Surprise!

After keeping quiet for awhile, I am now pleased to announce that I have accepted a position in Hong Kong. It has been a fun and, at times, scary journey, but I have finally reached my goal. I look forward to diving in and gaining more experience in the Asian marketplace. Thanks to you all for your support along the way!

Pre-acceptance photo. Proud to be a little dorky here!

Found this nice surprise when I returned from accepting the job offer.
<3

Gobble Gobble

I may be in Hong Kong, but Thanksgiving is definitely on my mind today. I hope all of you are planning to gobble up turkey, green beans, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie. Perhaps you're a fan of pecan pie...I know the Chinese are. Most of the Chinese that I have heard say "pecan pie" pronounce it with an American Southern accent, "PEE-can pie." I was slightly taken aback the first time I heard it--it's pretty funny.

I'll be missing out on the traditional sights, sounds and family time that Thanksgiving usually bestows, so I decided to warm up the blogospere with some photos that conjure up feelings of the hearth and home.

Thank you Martha Stewart for outdoing us all. Here is a dreamscape thanksgiving table setting that reminds me of an idealistic, traditional Thanksgiving in the Virginia countryside. All the table needs is....FAMILY.
(photo from habituallychic.com)

 (photo by my friend Leyla)

Dad, doing magic tricks for the triplets. (photo courtesy of Aunt Lisa)

Because it's Friday...

...and Friday rocks Part Deux, I have another post.

Holidays:

So many of you have been wonderful friends, asking what my upcoming holiday plans are. To answer your questions, I have decided to camp out here in Hong Kong for Thanksgiving. It should be fun (and dicey) considering there is a case of bird flu within the city limits. Fortunately the one case was contracted in mainland China (not here), and it is NOT spread by human-to-human contact. Please do not worry. While I may be eating US Grade A Cold Cuts on Thanksgiving, I am healthy as a hen.

As for an actual Thanksgiving dinner, that does exist here in Hong Kong. Imported American turkeys are available at the local supermarket. Provided you have an apartment with a luxurious oven or an extra large deep fryer (as my dad suggested), you can buy one of these bad boys and cook it right up. If you're wondering if it is expensive to buy an imported turkey, it is actually insanely inexpensive. I am not sure why a huge bird only costs $18 HKD (that's $2.32 US), but that's how much a large, fresh, imported bird costs...and it even comes plucked--in case you have heard horror stories.

This is the first year of my life that I have not spent Thanksgiving at my family's farm, so Rob and I feel very fortunate to have been invited to a friend's home for an early Thanksgiving celebration Saturday night. The wife of our friend is fixing a traditional Thanksgiving dinner from scratch, which is amazing. I hope that I will be able to roll up my sleeves and help a little, even if it's just for dish duty.  I am very thankful for the dinner we will have tomorrow night.

Rob and I have already started joking about what we may find ourselves eating on actual Thanksgiving (given that ovens are not de rigueur in Southeast Asia, and we lack one). Tune in for that at a later date.

As for Christmas, I have booked a flight and will be coming home for Christmas on Dec. 21. Mark your calendars!!!

Have a great weekend. Be safe!

XO,

Lizard

Because it's Friday...

...and Friday rocks, you may get two blog posts today. Leaping Lizard is feeling lucky and has some cool news for you. No, not a job...yet...but exciting news, nonetheless. I was reading one of my favorite interior design blogs called Elements of Style. I was scrolling through the most recent post, admiring the screened-in porch and porcelain elephant. Then, smack in the middle of my screen appeared the name Lindsay Cowles, which was followed by several images of her paintings. Lindsay is from Richmond and became a great friend and mentor to me in New York. She headed West to L.A. and has since begun painting. Her mixed-media paintings are abstract and amazing. Not surprisingly, they have been getting a lot of hype. I was incredibly pleased to see that leading interior designers with blogs are now advocates of her work. Here is the article.

Atlantic, Lindsay Cowles

*Pictures from the Weekend

____________

Upon returning from the gym, I found Carnival characters lining my street. The clowns at the left were more friendly than I am used to, and I felt awkward. Rob captured the moment.

Thanks to my lovely grandparents, I've always Loved stilts (they were a favorite toy of mine growing up). This guy had a great pair of stilts.

Another type of legs-- real ones--demonstrated here by the scantily clad carnival ladies. 

Out with Sarah and Rob on Friday night, on our way to the softball BBQ

Rob's softball team, The Bulldogs, is named after this pub on Lan Kwai Fong

Even though this is not for me, I had to share it with you. Here, a seemingly sane woman puts her feet into a bath of skin-eating fish at Wonderfish "spa." To each her own, but I will pass on this spa treatment. Thank goodness I have ticklishness to blame. 

