Time to go shopping - I HATE crowds in line waiting to check out!!!

Ate "hot pot" with friends last night!!  Wow - ate too much AGAIN - thanks Pat for the comment, I replied too - check that out!

So what's a "Hot Pot"?  Chinese fondue!!  See the "Americanized" version below ...
 
You show up, then order the kind of "water" mix that you want.  I almost always insist on half "Hot" and half "not."  They usually have a divided huge bowl and half of the "hot pot" is spicy and half not spicy.  Spicy can be VERY spicy so I like the "other" side too for balance!!!  YIKES!!  Chinese can get as hot as any country I have been in - especially Sichuan food.

Then you cook everything at the table.  Some hot pot restaurants are flaming gas, right at the table, last night's was actually electric ... and just down the street!  The Flaming Gas hot pots would NOT be allowed in the U.S. and one of my friends last night said they aren't allowed in England either.

I usually make sure there are lots more vegies and different kinds of mushrooms than above.  VERY POPULAR here in China AND relatively cheap!!!

OH - right after the Doctor's check-up on Thanksgiving Day, Matthew and I stopped IMMEDIATELY (famished) at a favorite Vegetarian restaurant of his.  He is a Vegetarian, though not Vegan.  Matthew's an Aussie whose been living in China or Taiwan for over 13 years now and fluent in Chinese, of course.  A coordinator on the English teaching side, he's now about to begin a Masters in Chinese Literature!  Very interesting!

So I have been eating WAAAYYY too much - Oh, but it IS that season, eh?!?? 
SHOPPING BLACK FRIDAY IN THE U.S. of A!!!!  (That I don't miss - grin.)