East meets West

Lanzhou La Mian Somewhere in Puxi

2012-01-09T14:10:00.008+01:00

My bowl of delicious Lanzhou La Mian

I have been AWOL for quite a while, haven't I? I have stopped announcing to the whole world that I would be away before I would be away, does it not prove that I have other things to do with my life than spend it blogging?

Actually, I haven't had the time to blog, period. And with the Chinese New Year round the corner, I do not want to tempt fate by announcing on the WWW that my house would be empty. I was told that crime rates are particularly high in the city when the CNY approaches as many migrants return to their hometowns during this period and many would be hard pressed to do so bearing gifts of goods and cash. So if they hadn't accumulated enough in the months before, they may be tempted to steal, snatch, burglar or cheat - or risk going home looking like a failure.

As it was I left my house to my ayi (aka cleaning lady) in our absence and ended up firing her with an sms when I was skiing in the French Alps last month. So I am currently busy unpacking plus I have to do my own housework. Tough luck.

I might as well tell you the story lest I need to email the curious separately with it. I am normally a trusting person. I believe what most people tell me, mainly because I think that everyone should be responsible for their own thoughts, words and actions. So for many months now I have always believed all the excuses that my ayi had given me for not coming to work regularly during the periods I was away - even though I had paid her for it plus given her at least half the time off. Hub wouldn't stop telling me that I sucked at managing domestic help.

The Christmas holidays had been the last straw because not only did she not turn up to work on the days we agreed upon, she had taken to keeping my key even though I had forbidden her to do so. I just felt that this was a classic case of give an inch and take a mile. Since I no longer felt that I could trust her, I decided to terminate her services on the last day of the year.

The weeks before we left for France had been busy too because JW came over from Italy for a visit. I've also been going around doing things with my 2 favourite neighbours, not to forget catching up with friends from all over Shanghai before everyone broke for the holidays.

Not a very inspiring shopfront

On one such outing with a local friend and her best friend, I was brought to a Lanzhou La Mian eatery somewhere in Puxi for lunch. I have yet to find the courage to eat in a local place, but somehow I've managed to eat lanzhou la mian twice (and a third time not long after - on my own) in a few months.

Cutie bum pulling noodles very expertly

My fascination with Chinese Muslims probably helped toughen the stomach lining, plus don't spices help to some extent to kill germs? As if it were fated we were seated right in front of the cute young man pulling noodles for our lunch. The guy had a pair of strong hands not to mention a tight round bum. I made a comment at some point about those hands probably being good for a massage and he promptly offered to let us have a try. I know I sounded like a dirty old woman, but like I said I've always had a thing for these exotic-looking Chinese Muslim men. They made me think of Mirlanbek from such a long time ago...

With a plate of extra beef

The noodles were really quite good, very al dente, and so cheap. But all my shameless flirting didn't win me their secret recipe for the broth. Meanwhile I've discovered another eatery in another part of Puxi that I felt did an even better broth though the noodles were definitely better at cutie bum's.

The other lanzhou la mian shop where I ate solo

I feel that I am going to embark on a lanzhou la mian adventure here in Shanghai. And why not? I have decided that I must see more of Shanghai a pied in 2012.

And Happy New Year, by the way!

Sarsi/Root Beer Cake

2011-11-15T11:19:00.011+01:00

Sarsi Cake

Sarsi is one soft drink that you either love or hate. My Chinese friends said it reminded them of some toothpaste they used to use in their childhood. I only used Lion toothpaste when I was a kid and it tasted of grape or strawberry. Hub said it tasted like medicine. Anyway sarsi is quite like root beer (I believe the herb sarsaparilla goes into making both drinks) and I love root beer.

I decided to experiment with the drink and used it to bake a Sarsi Cake this morning. I used the recipe for yesterday's Light Chocolate Cake, substituting the hot water with the sarsi. The cake turned out to be less tall and had craters on the surface (probably caused by the gas in the drink). The texture was also quite different, I would call it a cross between cake and kueh.

You could taste the sarsi in the cake, but it wasn't strong. I thought of making a sarsi-flavoured icing to go with it, but changed my mind as we've been eating cake almost every day this week. The kids are hyper enough as it is.

After I've finished baking the cake, I cycled from the house (down the path I've been meaning to try) to the kids' school. It took about 25 minutes and was actually quite an easy journey, though I've been sworn at a few times for being on the wrong side of the road. Parked my bike in the school as 3 teachers have already had their bikes stolen at the new mall opposite, so I wasn't going to take any chances.

