She *still* really likes congee

Now that we live in the middle of the Twin Cities, it's a lot easier to try new restaurants.  Last night we stopped at Que Nha on University Avenue.  A light-rail station is literally just outside their front door & this is exactly the kind of business that will get all sorts of traffic when the trains start running.  A family-run, family-friendly place ... clean, well-decorated, with fast service.  We'd told Wynn that they had congee on the menu, and that's all she wanted to talk about on our short drive there...

This serving bowl is about 2/3 of a gallon...  just beautiful; we haven't seen so much meat in a serving of congee anywhere else on our travels.  Really a lovely sight & smell to behold on a gray, windy, cold day like yesterday.

Wynn had three bowls - I had one as well - and we still had plenty left over for breakfast today!

Monday in Mong Kok

Sleeping, all the way from Tokyo to Hong Kong

Our first morning in Hong Kong was spent walking around our neighborhood, getting our bearings, and starting to adjust our internal clocks, which are running about 14 hours off from the clock on the wall.

We're staying in Mong Kok, on the Kowloon side of Hong Kong. The neighborhood's claim to fame is its population density - about 360,000 people per square mile. To say that it's a lively place is definitely an understatement. I'm glad we did a trip to Tokyo last year; coming here first would have been overwhelming. But we're familiar and comfortable enough in big Asian cities that we can handle this. Actually, my initial reaction is that I absolutely love this place.

Mong Kok at Midnight

The Congee Shop Where we Ate this Morning

Don't ask us what it's called, because everything was in Chinese. It was packed with locals and tourists, which is typically a sign of a good place to eat. It was yummy. :-) Wynn liked when one of the cooks walked by with five roasted geese to hang in the window - and when the dishwasher lost control of the hose and ended up giving a shower to half the dining room. Everyone just laughed, and the owner got the mop.

Simple, but Delicious

Hello Kitty Christmas Display = Wynn's Happy Place

Dim Sum and Then Some

This morning we took the L to Chicago's Chinatown and had dim sum at the Phoenix. There were carts filled with all sort of goodies, but Wynn's favorite by far was a big bowl of congee - the rice porridge she'd eaten as a baby in China. She wolfed down the whole bowl, just the way she did in Nanning when we first adopted her.

Here she is skewering a spring roll ...

Then we spent the afternoon at the Shedd Aquarium. It's a gorgeous facility filled with sea creatures from all over the world. Wynn's favorites:

1. The touch screen displays (or anything with buttons to push while completely ignoring the fish) ...

2. The part where you could dress up like a penguin and go down the ice slide ...