Well my absence from posting is partially due to a crazy travel schedule of late.  In September I spent a week in China visiting with our development team there.  Prior to the trip I had to madly go about and get my passport renewed and as I am Canadian that has a set of additional complications as well.  So a mad trip back to Canada, then a flight down to NY to get a Visa from the Chinese consulate, then off to Shanghai!  Woot!  I must say that the Canadian Passport office were incredibly helpful and friendly even

 I will have many pictures to share soon but the short precis here is that Shanghai is a first class, amazing city that is ready for business!  Our team there is simply top shelf and I am incredibly excited about working with them on various projects and of course spending time in Shanghai in the future.

 I do have to comment here on the food.  We went Native pretty much the entire trip and simply had increible food every single meal.  Even breakfast at a little corner store was great and unique!  It certainly was adventurous at times and defiantely very SPICEY but wow, am I ever spoiled now for chinese food!  *grin*

Shanghai was a showcase of many different styles of cooking.  We had Taiwanese, Schezeuan, Cantonese and even Shanghaiese!  Each had signature dishes but they all were served Family Style and typically the meal extended over a fairly long period of time.  The dishes typically were small, slightly larger than “Tapas” but there were many and one sampled across many of them.  It was an amazing way to eat and socialize and I can see how eating together is a critcal part of conducting business there.

Quick Update on the Birthday Bash.  The Ribs were EXCELLENT!  I had two grills going, one being my Gas Weber (Old Faithful) and a cheap Charcoal unit we picked up at Home Despot this summer.  I used natural lump charcoal and the heat was AMAZING..  almost too much really..  But the ribs did great in both cases.  Definately looking forward to doing that again.