Imagine waking up after a big night and finding a real, live transformer outside your apartment. 

Wall of Fame at Under Bridge Spicy Crab

Centerpiece of Wall of Fame at Under Bridge Spicy Crab.

Rob was sweating while trying to eat spicy crab

Fete Accompli! The Remains of our Level 3 Spicy Crab

Big Time

Hi friends,

Sorry I haven't written much recently, I did not have much to say last week. My friend from NYC/Australia was in town this weekend, though, so I have a lot to report (but just a little bit of time today). Here is a quick recap of some of the things I did this weekend:

*will post photos later

Friday:

• Picked up Sarah at W Hotel Hong Kong. Woot, my first friend to visit in HK!
• Went to Rob's softball team's BBQ at coach's apt (this was fun)
• Went out after and fortuitously ran into some people I've been talking to on the job front (Hong Kong is a small but big city, and I find that I run into people ALL THE TIME here, despite the fact that I am half-way around the world and feel like I don't know many people. 'tis weird.)

Saturday:

• Took Sarah  to a tailor, where she had some beautiful silk suits made
• ''         ''       ''  The Peak, where we had a great lunch at my favorite Chinese chain restaurant Tsui Wah. I hear this is pronounced "chwee wah." I do my best to speak correctly. I was attempting to use the little Chinese I do know at Tsui Wah, and the waiters laughed at me and spoke back in English even though their English can be pretty bad! I reverted back to only speaking in English. This is kind of funny because while at Tsui Wah I asked the waiter if Sarah and I could "please order," as in "I would like to order our lunch." The waiter thought the word "order" meant "water" and brought several glasses of water to our table. After I held out the menu and vigorously pointed, he understood that we wanted to order. That is just one example of the language barrier you can find here
• Sarah and I attempted to go to Wonderfish, the spa that offers fish pedicures. I was a chicken and didn't go through with the beauty treatment, which involves sticking your feet into a tub of skin-eating baby fish. GROSS! (the fish must do a "wonderfish" job, as it is a popular place for tourists at The Peak.)

• We took the tram back down to the CENTRAL district and had shoulder and head massages at a more traditional spa
• Explored the Carnival that was taking place on my Street before Sarah headed back to her fitting at the tailor
• Rob and I met Sarah at the Penninsula Hotel to have a martini at Rooftop bar Felix. Tres chic! Watched nightly Hong Kong light show from window of bar
• Took MTR (subway) to WanChai, which is the red light district, where the restaurant Underbridge Spicy Crab is located. Had a HUGE, authentic dinner at Spicy Crab. I have a high tolerance for spicy food, but this rocked my socks off. We expected to dive into the spicy crab dish when it arrived at the table, but we picked at it like birds for the first 30 minutes because it was almost too hot to eat. I will return to Spicy Crab, but next time I will make a point to order the least spicy version of the namesake dish
• Worked off dinner by grooving and dancing at club Dragon-i. Fun place. Good people watching.
• Called it a night at the W Hotel. Sarah was very sweet and said that I could stay at her hotel one night. Because I have never stayed in a hotel in Hong Kong and because the W Hotel is supposed to be awesome, I readily accepted the offer. It is one of the coolest hotels I've ever seen. I could go on and on about the amenities.

Sunday

• Went to the Jade Market to check out the beautiful jade and pearl jewelry. This was a lot of fun.
• Ate a steamed pork bun for lunch at an authentic Chinese bakery. 
• Got lost and then got found wandering around Kowloon.
• Decided to go back to HK Island and get my bearings. I was tired. Sarah took the Ferry back to her hotel on Kowloon.
• Went to my friend JS' apartment and baked brownies for Rob...no easy task in Hong Kong, as most apartments (including mine) do not have ovens. 
• Watched Law and Order and crashed.

This weekend was busy and fun. It was GREAT to see Sarah and show her around. The activities involved copious amounts of good food, which provided stamina for trekking around on foot. It was SO great to have Sarah here. I hope more of you will come visit!

I would like to talk more, but I need to get back to studying. Have a great Monday, and I'll talk to you soon!

xx.

Heels & New York

First of all, nice game TARHEELS! I wasn't able to watch the game against Florida State, but I saw the final score 37-35. Go Heels. Really wish I could make it to a game this year. Come to think of it, it has been a while since I've been back to Chapel Hill and spent a long time. Other than a quick drive-through of the town this summer, I haven't spent much time there since graduating. It was for times like this in Hong Kong that I did the quick drive-through this summer.

