Another wild weekend in the Wolfers house

You may have read here how as a family, we seemingly do not like to still. That if there is something to be done, or somewhere to go, we will be there. Preferably we will travel to as many places as far away from each other as possible in order to find things to do.

This weekend was no exception folks.

It started on Friday. We had friends for dinner, which was lovely. However, despite having nothing to do all day, I started cooking at 5.30pm - for guests arriving at 7pm. This would be fine if I was not at all house proud and didn't also feel the need to run around tidying up, putting toys away and sorting out random junk. If I didn't want to have the table set, or be showered and out of my clothes that I'd been wearing to the playground that had ice-cream on them from Henry and mine's afternoon treat, there would have been no stress. Of course, I'm not like this. And so, as usual, it was a bit of a rush. However, it was more than worth it - it was GREAT!

It was lovely to have people over - I love having dinner parties and it was the first time since we have moved to Hong Kong that we've managed it. I made chicken curry, with raita and rice, served with various chutney. (My guests were a bunch of runners - I needed to make something filling!) Then express apple tart for desert - both from my favourite cookbook put together by the French expat ladies of Shanghai. We then had lots of yummy cheese and some of the cookies that Henry and I made on Thursday.

Saturday morning was a big day in DB - the Discovery Bay 10km Run for Charity. The weather was perfect, and everyone from the Kipmovin team ran so well. A major achievement for some of the amazing ladies for whom this was there first 10km race ever!!!! And some great times from our more seasoned runners.

I have to be honest, I was a bit sceptical about participating - for those of you not into the running scene in Hong Kong, it's more of a community event rather than Hong Kong's premier running event of the year. However, it was such a lovely day. There were so many volunteers, so many supporters out on the course, and it was all for a great charity. When you see so many people out doing their best, and achieving things they never thought they could accomplish, it reminds you why we run in the first place. It's not all about winning or fast times, but most important, getting involved and having a great time!

The Kipmovin team - note the big smiles - that's because it's before the race.

This is a photo of quite probably the two sexiest runners on the day

Support crew

Lachlan got a prize - 9th place - great job!

Despite a tough race, I managed to win. Very lucky and congratulations to all the other girls - especially Emma who kept me fighting until the end. Great race!

Despite a hard race, these ladies aren't looking too bad!

The next stop was a trip to Stanley for our beautiful friend Isla's 3rd birthday!! She looked gorgeous in a tutu, and because her favourite things are sea creatures, and dolphins, so it was a sea themed party. 

Her mum did an AMAZING job catering the party. Perhaps party catering could be a new venture for her?

It was such a lovely afternoon and great to catch up with such good friends. 

The birthday girl! What a doll.

Blowing out the candles - in typical Australian fashion, the wind kept blowing them out.

Yummy kids lunch - macaroni, fairy bread and fruit skewers.

It's amazing how patient and quite kids will be if they know that there is cake coming

Jumping castle! So much fun.

Love that tutu!

The amazing home-made cake!

Henry's lips turned blue from too much fairy bread followed by too much cake. 

After we left the party, as if this was not a crazy day already, I headed off to pick up my race pack for the Unicef 1/2 marathon in two weeks time. Then, I had planned to go and pick up a new pair of race shoes. On the way there, I stumbled across an adidas store. And so, I ended up with two new pairs of running shoes!!! (Could this day get any better?) One new pair, (the asics) I will wear for shorter races, and the adidas shoes I will wear for the marathon. 

How fast do these shoes look?

These shoes are so hot! I'm thinking it's 2.55 marathon or faster!

I was super excited to get two new pairs of PINK shoes. Yay! I'm sure it will help me to run faster. 

On Sunday morning, in the spirit of racing like a lady, I put on my new pink asics, knee high pink compression socks, a pink bow in my hair, and even pink glitter nail-polish. I hoped it would help me run faster in the asics 10km road race in Tin Shui Wai. I can tell you, it did not. But hey, I looked great. 

Despite not running my best, it was a fun day and nice to hang out with all my Team Italia club mates. It rained and was windy, so not all that pleasant, and the race was in the middle of nowhere, but still I had fun. As a bonus, in true Hong Kong style, I got some cool prizes, and it is always nice to win the teams event!

One of my friends from my club said to me, that even though I hadn't run my best, it's still another brick going into a bigger wall. Each run still counts and you are moving closer towards you ultimate goal. I thought that was great!

Waiting for the 6.30am bus

No photo! Henry was so well-behaved. Despite the trying conditions. I think the mini snickers bar one of my friends gave him helped. 

On the trek home (Tin Shui Wai is a really long way away), we stopped for dumplings. And at the restaurant in Tung Chung, we ran into our very good friends. How fortuitous! 

After lunch, my great friend Kate and I had a little browse in Kate Spade and a coffee. Perfect way to spend a Sunday afternoon!

When I got home, Henry and I played Pirates. So fun!

I love these photos of him checking himself out. It melts my heart. He is so pleased with himself. 

