Fundraising Event

This year, one of our good friends, Fay, decided to coordinate a fundraising event to raise money for the Rio Vista Center. We usually have a get together when our friend, Eppie, visits from Hong Kong and she will cook us a great meal. Fay took advantage of this and coordinated a wonderful event featuring Eppie's cooking. Our moms and a few of us also helped and the food was delicious. The menu featured Chinese dishes from different regions of China. There was also a silent auction and a kids activity area, so everyone got to enjoy the evening. We ended up with about 60 people (kids included) and raised about $1100 for the Rio Vista Center. We were able to use the Fellowship Hall of the Foothils Baptist Church and it was a beautiful facility. There was a full size kitchen there and it was fun cooking there. Overall, the event was a great success and we all had a great time.

Snow!

We took the kids sledding at Wing Mountain near Flagstaff along with 2 other families. We all had a great time. The area where most people were sledding had not much snow, but we found a more secluded area and enjoyed some great snow. Ethan enjoyed himself very much this time and went on the sled by himself. He even went up to the highest point with daddy, but he was rather scared and was not too happy after that. I was surprised he went for it! Hayley didn't like sledding as much, she would much rather be pulled around in the sled. Maybe we will head up one more time this year if there is more snow.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to everyone! May you all have a wonderful Holdiay Season and a Happy New Year!

Winter Solstice 2011

It was a cold night and it is perfect for hotpot. We had a great meal and enjoyed some 汤圆 (glutinour rice ball dessert). It is also winter solstice which we always celebrated when we were back home. It is supposedly a bigger celebration than Chinese New Year. We should definitely keep this tradition, so our children will know of this day.

Yamaha Clavinova Festival 2011

This year Ethan gets to participate in the Yamaha Clavinova Festival with his music school - East Valley Yamaha Music School. His class performed at Joe's Farm Grill and everyone did great! Ethan did not want to practice that day, so I was a little worried that he may forget what to play, but he surprised me by performing beautifully. I was one proud mommy :-)

New Cookie Recipes

For Ethan's school's annual Christmas Celebration, we are to bring home made cookies and share the recipes. This year, I decided to try some new recipes. One is called Susan's Oaties which I found from The Little Book of Cookies. This recipe does not require any eggs and uses whole wheat flour and oatmeal. It is a crispy cookie recipe and if you like Famous Ames cookies, this one tastes like them. The other recipe is Crackle Top Molasses Cookies which I got from allrecipes.com and it is delicious. It makes the house smell so good.