Cosima Underwater

We are here. Where are you?

Little Man and I said goodbye to Hong Kong this week. Seeing your previous life packed up wasn’t easy, but luckily we were too busy to get sentimental. The packers needed a whole day to pack our belongings into boxes, and afterwards I was surprised how small the apartment looked. The furniture and clutter made it look big and full of life, after it was gone, it was a tiny, empty, worn-out shell.

This is for you astronaut and for me:

It can hold a pregnant woman in labour.

Yesterday, little man and I woke at 2 am local German time. We used the early hour to craft “Cutie the Beauty” for Oma and Opa’s Christmas tree.

She is made out of scrap paper, has wonderful blue wings, and little man is especially proud of her goldie locks.

Santa Claus visited us already, and I hope he arrives at your home in time :). I wish you all a Peaceful and Merry Christmas and a Happy and  Healthy 2009!

This evening, little man asked me to pull the blinds up before going to sleep.

“Mama, I want to see Hong Kong.”

“The lights are beautiful, aren’t they?”

“Yes. I am going to miss Hong Kong, and I am going to miss my friends at school.”

“I am going to miss Hong Kong too.”

Little man and I are going to move to Dubai at the end of the year. It is not something that I do light-heartedly, but there was really no other alternative. There are personal aspects that I won’t go into, but let’s just say it’s not going to be easy.

Hong Kong has become my home over the last thirteen years, it is the place where little man was born, and where I had so many other wonderful experiences.

I am going to miss the sidewalks packed with people. I am going to miss the wet markets, noisy and colorful. I am going to miss that there is at least one dingy alleyway next to every glitzy skyscraper. I am going to miss hiking in the green mountains behind my house. I am going to miss having dim sum with friends or a quick noodle soup in a tiny cafe. I am going to miss strolling around old neighborhoods, and always discovering something new. I am going to miss riding on the tram to Causeway Bay, and the Star Ferry across the harbor.

I will miss silly things like the towel rail in my bathroom. I hung on it when the hard labor contractions began. I am going to miss the wonderful view from my bedroom. I will never forget the sunrise on the morning little man was born.

I had written another blog post about our move. It was angry, full of self-pity, and quite pathetic. I deleted it.

Dubai is not a place where I desire to live, but I really have no other choice, and I intend to make the best of it. For little man. I hope that there will be new and interesting experiences.

Before closing his eyes little man said “I love you, mama”. I really have no reason to be grumpy. Next week, we will say a long goodbye to everything and everyone here, then the moving company will pack up our belongings, and we will board a plane. First to Germany to spend Christmas there, then to Dubai.

That’s me. Sometimes I wonder if I am a perverse thrill seeker, always waiting to the last minute to get that extra spout of adrenaline and stress.

I have so much to do, and had plenty of time to do it. Then it didn’t seem so important, it wasn’t urgent, it could wait. Not anymore. Or maybe it can? Another day or two? Because accounting is one of the most tedious tasks around, especially if no one gives you a pay check for it.

In more uplifting news…

I just sent off a handmade Christmas present, and it felt good.

“When was the last time you could say”
“I made it myself!”

By popular demand, little man and I made chocolate crinkle cookies last Sunday. Thank you very much for helping us decide :).

For all of you interested in the other recipes, here is a link to the yummy-looking persimmon cake, which one day I will bake as well. Persimmons are quite new to me, but they are offered in every supermarket in Hong Kong at the moment. I am amazed about the different tastes and textures they have. Some remind me of pear, others taste more like pumpkin pie. I think persimmon would go very well with Christmas spices in cakes or cookies. And here is a link to a video showing how to make Tuiles.

We however baked chocolate crinkle cookies, using this recipe, for which you will need:

8 ounces of melted bittersweet chocolate
1 3/4 cups of flour
1/2 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons of baking powder
pinch of salt
4 ounces of butter at room temperature
1 1/3 cups of brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/3 cup milk (which we didn’t use)
1 cup caster sugar for rolling
1 cup icing sugar for rolling

Mix the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt in a bowl.

Carefully melt the chocolate in a microwave or double boiler (heat resistant bowl in a pot of simmering water), taking care that the chocolate doesn’t become to hot. Let cool slightly.

In the meantime, mix the butter with the brown sugar until well combined (I used a fork). Then add the eggs and beat mixture until light. Add the melted chocolate.

Slowly, spoon by spoon, add the dry ingredients and milk to the mixture, making sure that everything is well combined before adding the next spoon. I have to admit that I completely forgot to add the milk, but the dough consistency was still fine. It should be thick and heavy.

Wrap the dough in cling wrap and chill in the refrigerator until firm. We cheated and divided the dough into two equal sized portions and popped them into the freezer to speed up the process. When I took the dough out after about 15 minutes, it had the consistency of hard, chilled Muerbeteig.

Preheat the oven to 350 Fahrenheit/180 Celsius.

Prepare one bowl filled with granulated sugar and another one filled with icing sugar. Line a baking tray with baking paper.

And now comes the fun and messy part: take tablespoon sized portions (3/4 ping pong ball-sized) off the dough and roll them to balls between your hands. Then press them slightly. First, roll the cookies in the granulated sugar, then in the icing sugar until they are well coated. Put them on the baking tray about 1.5 inches apart, and bake for 10-15 minutes.

Little man and I had a hard time waiting while they cooled down enough for us to try them. And I have to say that we were a bit disappointed. Maybe we did something wrong? They had a crumbly and dry texture which I didn’t like, and they were tooth-achingly sweet. Even little man, who normally loves all things sugary, had only a few and asked for a big glass of water afterwards. That said, the overdose of sugar and chocolate makes them a perfect wake-me-up snack for a drowsy morning or afternoon. After eating a handful, I felt very alert, a bit like a nervous hamster…lol.

(Sorry, no photos this time. My digital camera died, and my phone camera wasn’t up to the challenge of taking pics in low light.)

Tomorrow is little man’s school Christmas fair, but on Sunday it’s time for the fourth installment of our Christmas cookie marathon. Please help us decide what to bake:

1) Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

Because we love chocolate!!!

or

2) Tuiles

Because they are thin, crunchy goodness!!!

or

3) Persimmon cake with candied ginger and walnuts

I know it’s not a cookie, but persimmons are in season, and that cake does look good, doesn’t it?

Please cast your vote :)

I already had one in blue, and now I have one in pink too. The blue one was already pretty nifty. It’s a reusable shopping bag from a supermarket here in Hong Kong. It has become my favorite shopping bag, because it has about the same size and shape as a normal plastic bag, and is very convenient to carry. Other reusable bags were dangling around my legs or too heavy when filled up. It also comes with a little pouch to store it in.

According to the Hong Kong government, 23 million plastic bags each day are thrown away, about 3-4 bags per person, and they are contributing to filling up Hong Kong’s landfills, which will reach capacity in the early to mid 2010s. The largest supermarket chain has switched to biodegradable plastic bags, but those do not break down easily in sealed landfills and use up energy and land when produced, so using reusable bags is still a much more environmentally friendly option.

Using the blue bag was making me already feel pretty good, but the pink one is even better. A percentage of the sales price went to the Hong Kong cancer fund to support breast cancer research and supporting services. I think that’s a wonderful idea, and more supermarkets should copy it.