DAY FIVE: Chinese Cuisine

If you know me, you know how much I love to cook. Nothing incredibly gourmet, just good home cooking. I've been busy the last few months doing a little extra cooking on the weekends to fill the freezer with meals that will be easy to prepare when we get home from China...meatloaf, homemade pasta sauce, homemade raviolis, chicken enchiladas, etc.

Speaking of enchiladas, I went on a Mexican cooking binge over the last few years. I love good Mexican food but didn't really know how to cook any of it. Now, I make enchiladas, fajitas, and tacos (without the little packet of mix).

Other than stir-fry, however, I don't really know much about Asian cooking. I think it's time for that to change! Tonight I made a really good soy ginger chicken recipe with a dark brown sauce that has a lot of ginger and garlic in it. But the homemade eggrolls stole the show. I've always wanted to learn how to make them, and they really aren't that hard, once you find out where they're hiding the egg roll wrappers at your grocery store! They were very good. The recipe made about two dozen, so the extras will be added to the freezer's stash of meals.

Today, EJ and I started going through some baby clothes in Sophie's room. I seem to have a lot of 6 month things that I'm pretty sure we won't be able to use, since she'll be almost 9 months old when we meet her. I did find plenty of 9 and 12 month outfits that should work just fine for travel. So far, the seasons of EJs clothes look like they'll line up, since she was born in late May, but always was behind a little on sizes since she was such a peanut. Of course, EJ got a little bored with the baby clothes, especially as I would pull out cute little outfits and start cooing, "Awwww, I remember when you used to where these little pants with the cute lace rows across the behind...I called you my little ruffle butt...." She's nearly 8 and in the midst of the eye-rolling phase, so she had lots of practice at that today.

If you find all this adoption talk interesting, you might want to check out this blog: www.kaffee-klatsch.blogspot.com. This couple just returned from China with their daughter, Sera. I'm not sure which agency they used, but it was very interesting reading about their travels. They give pretty detailed descriptions of their adventures.

Another good book that I'm almost done with is Wuhu Diary by Emily Prager. My friend H read this and thought I would enjoy it. The author adopted a baby named Lulu from China in 1994, and when Lulu was 4 years old, she took her back for a two month visit to her hometown so that the girl could appreciate her homeland through the innocent eyes of a child. It's a very good insight into everyday life.