To Chew or Not to Chew...

I'm finishing up a much welcomed week off between semesters in Chinese school. It's translated into several mornings of sleeping in and a glorious afternoon of sitting in a park, nosing around a delightful museum and meeting strangers.

I also took this opportunity of unassigned time to do a cleanse. Salt water to flush out the digestive tract on the first morning, 2 days of the Lemonade Diet, 2 days of orange juice. Today is Day 5 and I've re-entered the world of solids. Well, I'm at least halfway there, assuaging my hunger with congee which is really really mushy soupy rice. I think in several ways I preferred the drinks. Anyway, tomorrow vegetables are back on the menu and then I'm home free, just in time for an all-day class field trip to a pottery town which will likely involve a feast for lunch.

Prior to the cleanse, the weather got cold enough for some baking! With cornmeal imported by a friend who'd returned from California: sauteed-veggie cornbread. Egged on by a homesick American classmate: pumpkin pie, my first pie actually and entirely from scratch! It's pretty straightforward, just took me a few hours... I kept the pumpkin theme going with a seedy pumpkin loaf. All were well received. : )

Tomorrow Halloween celebrations are starting! I'm planning to give my students the creeps with an all-white outfit, one hot pink boa thrown in for just a touch of comic relief. Pictures to come.

Wishing you all fabulous fun as the veils thin between the worlds of spirit and matter! Mwahahaha!!!