Shopped at Gap Kids and then ate a bowl of beef noodles in a Taiwanese eatery. I must do this more often.

Sarsi Cake :

125g flour

1 tsp baking powder

100g sugar

100g butter or margarine (softened)

2 eggs

2 tbsp soluble cocoa powder

125ml sarsi or root beer

Preheat the oven to 180°C/365°F.

Sift the flour and baking powder together into a large mixing bowl.

Make a well in the middle and break the eggs into it.

Add the sugar and butter on top of the flour (or the sugar may cook the eggs).

Mix the cocoa powder and sarsi together in a separate bowl and pour into the large mixing bowl.

Whisk everything together till you get a smooth batter.

Pour into a paper-lined 20-cm round mould and bake in the hot oven for around 30 minutes.

Craters will usually form in this cake because of the gas in the sarsi so do not be alarmed. The inside of the cake may also have a slight honeycomb structure.

Let the cake cool for a few minutes in its mould then turn it over onto a cooling rack to be cooled further.

Light Chocolate Cake

2011-11-14T09:50:00.008+01:00

Light Chocolate Cake

The Babies have gone out of the house to play without permission. So I've locked them out. Will not let them in until the sky turns dark and the air cold. When you cannot cane your children to punish them, you have to devise other ways to get their attention and help them remember your instructions. And while they are waiting outside, you roast a chicken and cook rice with ginger and garlic so that they can smell the aroma coming from the house...Will they or will they not get to eat dinner?

My mother would tell you that she never had such a hard time bringing us up. Are kids today more of a pain, or am I an ineffective parent?

I had the piano tuned this afternoon. The Chinese piano Tuner came by bus and walked who-knows-how-many kilometres into my compound. An hour's work for slightly more than 20 euros. I offered him a glass of orange juice and a slice of freshly baked Light Chocolate Cake. He told me I was kind and beautiful. I should consider distributing cake, it seems good for my self-esteem.

My kids like cake but will usually not eat more than a slice, maybe 2, at a time. They each had 3-4 slices of this cake today and I had to stop them from eating more of it or they'd surely fall sick. I adapted it from Trish Deseine's I Love Cake and she meant it when she called her cake "Léger". It was a light and simple chocolate cake, a recipe to be kept and used again and again.

Incidentally, I was not concentrating and accidentally used 4tbsp of cocoa powder and 2 tsp of baking powder - but the result was very good, so maybe in the future I should continue with this mistake?

Light Chocolate Cake (adapted from Trish Deseine's I Love Cake) :

120g butter or margarine (softened)

120g sugar

2 eggs

120g flour

2 tbsp cocoa powder dissolved in 2 tbsp hot water

1 tsp baking powder

20-cm round mould

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Put all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl and whisk till you get a smooth batter.

Pour into a paper-lined 20-cm round mould and bake for 25 minutes.

Let it cool for a few minutes and de-mould the cake on a cooling rack.

Grilled Vegetables with Couscous

2011-11-14T05:47:00.010+01:00

Grilled Vegetables with Couscous

Hub worked through the weekend and even when we ate out/in with other people they were either former or current colleagues. The thing about Shanghai is that though it's a big city, it's a small world. You always have someone from your past turning up at some point to live/work there as well, or a friend turning up for work or visit. So if he wasn't stuck on the computer or screaming away in a conference call, he would be talking shop with the men we had lunch/dinner/brunch with over the weekend.

Coming back from brunch on Sunday, we discovered that the Teenager had gone A.W.O.L.. He didn't call to ask for permission to leave the house, and we didn't find his note till a few hours later. This was the first time that this has happened - and just a few weeks after I told a few mothers that my son loved staying in his room and had never asked to go out.

I know that it's normal for Teenagers to want to hang out with each other when they can. At the same time I'm starting to worry that they may get up to no good. Shanghai can be a very dangerous place for expat teenagers.

My instinct was to scream, get him to come home immediately, ground him for 3 weeks etc - but I resisted and decided to wait for him to come home. I worked out my speech and it contained the following grand lines :

he's still a minor under our responsibility, therefore he needs to ask for our permission before he goes out. And that by talking to us, not leaving messages around the house;
we need to know who he's seeing, the person's phone number and address;
I'm not the first mother to set this rule, surely he needs to have done reasonably well at school in the week before he's allowed to go out;
a curfew helps protect him (and prevents him from being a nuisance to others) for I didn't give birth to him, give up my career etc to have something happen to him;
I expect him to behave himself no matter where he is and that should start with his attitude towards his mother at home.

