You might remember this from last year: sometimes the Chinese government would do this thing where they'd give us a holiday, but we had to work a Saturday to make up for it. Happens here to. We're now enjoying Saturday #2 in a four-day weekend, but that meant we had to work 11 out of the last 12 days. Not fun for us, not fun for the kids. And we had to work on Christmas.
But we made it. Merry Christmas to all. Christmas day was fairly quiet for us; we saved our big celebrations for this weekend. And Grace got me this awesome coffee siphon which I have to share.
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| Here's the setup, all ready to go. |
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| Grind them beans. |
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| Coffee goes in this funnel-shaped container on the right. There's a cloth filter in the bottom. Hot water goes in the beaker on the left. |
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| Set the funnel in place and switch on the awesome little gas burner. |
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| When the water starts to boil, gentle push the funnel down so that the rubber gasket creates a seal. This is the cool part: hot air expands and pushes the water up into the upper chamber. Stir to mix in the coffee and let stand for a minute. |
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| When time's up, remove the heat. The air cools and contracts, creating a vacuum that pulls the water back down through the filter into the lower chamber. |
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| Finished. |
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| Pour. |
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| Enjoy. |
This is coffee geekery at its finest.
In other news, I took my students on a field trip to the library on Friday. Some of them told me that they'd never been to a library before! The Taipei Library Main Branch has a good-sized English-language collection, including reference books (OED, yes!). They also have a small "American Corner" with American travel books, books by American authors, a US road atlas, and two stations with laptops, Kindles, and an iPad. "Gift from the American People" say the stickers mounted next to each of these electronics. We went to McDonald's for lunch and then back to school. We watched "Crash Course" history videos on YouTube for the rest of the afternoon.
Yesterday was warm and sunny. Grace and I went to brunch at a nearby restaurant called Coda, then to the park. Came home, made coffee with the siphon for the first time, took it easy. In the afternoon, I rented a "YouBike" at a nearby subway station and met up with Grace on the riverside trail behind our place (it was a little tricky, but we found each other eventually). Grace was on her new silver bike (which we will post pictures of soon) and we pedaled our way along the river until we were almost out of the city. Came back as it was getting dark. Returned the bike and the cost was only $0.60. Had hotpot for dinner in the Gongguan neighborhood. Came home. Watched "Castle." Went to bed. Not a bad day.
Today it's cold and rainy. Relaxing at home right now. Will probably go out this afternoon. Church in the evening.
Happy New Year, everyone!
...and go Seahawks!
