Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Full of Gratitude, week of 11/21-27

What a busy week it has been.  We first had 22 Mongolians members visiting us.  Except for a couple of the young sisters, none spoke any English.  It's a wonderful thing that we got along mostly through the Spirit alone.  On Tuesday morning, 11/22, we had 7 Mongolian sisters come for the first time.  How exciting it was for all of us.  The Mongolian written language looks like Russian as it is Cyrillic.  The spoken language is guttural and sounds nothing like Mandarin.  The people are mostly tall people like Westerners.  They all read Mongolian well, except for one older sister who was illiterate.  They are so devoted that they spend most days in the temple when they are here.  After traveling 70 hours on the trains/buses, one way, one would think they needed to rest or diversion, or even tour Hong Kong, but that was not the case.  They all stayed around the temple.  It was an inspiration to see them and to be with them.

Beside the Mongolians, we had members from Shanghai visiting us.  The first group were International members of Pudong and Puxi branches of Shanghai.  In China, the local members and foreign members (with passports other than Chinese) do not meet together as that is not sanctioned by the government.  Even though they may meet in the same building, the schedules are set so they can not associate with one another or be in the building at the same time.  The Church is very strict about the rules and we maintain very good standing with the Chinese Government because we do not allow members to mingle freely even though we would prefer that situation.  One member from Pudong Branch of Shanghai is a native Chinese with American passport (her husband is American).  She grew up in Dalian and brought many ancestral names with her to do family history work.  Her ancestral research took her and her brother back at least 1000 years.  It' so amazing about the Chinese genealogy.  If one hits a line right, one may go back to as far as BC time.  The Cultural Revolution may have destroyed many records, but with 1.3+ billion people, there are a lot of the records left.  One advantage, as I was told, is to have government officials in your family line.  The officials were given a special name (號) and this gives you a much better chance to trace family lines.  Really cool, isn't it?  I can't wait to delve in some more into my own family genealogy.  Our last trip to Taiwan was fruitful as we discovered that the Sung family came from Zhongzhou (彰州,福建), Fujian.  We hope to get some more information and go to visit there some day.

We also had a couple of families from India who came to visit the Hong Kong Temple this week.  One of the families brought their 2 boys with them.  They enjoyed being in Hong Kong.  As you can see in the following picture:
2 brothers from India and their Mongolian friend

Since the Hong Kong Temple will be closed for maintenance work for the next 2 weeks, we saw many members visiting us this week.  We saw some old friends from Shenzhen, Zhongshan, and Zhuhai.  It was so great to see them and found them faithful in living the gospel.  We also met a couple from Haiko, Hainan Island.  What a divine couple!

Monday was our special P-day as the senior missionaries were invited by President and Sister Aki to have Thanksgiving dinner.  We were treated with turkey and ham, dressing, and all the trimmings of the holiday.  It was so special.  I made the "sweet potato puff" that was delicious.  President Aki made a pumpkin dump cake that was out of this world.  See recipe below:
 Still, the best is coming.  On Saturday, Nov. 26, our dear friend, Shan Shan came to the temple for the first time.  What a special occasion that was!  Many members from the Mandarin Branch came to support her and to congratulate her.  It was truly a happy occasion.

members of Victoria III Mandarin Speaking Branch with Shan Shan
 
PUMPKIN DUMP CAKE

1 can Libby's pumpkin pie filling (15 oz.)
2 eggs
3/4 c. sugar
2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice OR 1 tsp. cinnamon, 1/2 tsp. nutmeg, 1/2 tsp. cloves
1/2 tsp. salt
1 can (1 1/2 c.) evaporated milk

1 box yellow cake mix
1 stick butter, melted

Mix all ingredients till cake mix. Pour batter into greased 9 x 13 inch pan. Melt butter and pour mix with dry cake mix. Sprinkle over pumpkin mixture. Bake 1 hour at 350 degrees. Serve plain or topped with whipped cream.

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Happy Thanksgiving!

Our Thanksgiving in Hong Kong was great!
Thanks to President and Sister Aki
For a Delicious Thanksgiving Dinner
On our P-Day!
 
TWAS THE NIGHT OF THANKSGIVING,
BUT I JUST COULDN'T SLEEP.
I TRIED COUNTING BACKWARDS,
I TRIED COUNTING SHEEP.
THE LEFTOVERS BECKONED -
THE DARK MEAT AND WHITE,
BUT I FOUGHT THE TEMPTATION
WITH ALL OF MY MIGHT.
TOSSING AND TURNING WITH ANTICIPATION,
THE THOUGHT OF A SNACK BECAME INFATUATION.
SO, I RACED TO THE KITCHEN, FLUNG OPEN THE DOOR,
AND GAZED AT THE FRIDGE, FULL OF GOODIES GALORE.
GOBBLED UP TURKEY AND BUTTERED POTATOES,
PICKLES AND CARROTS, BEANS AND TOMATOES.

I FELT MYSELF SWELLING SO PLUMP AND SO ROUND,
'TIL ALL OF A SUDDEN, I ROSE OFF THE GROUND.
I CRASHED THROUGH THE CEILING, FLOATING INTO THE SKY,
WITH A MOUTHFUL OF PUDDING AND A HANDFUL OF PIE.
BUT, I MANAGED TO YELL AS I SOARED PAST THE TREES....
HAPPY EATING TO ALL - PASS THE CRANBERRIES, PLEASE.