I should also work on my BGR speech, but it'll have to be for another day as he has a short attention span and may already not be able to absorb the above points. I told Hub that I do not want a confrontation with my Teenager, I want to be able to talk with him. Besides, he may just be motivated enough by these hang out sessions to want to work harder at school.

Our guest on Saturday evening has 3 kids too of which 2 are twins. The boys were late bloomers who after a shaky lazy start are starting to do well academically in addition to being good musicians and sportsmen. I can only hope that something positive will rub off on my boy before it's too late (meaning before the IB Diploma in the short term).

I've kept the menu simple for dinner : Salad with Tandoori Prawns, Grilled Vegetables with Couscous, Steak and Chocolate Fondant. Hub really enjoyed the couscous, which was like a winter version of the Taboulé.

Before adding the fresh herbs

Grilled Vegetables with Couscous :

240g medium dehydrated couscous grains

360ml hot vegetable or meat stock

1 tbsp salted butter

pepper to taste

olive oil

1 red bell pepper

1 yellow bell pepper

1 carrot

1 fennel bulb

1 celery stalk

1 small red onion

1 zucchini

1 red chilli

3 garlic cloves

salt and pepper to taste

fresh basil leaves

fresh flat leaf parsley

fresh mint leaves

3 cherry tomatoes

juice of 1 lemon

Preheat the oven to 190°C.

Chop the vegetables into bite-sized pieces. Spread them out in an ovenproof dish and drizzle olive oil generously over them. Add salt and pepper to taste. Bake in a hot oven till they are cooked (but still crunchy), turning them over half-way through the cooking.

Turn on the grill and brown the vegetables.

Place the couscous grains in a large salad bowl. Pour the hot stock over them. Leave for a few minutes till the grains have absorbed the liquid, add the butter and fork through the grains to fluff them up.

When the vegetables are nicely grilled, place them on top of the couscous. Chop the fresh herbs and tomatoes and add to the dish. Squeeze a lemon over everything.

Mix just before serving, adding more olive oil if necessary.

Fondant de Nathalie

2011-11-11T08:20:00.018+01:00

Fondant de Nathalie

I woke up this morning making great plans for the day e.g. cycling on the pathway along the river and seeing where that would lead me to. Have always wondered what I would find at the end of the path. No cars are allowed on it so we've always turned just before.

The sun was shining so the day looked promising. I walked out of the house and stopped. It was so cold.

16 years in Europe (including 6 months in a very snowy Rochester, NY) and I do not think that I've managed to embrace the cold. The mind spent the day cycling outside the house, but the body stayed indoors. The men arrived this morning to repair the heater so now I have heating going and then a new leak appeared. No showers till they come to repair it on Monday. But no worries, I have another 4 showers/bath in the house. No doubt once we start using them more leaks will be discovered. I do not know how many of these guys they have on the payroll, but when they constructed these houses they probably made sure they would give them enough work to do for years to come.

Hub's colleague and friend from Germany (but he's French-Serbian) would be dining chez nous tomorrow. Bottles will be uncorked and I am expected to furnish a few bites. I haven't gone grocery shopping this week since the car's gone, and will have to make do with my end-of-the-world food stock. Incidentally it's 11/11/11 today and the Chinese will be celebrating what they call "Singles' Day". Cheesy, huh?

I had all the ingredients required for a Fondant de Nathalie in Trish Deseine's I Love Cake book. It is actually almost like my own fondant recipe. This calls for overnight preparation wherever possible, whereas I usually make mine to be eaten on the spot. So I've gotten tomorrow's dessert out of the way and can concentrate on the rest of the menu.

What I really want is to blog about a recipe from the book. Because this book has been offered to me by a few precious friends when I left Modena, namely fellow members of my cooking club. JW will be visiting me in Shanghai next Saturday, by the way. We should be doing a spot of cooking together when she's here, which could include a pasta-making session with a few neighbours.

I've reduced the egg and the sugar. The fondant turned out really well and was a hit with both guest and family.

Fondant de Nathalie (adapted from I Love Cake) :

200g dark chocolate

200g butter

200g sugar

4 eggs

1 tbsp flour

Preheat oven to 190°C/375°F.

Melt the chocolate and butter in the microwave oven.

