Buying potatoes was easy enough... Jiangxi is a rather agricultural province, and as such fresh vegetables are always available. I enlisted the help of an especially diligent friend to peel the spuds, and then used one of the fine, uber-sharp cleavers that Chinese chefs insist on to quickly slice and dice all 25 potatoes into manageable cubes.

Boiling the spuds presented another problem. Not having the use of a deep, roomy stockpot, we opted for the biggest available container. Yes, that would be a wok. About 3/4 of the potatoes went in to wok, and the rest ended up in... the rice maker. I am happy to report that both methods worked fine -- the potatoes became properly mushy and ready to be mashed.

Except that.. we had no masher. To which household item did we turn to fulfill our needs? Yup, that would be an empty wine bottle, which I'm sure you can guess supplied a reasonable facsimile of a masher. Yeah, they were lumpy, but some people like 'em that way.

Whether or not you are impressed by our ingenuity and resourcefulness, know that our mashed potatoes turned out delicious, after we added copious amounts of butter and salt.

Leftovers 'taters, as is tradition in my family, became mashed potato pancakes the next morning. MMmmmm.

D. the Southern Chef again graced us with her melty majestic sweet potato marshmallow casserole. This dish is so rich and so good, I can't even tell you.

I commend Fi for pulling together this royal feast, which featured roast chicken, roast duck, stuffing, boiled potatoes, roast potatoes, ratatouille, a Japanese stew, croissants, a trifle, and countless other items. Having endured the ordeal of creating just one comfort dish from scratch, I can only sigh in appreciation of her efforts. Bravo!

My contents of my stocking revealed sweets (Dove is the only western chocolate brand to have made it over here), as well as porcelain kuaizi (chopsticks) and chopstick rests.

Though I missed my family and friends madly, it really was a wonderful way to celebrate Christmas.