Halloween time!!

Boooooo - we're getting ready for Halloween!! The house is decorated (lights will be up next week) and I made my first ever pumpkin pie from scratch today (that means roasting the pumpkin in the oven for hours, deseeding it, carving out the pumpkin meat and running it in the food processor to a smooth nice orange jam...) The kids have picked out their costumes, well, Emmy doesn't have much say, she's going to be the ladybug she never was last year (and she can barely fit into her ladybug babycostume but i'll squeeze her in cause it's just soooo adorable on her :-). Max can't decide between his Batman, Incredibles and Tiger costume, so I'm sure he'll be wearing all of them the same night!

The kids will be going Trick or Treating (or as the invitation in the compound says 'Treating or Tricking'....!) with the other neighborhood kids which should be lots of fun. We've invited our driver and Ayi's daughters who are both 8 years old. Should be lots of fun for them to have their first Halloween adventure together with Max & Emmy!

More picture from next Friday after the big event!

Emmy new toy!

Check out Emmy's new little stroller - such a favorite! Emmy's loving to put her dolls in the stroller, or her pink soccerball, and wander around the neighborhood, so cute!!

Her little blister on her lip is from a bad fall 3 days ago while cleaning (of course, her favorite thing to do!) with the mop... poor thing! Here are some more pictures of Emmy and don't miss the one with her putting her doll to sleep buffing her in the butt just like Anna Wahlgren's famous technique!!

Click here for Emmy pictures

GOTLAND!

We can't wait for our future home on Gotland to be ready one day... we're far from even starting the building process as we're still awaiting the proper permits and god knows this can take a while on the busy island of Gotland (and especially since the wise men working at the town hall seem to put in a robust 3 hours/day at work and everyone is looking to build their fab summer home there...)! But in the meantime we're happily dreaming ourselves away with the architect Richard Hellgren from Visby who's doing a good job putting these dreams into reality on paper! So far it's looking like it's going to be a single story house, modern in style but with a Gotland classic touch to it (white stone house with partly wooden exteriors), 3 bedrooms in the main house with large open areas for kitchen, living and dining rooms. The guesthouse next door will hosue a bedroom and bath. These are the latest drawings but i expect this one to change quite a bit too before we break ground.

Truly can't wait!

Beijing visit!!

We recently visited Beijing during the Chinese National Holiday on Oct. 1st and didn't realize until we were there that something like another 15 million additional Chinese people (this is only my estimate :-) had decided to also venture out on the Capital together with us - to put it mildly, it was crowded! But we had fun and visited many of the traditional spots; the Great Wall of China, the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace and eat a delicious Peking Duck for dinner at one of the biggest, craziest restaurants I've ever seen - 5 stories with at least 50 tables on each floor and over 100 people waiting to be seated (it's still beyond me how we waited 10 minutes for a table for 8 and that's without accepting my bribery money of 100 RMB!!). The Great Wall was magical and very special to visit, although a little crowded on a hot fall day in Beijing! We also visited the Olympic Village again and I was struck by how it was visited by 5 times more people than when we were there for the actual Olympics in August...! All in all, a fantastic experience together with our families and I know one thing for sure, there's a lot of Chinese people in China!!

Here are our great pictures from the 3 perfect days in Beijing!

Orchids Mania!

I'm in love with Orchids! I have loved these beautiful hard maintenance babies for years and although I venture off once in a while buying some rare kind like Vanda Teres or something, I stay true to the Phalaenopsis orchids which I still think are breathtakingly beautful after investing in them for years... However, after moving to Shanghai, I couldn't believe how BIG and powerful they were and how thick the steam was (the size of a pinkie!) and how long they would flowered for, at least 4 months at a time. The new shots may come back after only a month or two and I now have around 15 of these sweet species around the house making me smile each time I look at them. They are so easy to take care of here, I believe it's the humidity of Shanghai and they seem to not care if they get water once a week or every 3 weeks - they just keep flowering!!

The Artichoke Lamp!

I just love our new lamp which we'll be hanging over the dining room table in our future home on Gotland. The original design is by Danish Louis Poulsen and its name is quite fitting in Swedish; PH Kotte (I guess Kronartskocka was too complicated to say in Danish??). Since its debut 50 years ago, the design is recognized worldwide and is knows for its organic, explicit and artful design and free from glares at any height you view it from - i true master piece in design and remarkably well copied here in China :-)

We can't wait to have it hang in our new home one day!

Chinese cooking class at home!

Earlier this week during one of the last days of our families' visit, we decided to surprise them with a Chinese cooking class at home! A crew of Chinese ladies invaded our kitchen in the afternoon to prepare for a dumpling feast with pork, red bean past and egg yolk (!). We learned how to make these little nuggets and although it appears simple, we all struggled to make perfectly shaped dumplings with the right finishing twist - it takes some practise believe it or not! But we had fun and lots of laughters while learning something new in the kitchen (although I doubt we'll be making many of these in the future, it's just very different from what most of us are used to eating...!).

Here are the pictures from the fun cooking evening!

Shopping, Shopping and more Shopping...!

The Shopping continues for the Jansson & Carlsson family here in Shanghai - today we picked up the many items from the tailor clothing market and most of the items seemed to be fitting quite nicely - only a few items needed to be redone... Everyone is happy and that's the most important thing! More pictures from the happy shopping tours after Beijing! We're leaving now...