Apple Pie & Chicken Feet

Don't worry, not the 2 together!

The pie turned out great if I do say so myself. The only problem was in the baking. I guess I didn't have the oven set correctly (it is Celcius, not Farenhiet, so took some calculating - actually there is a web site that does conversions). It's a convection oven, so not sure if that made a difference. Anyway it took twice as long to cook as usual, good thing I started early. Problem was, it wasn't very cool by the time I needed to leave for the office. I wrapped it up well in plastic & put into a bag to carry. Fortunately I had that very deep dish I cooked it in (the only thing I could find that would work for a pie, it isn't a proper pie pan, but in the end was best).

Got to the office without any problems or spills - whew! It was hard to work because you could smell the pie & we weren't going to eat it until tea time (4pm). We went out for birthday lunch for dim sum. Dim sum is a meal where you order several small portions of things. Most people think it is just Chinese dumplings, but there are many other items you can order. You can either order off a menu or people walk around with trays or carts with items on them that you can choose. They just charge you by the number of plates on the table & the size of them. I can't even remember what all we had, most of it was wonderful. They did order the much talked about chicken feet and of course I had to try them. They don't really taste bad at all, mostly skin & fat. I guess you are supposed to suck them, they are really messy to eat, I'm just not that good with the chop sticks yet. They tasted like the BBQ sauce they were cooked in & are soft, not crispy. The other strange thing they ordered was fish stomach. That didn't taste like much of anything, just spongey. I dipped mine in soy sauce so that's what it tasted like.

I gave Sophia a piggy bank that is a pig dressed up like Spider Man. SPIDER PIG!! She is born in the year of the pig & one of the jobs she is working on right now is for packaging for Spider Man underwear. So I thought it fit. She loved it & everyone got a good laugh. Spider Pig now has a place of distinction & everyone is supposed to put their loose change in him & we are all going to go out for lunch when we have enough.

I went to the 7 Eleven around the corner after lunch & they did have ice cream, but just those really tiny containers. Better than nothing. At least it was Haggen Daz (I know I spelled that wrong). We sang Happy Birthday in Chinese - I can't remember how now, but I'll make sure to learn it before I come home for Christmas so I can sing it to Jesse for his birthday, I know he'll just be thrilled!! There was not a crumb left of the pie & they even fought over who got the biggest piece. They said I should open a pie shop (hmmmm). I hadn't really realized it, but you really don't see pies here. Next week I'm going to try pumpkin.

Our Cadmus employee in Bangkok found out about the pie & he was very upset that he missed it. He lived in the US for about 10 years & said that he hasn't had pie since he's moved back to Thailand. So now he has decided that for his birthday (Fed 21), he is going to make a trip to Hong Kong so I can make him apple & pumpkin pies for hit birthday. And I thought I was going to miss my kids & hockey players!!! They now call me Floor Mom at work. Guess I just can't get away from it, not that I'd ever want to.

One other funny thing from yesterday: When I was going up in the elevator at work the other woman in the elevator said "it sure is getting chilly out there, isn't it? Nice to have it good & cold for the holidays." I looked at the 2 of us in our short sleeved shirts & smilled & said "where I'm from chilly is a foot of snow on the ground and a frozen lake!" We both laughed and she said "OK, maybe chilly isn't the right word. It's getting cooler." I agreed with her on that. WOW, it actually got below 80. It does feel very nice out there now, but no need for the ski jackets & UGGS (winter boots that are all the fashion)that I see some people wearing. Guess it is all in what you are used to. We've actually had blue sky for the past 2 days - that is a real treat.

Over & out from The 9th Floor Mom/Pie Woman