Stir in the sugar and set aside to cool slightly.

Using a wooden spoon stir in an egg at a time.

Incorporate the flour and pour the batter into a paper-lined 20-cm round cake mould.

Bake for 22 minutes. The centre should still be slightly wobbly.

Remove the cake immediately from the mould and leave to cool on a wire rack.

Best consumed the next day.

Virgin Voyage on the Shanghai Metro

2011-11-11T03:04:00.010+01:00

First stop Huamu Lu (line 7)

I've been in Shanghai 10 months and regret to say that I've never gone on its metro - until yesterday. It's not that I do not need to take the train (with Shanghai being such a big city), but I do not have a metro station within walking distance of my house. Nor any bus stops come to think of it.

To get around I depend on Hub's driver (when he's available) or the taxi. Sometimes I cycle to the supermarket when I'm really desperate (and end up eating 麻辣火锅).

Hub's away again this week (and with him the driver) and I had a coffee morning to attend at the younger kids' school yesterday. Near the school a new metro station (huamu lu, line 7) has just opened together with the Kerry Parkside mall and hotel. This gave me the idea to take a taxi to school and then make my virgin voyage on the Shanghai Metro on said line. As it was, a group of ladies were meeting for lunch at a Singaporean restaurant in Minhang. I arranged to meet SW at the lines 2 and 10 interchange so that we could make our way there together.

A few months ago there was an accident in the metro near Yuyuan due to a signalling problem. A train entered into another one creating some chaos and injury. I've also read about how the trains tend to be very packed during peak hours. Added to the general lack of civility among the Chinese, it didn't make riding on the system particularly appealing.

Not a soul at 10am

10am on a Thursday morning was a good time to try out the metro though. There wasn't a soul at the Huamu Lu stop (it being the final/first station), I already hold a public transportation card (used it sometimes for the taxis), the station was clean, brightly lit and the signs simple and visible.

As the train went along, it started picking up more and more passengers but it was still not too crowded. I changed at Longyang Lu for line 2 and then at Nanjing Dong Lu for line 10. So far so good. The trains were quite clean and the system seemed efficient. And it was so cheap : 8 yuan for almost an hour spent travelling on it.

However we still needed to hail a cab to reach our destination. The network is still not as dense as say in Paris or in London. Or you may need to know the bus routes.

People started moving, train must be coming

On the way back, the trains were really packed and it was only about 3:30pm. I hung on to my bag for dear life and as I was waiting to get onto a coming train (with the Chinese around me starting to crowd the door), I reminded them to have the courtesy to let those inside the train to alight first before we started to rush in. I just felt I had to do it, otherwise from what I've observed on my trip out they just do not have this reflex.

A blind man walked through the train with a helper, playing the harmonica. Most people just pretended that they didn't see him (now who's blind?), some even lowering their heads when they passed. Even if you do not wish to give him anything, you can try to appreciate his playing. In my carriage, 2 European (I think they were Dutch) men and myself were the only ones to drop a coin into the cup. In fact the men actually gave them a 5-euro note, though I'm not sure it may be of any use to them.

Train's almost coming to a stop

I was standing next to 2 young Italian men. They kept making comments about the Chinese girls (or rather their silhouettes) around them. At one point, they were wondering about what Liujiazui was about and I told them (in Italian) that it was the financial centre. You should have seen their faces.

The experience has been a positive one on the whole and I am impressed with the metro system. Wish I could have easy access to it for surely the way I live in Shanghai would be different if that should be the case.

Chicken Wings Braised in Chinese Hua Diao Wine

2011-11-09T04:26:00.011+01:00

Chicken braised in Hua Tiao Wine

The girl who calculated my fortune said that I wasn't meant to do business because I was too "nice". The kind who wouldn't dare sell anything to the friends for a profit. In other words I'm no entrepreneur.

I was therefore feeling a little awkward when I found myself last evening in a beautifully restored old house in the former French Concession, at a wine tasting dinner that turned out to be a test session organised by a newly set-up wine investment company in Shanghai.

We were 6 : Hub, myself, the American sommelier, the Scottish manager, Hub's married Italian colleague and his lovely and magnetic Shanghainese girlfriend MY. There was also a Chinese girl serving us and a Chef à domicile newly hired and being tested.