He was trying to watch TV - not have a photo taken.

Overall, it was a very busy weekend, but a great one because it included lots of my favourite people in Hong Kong. I'm so lucky to have met so many great people here!

Vegan before 6... diet update

Last week Lachlan and I started a new diet - Vegan before 6pm. I thought I would give you an update.

So far, I do feel like I've lost a little weight. I'm certainly less bloated anyway. However, as far as my energy levels go, I feel like it's too early to tell. I've been running less than usual, and last week I was both jet-lagged and had the flu, and so it's difficult to say whether my low energy last week, or more energy this week is in anyway related to the diet.

Mmmmm.... tofu

At first, I found the diet easy to follow. I eat a lot of vegetables anyway, and so I didn't have to make too many changes. I even managed to drink my coffee black and unsweetened.

Vegan chilli... delicious!

However, by the weekend, I was craving meat and booze. On Friday night I tucked into steak and red wine. I fell off the wagon on Saturday, with a delicious, and HUGE Dim Sum lunch. On Sunday, I went the whole hog, and had McDonalds - very unlike me! I'm wondering if it's just because I'm getting used to the program, or whether my body is craving nutrients?

I have tried some crazy recipes though - crazy in the sense that they involve tofu as a substitute for normal ingredients, like milk. I've never been one to follow fads, and am not a patchouli scented earth-mother, so this goes a little against the grain for me.

I do have to admit though, a tofu smoothie goes down a treat. It's a lot better than it sounds, and even Henry will drink it! Lachlan was less keen on the chocolate tofu desert. To be fair, it was a little weird!

There's nothing like a tofu smoothie after a hard run!

My good helper 

Neither of us could taste the difference.

Chocolate tofu desert... a little weird.

Peng Chau Adventure Day

As an expat, I often feel that I should get out and experience all the great things that Hong Kong has to offer. Indeed, one of my favourite things about Hong Kong is that it is so diverse; before we moved, a friend told me that you could do and try everything you want here, albeit on a smaller scale. There are so many more opportunities and adventures to be had than if you'd just stayed at home.
So far this experience for me has proved to be true.
Nonetheless, it is still rather easy to slip into a routine and never get outside of that.
And so, Henry and I have developed the concept of "Adventure Days!"
We even have a song that we sing when we are getting ready for the aforementioned events;

"Adventure, adventure we're going on an adventure.
Adventure, adventure, we're going to have some fun! Fun! Fun! Fun!"
(This is a song best accompanied with clapping and arm waving, and Henry has coined the phrase "Funventure" which we use an an abbreviation.)

And so yesterday was Adventure Day to Peng Chau.

We were both very excited to catch the "other ferry" as Henry calls it. It takes about 10 minutes from Discovery Bay. But be aware, it left about 5 minutes earlier than scheduled! It was lucky we arrived early!

As far as adventure days go, it was fun and interesting. Here are some of the highlights;

1. Waiting for the "other ferry"; my first mum fail of the day. Right after I took this photo, Henry fell off the pylon he was balancing on, and hit the cement. He wasn't so happy.
You can see the "other ferry" coming into dock. With its open engine room, and open deck, it certainly has much more of a "adventuring" feel. Definitely made us feel much more intrepid and that we were branching out into the unknown!

2.  Mum fail #2; Shortly after this photo, I allowed Henry to kneel up on the seats and look out over the water, mainly in order to get a good photo. He could potentially have fallen in (though probably not). In my head, I was telling myself that I still remembered enough from my Bronze medallion training when I was 16, should my skills be required - trying to justify my actions.
I'm sure it was karma. There were no good photos, but at least he didn't fall.

3. The next highlight was when Henry went up to this bird, and said "Pleased to meet you!" Then blew it a kiss and put his arms out for a cuddle. 

4. Peng Chau certainly felt a lot more classic "Chinese" (Adventure Day success!); it had little winding streets with power-lines everywhere, and shops selling plastic junk. However, it was without the chaos of the mainland, and the fish market was indoors and the fish were kept refrigerated! Refrigerating raw meat is not otherwise a particularly Chinese concept.

5. We almost had lunch at this restaurant; This is clearly what I've been missing my whole life!

6. The final mum fail of the day, was during lunch. Of course we had to eat dim sum and it was pretty good, and super cheap. However, obviously I did not blow enough on the steaming hot dumplings that my starving child put whole into his mouth. Of course he screamed.
There was a lovely old Chinese lady that kept giving us tissues, showed Henry how to use a toothpick to stab his dumpling, and even went and found a fork for him. During the hot dumpling debacle, she suggested that the cure for a burnt mouth was to eat sugar. And so it came about that the restauranteur presented us with a bowl of sugar for Henry to consume. The crying stopped very quickly after Henry starting licking straight sugar from my chopsticks. Fail!

Note, in the last photo, you can see the white bowl in the middle of the other dishes. That is the sugar bowl. I do not recommend feeding it straight to your toddler in order to be polite to kind strangers. It DOES NOT make for a GREAT trip home!