A bit late for those at home, but we're still between new years here where New Year/Spring Festival preparations are well under way. In fact on Boxing Day, the Christmas decorations began coming down around town (much to the dismay of the Russian teacher who celebrates Christmas on Jan 7th) to be replaced by lanterns, banners and other decorations for the upcoming year of the dragon. In the few weeks immediately before Christmas, many shops, restaurants and b...

Snowballing in the figurative sense that is. The day itself was bright and sunny. Forecast was for -10 to 0 degrees, but we didn't have to go out, so I was able to skip a few layers - even put on a skirt.We initially expected to have a quiet Christmas – ring the family in the morning and eat at a nice restaurant downtown, but Vern (the other AVI) mentioned he was hankering after a traditional turkey dinner at a restaurant or hotel. That sounded like a g...

I think Nigella should be proud - but probably she wouldn't give a fig. Encouraged by my success with "roast" lamb, I progressed on to a chunk of beef with gravy and a passable Yorkshire pudding in the frying pan. I’ve refined the roasting technique a little by putting halved onions, skin on, in the bottom and placing the plate with meat directly on top of them. The “roast” potatoes I cook first in the microwave, then crisp up in a little oi...

I thought this was going to be "Not a goodweek really - 2". We lost our internet connection a couple ofweeks ago, and after topping up the card with more money we managed to get on acouple of times - but then nothing. After a week of trying, testing friendslaptops, testing friends apartment's internet, buying a new connection (whichwe need for our Macs to connect to the ethernet) we called in “the man”. He isa very busy man, and didn’t arriv...

(Apologies in advance to those on Owen's email list, you’ll have heard some of this before. I felt the need to record stuff about Lanzhou, for completeness. Sorry, it’s the librarian thing)Lanzhou is a long spreading city bisected by the Haung He (Yellow River) and hemmed in by mountains north and south. There are promenades and parks along the riverfront – some beautiful, some in need of major repair. In fact, like much of the city, chunks ...