I digress, but for those of you who went to Carolina, have you seen Sandwich recently? Sandwich was a tiny little sandwich shop (practically the only one) in Chapel Hill that had the most amazing gourmet sandwiches. It opened a year or two before we graduated in a little, tucked-away location. In the two years since I've graduated, Sandwich has exploded. It's new shop is a huge restaurant on Franklin Street next to McDonald's. Rob and I stopped there for lunch the day we drove through, and I was blown away by how much Sandwich has expanded. Go Sandwich.

In other news, the New York City Marathon happens TODAY, well tomorrow really since it's still Saturday night on the East Coast. This is the first year I have been quasi-following the marathon. For starters, my friend Merrill is running in the race! Go Merrill!! In addition to this, I have been reading running blogs that are written by people who are training for the NYC Marathon. My favorite blog is Runner's Kitchen. All the blogs have been leading up to this huge event, so I'm excited. Best of luck to all you runners out there!

Here is a pretty picture of my UNC friends, Merrill, Kennedy and Jenna. Love and miss you all!
Merrill, will be thinking of you!

Have a great Sunday.

xx,

Liz

Re-routing a routine

Welp, as soon as I think I have a routine down pat, and I decide to tell you about it, you know what happens? It gets squashed. This week has been entirely unpredictable, but in a good way. First of all the weather has been up, down, all around. This means that my outdoor endurance running has been, uh, not happening. The best I could muster was yesterday when Rob and I took the tram to "The Peak" (ahh, Victorian Era Nostalgia!), and I decided to sprint up hills on our hike around the Peak. I was winded, as this was a change to my, uh, normal routine. While sprints spiced things up, I can't wait to get back to Bowen Rd. soon. Perhaps another reason why I haven't had as much time for long distance running is that I've been relatively busy on the interview/meeting circuit this week. Just as I think I'm at a stand still with the interviews, a fresh batch of 'em pop up out of nowhere. That has been a welcome development. Hopefully I'll have more news to report on that soon. It is a crap shoot, though, and you just never know when a lead will begin or end. There's no predicting it. So please, eat a fortune cookie for your friends in the East.

Also, Please send e-mails to fill me in on your life. Or write a comment at the bottom of these posts--pretty sure I'm the only person who reads 'em.

xxoo,

P.S. It's almost Friday! (Rob and I are heading back to Underbridge Spicy Crab for dinner tomorrow--can't wait!!) What are you doing this weekend?

Routines and Popcorn

Good'ay,

It's Monday evening here, and I hope you guys at home are gearing up for another Monday morning. Monday morning after Halloween is probably a bit more difficult than most Mondays, so I'm thinking of you all.

I find that I don't have as much to report these days, as I've pretty much settled into a routine here in Hong Kong. My morning usually goes something like this: wake up, eat Greek yogurt with almonds and have a skim cappuccino (do not know how I picked up this habit, but it has become a habit. I guess there are worse habits to pick up). Then I send some job e-mails or general e-mails or have early morning Skype calls--I would love to have more of these..hint, hint...so long as they are after 8. At 9 a.m. I run Bowen Road, which feels like running through a tropical rainforest! I could could spend the whole day there, but I don't! Then I usually go home or to Subway for lunch. I usually switch it up in the afternoon by going to meetings, reading, watching news or just goofing around. I love visiting the fancy grocery stores in Hong Kong and seeing all the international foods, many of which do not have English translations on their labels. Sometimes I'll play Russian Roulette, take my chances and purchase one of these items.

This afternoon I went to the local fresh market to pick up some peppers and onions for dinner. Rob and I are making our new go-to dish that we call "Hong Kong Noodle Hash." It is nutritious and inexpensive, and while it doesn't include potatoes as you may expect from the word hash, I like the way the dish sounds and tastes. The ingredients are lean ground pork (pork is the most available meat here), peppers, onions, chili oil, a small dash of wine or sweet soya sauce, and rice noodles. We cook down the onions and peppers in a pan and then add the ground pork and seasonings. Add this concoction to the cooked rice noodles, serve in bowls with chopsticks, and voila!

As an hors oeuvre, I tried air popping popcorn on the stove top this evening. Not only did the kernels pop, they popped UP and ALL over the kitchen. I wish I had a picture because it was pretty funny. I felt like Amelia Bedelia.



If you have any easy, favorite recipes, please send 'em this way.

Anyway, have a great Monday.

Cheers,

Lizard