圣诞快乐!

Merry Christmas and happy holidays to my friends and family back home - I am missing you all more than ever right now. Here are some photos from my Christmas weekend. Beijing commercializes this holiday like no other, so there was no lack of holiday spirit around the city. IUP granted us a three day weekend after our second 演讲 last Thursday, so it was nice to indulge in some down time with my friends. Nick, Simin, and I started off the weekend with a home-cooked feast, then continued eating our way through the next day at the Hilton with a Christmas champagne brunch. We capped off the weekend by celebrating our friend's birthday at his apartment with a group of Chinese guys we've gotten to know over the past few months. All in all, successful Beijing Christmas!



There are Christmas trees, lights, and music all around the city - this is the lobby of my building.



In Simin's apartment for our Christmas Eve feast.



Simin was in charge of the vegetable soup (above) and a Persian rice dish (below), both of which turned out to be the highlights of the meal in my opinion!






I made a sweet potato casserole with candied pecan topping (above) - very delicious but incredibly rich... More of a dessert than anything else. The rest of the menu included chicken breasts with apple and bread crumb stuffing and a jalapeno infused cranberry sauce, (Nick's two contributions), and brussels sprouts.



Christmas Day brunch at the Hilton



We splurged and enjoyed a three course champagne brunch, choosing among salmon tartare, sea bass with pumpkin cake, traditional turkey with cranberry sauce and stuffing, and my all time favorite, apple pie.



The themes of the weekend turned out to be good food and these embarrassing yet incredibly warm panda hats.



Siqi and Liz






The Hilton group - Simin, Ding Jie, me, Nick, Liz, and Siqi


王冬 (Wang Dong) making a wish at his birthday celebration on Christmas night.