On Saturday, I hosted my first holiday party (part Thanksgiving, part Christmas) for 25+ friends and colleagues in Shanghai. Here’s a photo from one of my colleagues who attended. With two small burners and a small toaster oven (actual ovens are very rare here) I made: thai pumpkin soup, goat cheese and pumpkin empanadas, toasted almonds with rosemary, brown sugar and cayenne pepper, three dozen holiday cookies, stuffed mushrooms, roasted pumpkin and zucchini salad, pasta with my grandmother’s tomato sauce recipe, warm apple cider with spiced rum and cranberry, ginger punch. It took two full days of cooking and three nights searching the isles of local stores to find the ingredients from the States but it was so much fun. 

Now, starting the countdown to my holiday trip home in two weeks.