Beijing China - Traffic, night lights and a bit of Christmas

I always have a great view of the traffic from the hotel I stay at - and I have yet to be disappointed.  There is always amazing amounts of vehicles moving around.
I arrived after mid-night on a Sunday, aka Monday, and we hit a traffic jam in to the center city at 1 something in the morning.
And there is always something interesting to wander and see during the day but at night everything lights up and glows - so many ways to make buildings stand out at night here - and then all the cheap lights everywhere else to just get your attention.
And despite the lack of Christmas as a culture, there are signs and decorations throughout the city - why not take advantage of that and then jump in to Chinese New Year as well - do it twice!

Beijing China - How many ways can you have TOFU

Beautiful sunny days this trip to Beijing - but also colder than normal with huge winter winds out of the north.
Went out to dinner for a "unique" experience - and that it was.  It was a "zen buddha" place - a very special place.  You come here for great celebrations, etc - we even had some monks running around at some of the family celebrations going on.
It is very stark but very chic at the same time.  And located in one of the "hot neighborhoods" of Beijing.
The whole menu is vegetarian.  Not a problem for me.  One nice feature of Asia restaurants is that they have pictures of all the food - so you can see what you are getting.
Now I knew from the start that it was all vegetarian.  When you look at the menu and read the translations almost every dish sounded like it had meat in it - and the pictures supported that.
Everything was made with some form of tofu that we don't have in the USA - my visual and experience with tofu is cubes or big blobs of white stuff.....not that way in China.
We had a table full of dishes - almost all contained a "tofu" reproduced meat.  It all looked like the real thing.  We had thin slices that you were sure were meat, chicken style chunks, etc - it was actually amazing.  And tasty as well.
Certainly something I won't forget.

Saint Paul MN - Post Thanksgiving celebration with the Mac Guys

Arrived back in MN for the return of the cold.  It was at least 50F every day on our trip to the East.
We got ourselves moving on Saturday and gathered a great crowd for some food, fun and lots of loud conversation.
A great finish to the Thanksgiving Week.

Thanksgiving 2012 East and Midwest - a bit of Stamford and a bit of Stillwater

East Coast - Stamford CT

Midwest - Stillwater MN

It couldn't have been a nicer day here on the East Coast - a nice warm and sunny November day.   And it appears it was much the same in the Midwest.
Always great to gather and enjoy the family and friends where ever they may be.

East Coast Thanksgiving - Theater and walks

A busy trip to CT this year.  Tuesday we loaded everyone up and headed in to the City to take in Annie  right in the heart of Times Square.
And we had to find lots of ways to entertain ourselves over dinner before we crossed the street for the show.
Eddie and Tommy have been joining me for neighborhood walks.  We have had the best weather ever for our yearly adventure.  Lucille even wandered the streets with us tonight.

New Haven CT - a bit of Christmas and a bit of Yale

Went for a drive and took in Christmas in Canada and the world headquarters of the Knights of Columbus - and got a big dose of their history as well.
Then took some time to drive around Yale.....and take all the knowledge all in.