Taco Night

One of the biggest changes for our family here in China has been meals. Mark and I have cooked most meals at home most of Alex’s life. We go out every so often, but we usually have dinner together at home talking about our day, what happened in our book the night before. Here, we eat in the cafeteria most meals. And that’s not bad, no dishes to wash or messes to clean up. But it’s not the same either, it’s loud, there are always lots of students around, sometimes we’re not crazy about our dinner options, and often we have friends join us for dinner (which is lovely, please don’t stop doing that).  It has changed the dynamic a bit though.

So Mark and I decided that as soon as we got into our permanent apartment (which should just be apartment now) we would cook a meal at home, something we all enjoyed. And slowly we (mostly me) decided that we should invite all our western friends over to enjoy it too.  I began planning and shopping, sourcing out western foods from the available options, and buying way too much cheese because I didn’t convert KGS to LBS correctly.

The second half of the Taco Night plan came together when Mark was talking to a friend about movies to show Alex.  The thing they both landed on was Fifth Element.  And it was decided that a movie night needed to happen, complete with popcorn and beer.

And so it become Taco, Movie, Popcorn night at Casa De Butala. 

Mark made homemade chips from the massive quantity of tortillas I overbought, and amazing guacamole. He made taco meat and all the fixings.  I made lemonade and iced tea and there were tons of beer options.

After dinner, it was movie time.  And after the movie, Alex went to bed and the grownups stayed up and drank and talked. Richard, Mark and James were all brave (stupid?) enough to drink baijiu, a type of Chinese liqour that is 52% proof.

All in all, I think Taco Night was a success, and will be repeated in the future, although the next Taco Night might really be a pizza night, or pasta night or who knows what.

I keep meaning to, and promise I will soon, take and post pictures of the apartment. You can see part of our dining room above. Maybe when I finish decorating for Christmas I’ll post the pictures.