End-of-semester dinner party

Last week already marked the end the semester for me and my classmates, but the Chinese students had to labour on for another week of exams. Many of them had their last exam today. Most students will leave this weekend to go home and celebrate Chinese New Year with their families. Some have to travel far, like Wen Xia (at far right above), who's from Xi'an, home of the famous terra-cotta army, two days by train. Most students can't afford to fly, even though it's just once a year that they visit their hometown.
I invited my Chinese student friends for a last dinner party at my place before everybody left for the 6-week vacation. It was again a feast of Chinese cooking, with several new dishes, like fish with pickled cabbage, and some old favourites. I prepared the liver soup which Xiao An taught me how to make. It turned out well, and I got a lot of praise for it.
The other people in this group all come from small towns or villages in Guangxi province, and are remarkably skillful cooks, with a lot of experience and knowledge of local products and how to prepare them. It's a joy to visit the market with these people. Their critical choices bring back the best what the market has to offer, and I learn a lot from just watching. The market vendors know me, of course, as one of the very few foreigners who buy here, and I can tell from their faces the curiosity as to who is accompanying me this time. Sometimes they already offer me the usual goods, but my expert helpers often lead me into new territory. Very exciting!