They have been in business for quite a long time, even in Singapore, and have arrived in Shanghai a few months ago (everyone comes to Shanghai soon or later). They hope to find investors for good Australian wine. Investors are (rich) people who would buy the wine, have the bottles stored for up to 15 years if not more, not drink the wine, expect the price to go up (hopefully by a lot), and who would finally sell everything at a profit to someone else (who may or may not drink the wine).

Most of the people in the room (meaning except us) were seasoned investors and business people. They don't just like things. When they are interested in something (e.g. sex toys, lingerie, art, cars, whiskey...), they usually also want to make money with it.

I want to get rich, of course. But I have a difficult time trying to imagine buying wine and not drinking it. Or a nice painting and not hanging it up on my wall. I have nothing against sex toys, but I would prefer not to have to buy it in front of 20 other people in the same room. And I'm sure business'd be great when you round up a couple of guys in a room, throw in a few Chinese girls lounging around in scanty lingerie and next thing you know a couple of wives, mistresses and girlfriends get a new set of something sexy.

Anything is possible and there is a lot of new money here in Shanghai. People are bored and they do not know how to spend it. We should try to cash in - just don't ask me how. Ask them.

Dinner was kept simple so that the wines would not be overwhelmed by the food. But there was no real effort to pair the food with the wines either. Conversation flowed rather easily, especially when you have such an interesting character as the manager (between his family's and his own experiences) and the alluring MY.

I've mentioned her in one of my earlier blog posts. We met a few months ago at a company dinner held literally in "her" arena. We are actually of the same age, though of course I'm fat, dowdy and useless next to MY who's tall, slim and pretty like a model, very confident, exudes sexuality whether in gesture or parole (a couple of smartly inserted sexual innuendos always work well with the men, especially European men, you can literally see their minds and other body parts working over time), has a successful career and men running to her for her sexy person, business acumen/partnership, lovely company or all of the above.

Hub asked me if I was jealous (I guess I should be if I were not, I mean when your Hub asked you a question like that it meant he thought that you ought to be, don't you think so?). I think I can honestly say that I'm not. At my age, I have learnt to accept that there are all kinds of people on earth, some better, some worse off. I am envious though, because she seems to have everything going for her, while I'm just a housewife doing nothing exciting except growing fatter and fatter. And even then I'm not doing a good job (as Hub likes to tell me) for my kids are not brilliant academically and my youngest has been really mischievous lately (surely my fault).

But in this macho world I think it's good to see women like MY holding their own. Make the guys salivate, run to you with their tails between the legs, run the show and enjoy it at the same time. This girl smokes cigars, drinks, dances etc. She sounds intelligent, has business acumen and lots of guts. I only wish she could have better taste in men.

Keeping to the theme of wine, though not investment grade, I made Chicken Wings Braised in Hua Tiao Wine today. I've been meaning to use the pyrex dish I bought some time back and this seemed like a good time. I cooked the dish entirely in the oven. If you have a gas stove, a claypot would do great.

Chicken Wings Braised in Hua Tiao Wine :

a dozen chicken wings

30g ginger (finely sliced)

3 garlic cloves (halved)

2 tsp sesame oil

3 pieces black fungus (soaked in hot water - will become quite big)

60ml (or more) chinese rice wine (hua tiao)

200ml chicken stock

1 tsp salt

Heat up the oven to 190°C.

Dry roast the ginger and garlic in a pyrex casserole in the hot oven till fragrant.

Add sesame oil to brown the ginger and garlic.

Cook the chicken wings in the sesame oil till they render their own fat.

Add in the black fungus (cut into smaller pieces), the wine, salt and the chicken stock.

Cover the pyrex dish with its lid and simmer in the oven till the chicken wings are tender.

Adjust seasoning, and drizzle more wine over the dish.

Could be eaten immediately or cooled so as to have the fat removed. It actually tastes (and smells) even better reheated.

Gai See Hor Fun 鸡丝河粉

2011-11-04T06:29:00.006+01:00

鸡丝河粉

I made a Vietnamese Beef Pho one evening and a roast chicken the next and found myself with some leftover chicken breast, beef stock and flat rice noodles. Images of Gai See Hor Fun 鸡丝河粉 started to flash before me so that was what I made myself for lunch.

I grew up more or less with 2 versions of this dish : flat rice noodles in clear soup and flat rice noodles in dark gravy. And have somehow always preferred the latter. So it was the dark gravy version that I will blog about. We usually use the thinner flat rice noodles to make this dish, but I had to make-do with whatever I could find here, of course. So fresh medium-broad rice noodles'll have to do.

