now our friends have invited Jacky to try Siew's food. We're hoping it's the lamb again.