Ringing in the New Year a.k.a. Back to the Future!

New Year's Eve Day was a day of returns.  We had accumulated enough unwanted merchandise in China that we planned to go out and return it all in one fell swoop, so after breakfast, we took the subway to the first and furthest stop and decided to work our way back home from there.  The first item to return was a pair of boots that Muir had ordered for me from a Chinese e-shop specializing in large shoes which unfortunately turned out to be too small.  (I think I've written previously about how my feet are apparently gigantic.)  The store's return location was on the east side of Beijing close to where I work, and also like where I work, it was using residential space as the base of their operation.  Real estate space zoned for commercial use is prohibitively expensive if you are not a large company, and I hear that this kind of reappropriation is fairly common.  Anyway, the woman inside was very nice and soon we were out the door with a receipt and instructions to request the refund via the website.  Hopefully all goes well.  The second stop was at a little DVD shop near Walmart.  No less than half of the DVDs we purchased did not play in Muir's computer, and we wanted to exchange them for different copies to see if those would work.  The shop owner was suspiciously absent when we arrived, and we spoke with his stall neighbor (co-conspirator?) about exchanging the DVDs.  With new DVDs in hand, we headed home.

In the evening we enjoyed a bottle of prosecco and watched The Change Up, a raunchy bromance  starring Ryan Reynolds and Jason Bateman who play...two friends who are the same age!  (Ha!  Jason Bateman looks so much older than Ryan Reynolds.  Just kidding Jason Bateman!  Loved you in Arrested Development.  Can't wait for the movie, but I'm not holding my breath.)  Anyway, The Change Up is actually a raunchy bromance where two friends who lead completely different lives magically switch bodies one night and learn lessons about life, love, and themselves through their star-crossed misadventures.  The movie was good, but I don't think we managed to stay awake until midnight.

But getting "back to the future"...I haven't made new year's resolutions for many years now, and this year I just have one:  To repatriate as soon as possible!

To all my friends and family:  Miss you, love you.  See you next year!

Merry Christmas from Beijing!

Well, this is it.  Our first married Christmas.  Not exactly where I imagined we would spend it, but we are together, and I am therefore content.

My Christmas present to Muir was dinner reservations at Nobu.  We have a tradition of dining at Nobu restaurants when we have the chance.  For Muir's birthday many years ago, we went to Nobu 57 in NYC and later ate at Nobu in Las Vegas during a long weekend after we had both moved out to California.  I have also had the pleasure of dining at Nobu in Miami back when I lived in New York and was traveling for work.  Anyway, Nobu is a fantastic Japanese fusion restaurant and their food is just sublime--perfectly seasoned and super flavorful.  This year, our dinner was extra special because my co-worker's husband also happens to be the head chef!

Muir, Jason, me

He really spoiled us.  We ordered the set Christmas menu which was already like 7 courses, and we got free glass of champagne, free cocktail, and a free sashimi appetizer.

Drinks!

Tuna tartar

Yellowtail?

Lobster and salmon sashimi salad

Miso blackened cod - a signature dish

Australian sirloin with salsa and mushrooms

Miso soup with fois gras dumpling

Black truffle risotto

Chocolate panna cotta on gingerbread with
strawberry sugar cone filled with lychee foam

Ice cream mochi 

On Christmas morning, we opened the cardboard box full of presents Mary (Muir's mother) sent and arranged them around our mini-Christmas tree.  Lots of fun things were included--light up slippers, nail polish, fake moustaches, a box of brownie mix.  The rest of the afternoon, we took the subway down to Sanlitun and went shopping for a few new clothes at Esprit.  Muir's favorite purchase was a new "cool" pair of sweat pants, and mine was a gray pleated skirt which I'll have to save until the weather gets warmer.

Looks like we've been very good this year! :)

Beijing Body Art

Muir and I noticed this tattoo and body piercing van parked near the Wudaokou subway station over the weekend.  We are, of course, avoiding this invitation-for-hepatitis-on-wheels and can only wonder 'What the heck are people thinking?'  I really don't think you'll find battery-operated autoclaves in there...

Quick, Batman, to the tattoo-mobile!

More Peking Duck, please!

On Friday, we had dinner at a Peking Duck restaurant in Wudaokou with Aruba's head technical writer who was visiting from Sunnyvale.  We had Peking Duck, of course, and several other tasty dishes--braised beef, Chinese broccoli, a black fungus dish, and Yan Jing beers all around.  After dinner we got some dessert at a new Taiwanese dessert place that opened on the corner.  They specialize in dessert soups, so that's what we tried.

The first soup had taro root, large tapioca pearls, and red beans. The second soup had more taro and red beans, and two kinds of gelatinous balls.  I don't remember what they were.  I imagine it was what eating muppets would be like.  Squishy.  Very squishy.  And not very sweet.

Saturday we spent most of the day reading and relaxing, and Sunday was a glorious 50 degrees, so we took the subway to Walmart bought some boot leg DVDs, an comforter to help pad our rock-hard mattress, and a yoga mat (yay!) and generally did a little more walking around that day.

Long, long ago in a country far, far away...

...Muir threw a Star Wars viewing party!  He chose to show Episode IV, the first movie to the uninitiated, after he and his co-workers came across a test string that read 'Luke, I am your father' in some of the testing code repository.  And yes, I know that line does not appear in Episode IV, but that movie the classic Star Wars jumping off point.  Take it up with Muir.

Anyway, he did a great job organizing the entire thing.  While he was working from India, Muir emailed the invitations and then delegated the task of downloading the movie with Chinese subtitles and testing the AV hookups in a conference room to a co-worker and the task of getting snacks and beverages to me.  On Sunday everyone who RSVP'ed arrived, which made for a merry band of eight of us--Muir and me, five of Muir's male co-workers and one co-worker's nine year-old son.  The only hitch was that the framerate of the first movie was too slow, and all six of the engineers spent a good 45 minutes trying different computers, media players, and movie versions.  Eventually, they converged on the optimal combination and we got to kick back and geek out.

Well, now I guess we know how many
engineers it takes to show Star Wars

First Snowfall!

I woke up this morning to lightly falling snow.  You can see the dusting of snowflakes resting on the remaining deciduous leaves in the photo below.

By the time I left work it had all melted, and the commute home was just wet and muddy.  We're not expecting any more precipitation until next week, so no more snow in the immediate forecast.  Whether or not we'll have a white Christmas remains to be seen.