Flat Rice Noodles and Shredded Chicken Meat in Dark Gravy (serves 1) :

a piece of fresh ginger

2 garlic cloves

1 tbsp sesame oil

200ml meat stock

2 tsp light soy sauce

2 tsp dark soy sauce

1/2 tsp fish sauce

2 tsp small rock sugar

salt and pepper to taste

2 tsp cornstarch dissolved in 1-2 tsp water

flat rice noodles (cooked and drained)

chicken meat (cooked and shredded)

bean sprouts (blanched)

spinach (blanched)

fresh chilli

fried shallots

Pound the ginger and garlic into a rough paste. Fry the paste in the sesame oil in a small sauce pan till it turns fragrant.

Pour in the stock. Followed by the sauces and rock sugar. Stir to mix well. Taste to adjust the seasoning, adding salt or sugar if necessary.

Prepare the serving plate. Fill it with the cooked and drained flat rice noodles. Top with the blanched bean sprouts and spinach.

Dip the chicken meat for a minute in the gravy still cooking on the stove. Remove, shred and garnish the noodles with.

Stir the cornstarch into the gravy to thicken it. Remove from the heat and pass the gravy through a sieve.

Pour the gravy over the noodles. Add chilli and fried shallots if desired.

涟 is my new nickname

2011-11-04T02:42:00.004+01:00

涟

lian (2)

As you know, I am Lotus. A flower that is associated with the Goddess of Mercy, a very useful plant that can be used almost entirely. It has stood me well all these years, if giving me a little of a burden which I have assumed quite willingly before.

But I am now entering a phase in my life that is lacking in the water element and I need to change my name in order to create some balance in my fate.

For a short while I will therefore be known as 涟 - ripples. Say it aloud, associate it with me.

Jade on 36, Shanghai

2011-11-02T15:09:00.009+01:00

The kitchen @ Jade on 36

I just turned 39. Or 40 if you listened to my mum (who's Chinese - not that I'm not, but...). Anyway it gave Hub the occasion he had been waiting for to try out the champagne brunch at Jade on 36 in the Shangri-La Hotel in Pudong.

We were not supposed to eat another buffet till we've lost some weight. But Hub had been tempted by the caviar and free-flow alcohol while I wouldn't mind collecting a few more points on my Shang Rewards card. So he got us a table next to the window giving us a 36th-floor view of the Huang river. You will notice that unlike other husbands he didn't dare tell the restaurant that it was my birthday - for fear that we would get one of those goose bump-producing all-staff-sing-happy-birthday-to-Lotus scenarios.

View of the river, the Bund and the other half of the hotel

I must admit that things were a little strained between us in the past few weeks. We have been rubbing each other up the wrong way more than usual lately and nobody felt ready to back down. It doesn't help that he was trying to make us drink soup every evening (as part of said diet) and we (as in the rest of the family) are really getting quite sick of it. Seeing your husband stuck to the WC on his iPhone first thing in the morning when you were running around getting the kids ready for school doesn't help improve your feeling of bien-être towards him either, and when he actually opened his mouth to ask you why you couldn't be quieter...Maybe you get the picture.

Then the French Presidential Elections are round the corner and the French are more-than-ever interested in politics at the moment. Hub and his family have always been peeved that I've some sort of partiality for Sarkozy (which I don't, but you just need to rub them up the wrong way when you see how they can get on their high horses when it comes to this), and would take any opportunity to take me to task for it.

The dining hall

During brunch, while sipping yet another glass of Moët & Chandon, Hub started telling me about how horrible Sarko was (again). I answered in turn that his policies aside, I actually liked him for being true to himself e.g. never bothering to hide his pretty wife, penchant for expensive watches or filthy rich friends. The French have such a thing for never discussing the private lives of their politicians that most of them would indulge in all kinds of weird things behind public scrutiny only presenting a certain face to the world. And that's supposed to be good?

You should see his reaction. He ticked me off : I was shallow, had no reading of politics, how could I claim to have studied politics, I could say such rubbish to the driver but not to him blah blah blah. On my birthday, in a very expensive French restaurant on the 36th floor of the Shangri-La Hotel in Pudong. Was that the way to treat a birthday girl?