MAY YOUR STUFFING BE TASTY,
MAY YOUR TURKEY BE PLUMP.
MAY YOUR POTATOES 'N GRAVY HAVE NARY A LUMP.
MAY YOUR YAMS BE DELICIOUS.
MAY YOUR PIES TAKE THE PRIZE,
MAY YOUR THANKSGIVING DINNER STAY OFF OF YOUR THIGHS!!

HAPPY   THANKSGIVING   TO  ALL
!

Sunday, November 20, 2011

A week w/Hot Pot, Chinese genealogy...

It was a slow week, but we were happy to see the faithful who braved the rain and cold to come to visit the temple. Cold means it was in the low 70's.  The weather has been beautiful even when it rains. 

On Friday, 11/18, we were invited to join the Young Men/Young Women group from our branch and had a delicious hot pot or 火鍋 dinner.  We've had that before as it is a Taiwan tradition to have hot pot dinners when the weather turns cold.  According to Wikipedia:

Hot pot (Chinese: ; pinyin: huǒ guō), less commonly Chinese fondue or steamboat, refers to several East Asian varieties of stew, consisting of a simmering metal pot of stock at the center of the dining table. While the hot pot is kept simmering, ingredients are placed into the pot and are cooked at the table. Typical hot pot dishes include thinly sliced meat, leafy vegetables, mushrooms, wontons, egg dumplings, and seafood. The cooked food is usually eaten with a dipping sauce. In many areas, hot pot meals are often eaten in the winter.

It was a fun way to know the young people better.  Hong Kong students are under such tremendous pressure that we seem to read of students as young as 9 years old jumping off a  balcony to commit suicide.  Our friends' 7-year-old daughter goes to school from 7 AM to night time.  Some nights she has to go back for extra tutoring sessions to brush up on her English and Chinese reading skills.  The young people we had dinner with seemed to be doing fine since they came to the dinner on a Friday night.


Sunday:  We met a 3rd generation Chinese American with lots of genealogy.  He is retired and is traveling with his wife to find his roots.  I was asked to help him translate some of the documents that he has collected through the years.  It was interesting to see some of the customs that we knew or heard of, come through in his genealogy documents.  Some tidbits are:
  • Women were not usually recorded in the Chinese genealogy.
  • In some instances where women's records were recorded, their names were "first daughter", "second daughter", etc.  
  • For men, if there was an official name given 號, such as for government officials, then the chance of recorded genealogy could be traced back a long way.  We saw one being 2300 BC.  
  • If it was a polygamous family, the second wife gave the first or second son to the first wife (who may or may not have had a son).  The son, then, was given proper status as the son of the first wife, instead of the son of a concubine.  
  • In some occasions, if the wife's family did not have a son to carry on the family name, her son might bear her maiden name, provided it was agreed to by the husband.

It inspired me to work harder to find more of my ancestors.  Going to Tainan during the temple closing in June was to visit the relatives to gather more information.  One great tip we found was that the Sung family came from Zhangzhou, Fujian, contrary to what my dad told us about coming with Koshinga; Koshinga was the man who lead a group to Taiwan about 300 years ago as he fought against the Qing Dynasty's rule and also drove the Dutch out of Taiwan.   


Want to try a new recipe?  Sounds yummy!
http://www.rd.com/food/chocolate-hazelnut-cheesecake-recipe/ 

Chocolate-Hazelnut Cheesecake


Crunchy toasted hazelnuts top this velvety cheesecake. For more of that heavenly hazelnut flavor, substitute 1 tablespoon Frangelico (hazelnut liqueur) for the vanilla.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup graham cracker crumbs (5 ounces)
  • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
  • 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 pound silken tofu
  • 1 cup creamed (4%) cottage cheese
  • 1 ounce semisweet chocolate, melted
  • 3 cup hazelnuts
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
  • 2 tablespoons flour
  • 1 egg
  • 2 egg whites
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

How to make it  1 hour, 5 minutes

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Toast the hazelnuts on a baking sheet for 7 minutes or until the skins begins to crinkle. (Leave the oven on.) Transfer the hazelnuts to a kitchen towel and rub to remove as much of the skin as possible (some skin will remain). When the hazelnuts are cool enough to handle, coarsely chop them; set aside.
2. In a small bowl, stir together the crumbs, oil, and 1 tablespoon of water. Press the mixture into the bottom and partway up the sides of a 9 1/2-inch springform pan. Bake for 8 minutes or until the crust is set. Cool on a rack. Reduce the oven temperature to 350°F.
3. In a small bowl, combine the cocoa and 1/4 cup of water until well moistened. In a food processor, combine the tofu, cottage cheese, melted semisweet chocolate, granulated sugar, brown sugar, flour, whole egg, egg whites, vanilla and the cocoa mixture, and process until very smooth.
4. Pour the batter into the prepared crust and bake for 40 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 250°F, sprinkle the nuts on top and bake for 10 minutes or until the cheesecake is just set. Cool to room temperature; refrigerate for 2 hours or until chilled.

 

Nutritional Information(per serving)

  • Calories: 207
  • Fat: 7g
  • Saturated Fat: 1g
  • Cholesterol: 20mg
  • Sodium: 189mg
  • Protein: 8g
  • prep 15 min    cook 50 min
  • serves 12