Some of the appetisers

That aside, I would recommend the brunch. They had quality offerings that included foie gras, grilled scallops, sashimi, salads, smoked ham, beef tartare canapés, raw oysters, king crab legs, cooked prawns, caviar...and you get to enter the kitchen to choose your mains : roast wagyu beef (a little too cooked), lobster, rack of lamb, veal shank, grilled goose breast, seared cod...to be accompanied by truffle risotto, gratin dauphinois, grilled peppers etc.

Lobster & cod main course

You get free-flow champagne, red and white wines, water, porto and even coffee. There was also a cheese trolley.

Crèpe Suzette

For dessert, there was an ice cream stand where you can also order a crèpe suzette. It wasn't too bad, lots of orange juice and couldn't really taste the alcohol - the way I like it. Another crepe stand where you can have your crepe prepared with other fillings. A selection of desserts like panna cotta, opéra, mille-feuille, fresh fruit etc were on display in the cellar. I found them so-so however. I am a bit difficult when it comes to French pastries.

The bill came up to nearly 1600rmb for the 2 of us. A reasonable price for a brunch of this quality though expensive if you should indulge in it too often. Meanwhile it's back to the zuppa for now. I still haven't lost any weight, thank you for asking.

Jade on 36

Shangri-La Pudong

33 Fu Cheng Road, Pudong
Shanghai 200120
China
Tel : +86 21 6882 8888

Ham Flower Rolls @ ABC Cooking Studio, Shanghai SWFC

2011-10-31T07:31:00.012+01:00

Flower bread Rolls with Ham

I came across the ABC Cooking Studio the last few times I lunched at the SWFC and had always wanted to try it out. However it's not fun doing things like that on one's own so when my 2 neighbours Judy and Fei invited me to join them to try out bread making at said studio I didn't hesitate.

I was not surprised to discover that the cooking studio's a Japanese outfit. Apparently a wildly popular women-only import. It was bright, colourful and functional, with an all-glass shop front that would allow passers-by to watch what's going on inside. You are invited to use the free lockers to the right of the entrance to keep your handbag and shoes in exchange for an apron and a pair of slippers. They do not wash the aprons too often, by the way.

The hands-on classes have to be reserved in advance and class sizes are small. The instructors have been reasonably well-trained and would conduct the lessons only in Mandarin (except for one or 2 who could speak Japanese - mainly for communicating with the Japanese Manager). They are paid very local rates though - 50rmb for 5 hours and 100rmb for 8 hours (according to a recruitment poster in the shop).

You need to be a member before you are allowed to join the classes. They offer 3 trial lessons to choose from i.e. cake making, bread making or cooking and once you become a member you are expected to complete, say, all the classes under basic bread making before you are allowed to proceed to classes under advanced bread making.

Since we are not total beginners, we found the rule a little ridiculous. But the Japanese didn't become successful because they are given to one's whims and fancies so they would tell you that their's a tried and tested industrial learning process, not to be tampered with by a few bored housewives.

Since we just wanted to find something interesting yet educational to do together, the 3 of us decided to sign up for 6 more classes, which would add to our current list of activities which include badminton, lunches and visiting food/plant markets.

Actually Judy is already a good baker so between copying her movements and listening to the instructor I baked my bread and forgot to take notes. We had to do own washing during the lesson which probably helped keep costs reasonable. There were 2 types of ovens in the studio : one set at 45°C and used mainly for proofing bread dough and the Toshiba ones for baking and even steaming.

Ham Flower Rolls :

Bowl A :

75g bread flour (high gluten)

1 tbsp sugar

2/3 tsp dry yeast

1 egg (beaten, about 26g)

70ml water

Bowl B :

75g bread flour

1/3 tsp salt

15g unsalted butter (softened at room temperature)

6 round pieces of cooked ham

egg wash

mayonnaise (optional)

Add flour into bowl A. Followed by the sugar on one side and the yeast next to the sugar. On the other side of the bowl (with the flour in between), add the egg. Pour the water onto the yeast.

Add flour into bowl B. Followed by the salt and butter.

Mix the ingredients in bowl A with a wooden spoon. When you start to see holes in the dough, add the content of bowl B into it. Continue to mix with the wooden spoon till you get a dough.

Turn the dough out on a clean and dry working surface, using a scraper to scrap out any dough/flour in the bowl. Knead the dough till it doesn't stick to the working surface any more, using the scraper if necessary to help pick up the dough stuck to the table.

Form a ball with the dough and place it in a bowl smooth side up. Cover with cling wrap and proof it in a 45°C oven for 25 minutes.

Flour a finger and poke it into the dough. If the hole doesn't close up, the dough is ready for shaping. Gently press out the air and form the dough into a ball again, tucking in the sides at the bottom. Divide into 6 portions. Shape each portion into a ball and place them in a baking tray always smooth side up. Cover with cling wrap and a wet cloth. Proof in the 45°C oven for 10 minutes.

Using your fingers flatten and smooth out each ball till it's big enough to hold a slice of the ham. Roll up from the bottom and pinch the edges close. Fold the roll into half (using a finger in the middle of the roll to help sustain it) and slice it into 2 about 2/3 of the way (at the part that is folded). Open up the dough and you'll get a flower roll with visible layers.

Gently brush with egg wash and drizzle mayonnaise over the roll (if you wish). I didn't use any mayonnaise as I do not like it. Return to the baking tray and cover with the cling wrap and wet towel. Proof in the slightly warm oven for 20 minutes.

Bake in a hot 185°C oven for 13 minutes. Best eaten hot.

I've also made a version with pork floss at home, worked out just as well.

ABC Cooking Studio, SWFC Shanghai

浦东世纪大道100号上海环球金融中心2楼, 近东泰路

麻辣咸鸡 Ma La Salted Chicken

2011-10-29T14:46:00.002+02:00

麻辣咸鸡

This morning we drove to Baoshan which is about an hour from our home so that the men could catch the Lake Malaren Golf Shanghai Masters 2011 at the Lake Malaren Golf Club. The Teenager's school had a few tickets to give away and we grabbed them.

There were apparently quite a few famous Golf Pros in the competition e.g. Rory McIlroy, Anthony Kim, Noh Seung-yul, Ian Poulter, Hunter Mahan, Geoff Ogilvy, Lee Westwood, Padraig Harrington...all fighting for the 2 million USD top prize. One of my regrets about Italy certainly would be losing the chance to become a successful golf Pro's mum. When we were living next to the Modena Golf and Country Club the boys used to train and play there and we've been told by their instructors that they had talent. Moving to Shanghai killed whatever talent they had for golf in the bud what with golf being such a very expensive and elite sport here. Irony's that we actually live next to the Tomson Golf and Country Club - but couldn't afford to play/train there.

While the boys were following the Pros in the competition, we girls did a spot of shopping at the Lake Malaren Outlet next door. This Baoshan neighbourhood is literally covered in "European-style" construction. Villas and apartments are sprouting up everywhere each one looking more luxurious and expensive than the last one. The Outlet however is crap - another example of Chinese plans always looking better on paper than in reality. Even on a Saturday it was quite empty and the shops had almost nothing to sell. We managed to buy a few items though - a woollen skirt (supposedly some Parisian brand), a pair of Converse shoes, Betty Boop sports shoes and Nautica swimming trunks.

The highlight of our day was our first time eating in a cheap Lanzhou (Chinese Muslim) eatery. I thought that there weren't other restaurants around (which wasn't true as I would discover later) so I dragged the driver and the Girl to the "only" eating place I could find for a late lunch.

They did a good thing hiding the kitchen from public view while the dining area itself was messy but looked reasonably clean. The prices were really low (for us) : 5 rmb for a plate of egg fried rice, 9 rmb for a small bowl of beef noodle soup, 7 rmb for noodles in spring onion oil. The driver said that the same things used to cost much lesser not that long ago though. And he paid for lunch!

I have never eaten in such a very "local" place since we moved to China because I'd been so afraid of falling sick. But when you thought you had nothing else to eat you discover that you were not that afraid of having a stomach upset after all. And I do so love noodles of any kind.

I also couldn't resist the sight of Chinese Muslim men in white caps. For some reason they fascinate me. The low prices probably helped, I was curious to see how such cheap food would taste like.

Quite good's the verdict. The egg fried rice was oily but tasty, the rice cooked al dente and the egg well-mixed with the vegetables. The noodles in spring onion oil was very oily but quite yummy and even came with small slices of beef and a small bowl of hot soup that tasted of beef and spices. I could get really used to eating so cheaply - if I do not die of a stomach upset after this meal. Actually quite unlikely as I also drank a bottle of Coca Cola during the meal to help clean out the stomach.

This set me thinking that I've yet to post my Ma La Salted Chicken dish. Inspired by our lunch at our hostel in Hangzhou. It was a chicken dish that came in a big bowl filled with a skinny whole chicken chopped into pieces, covered in a very salty clear soup and topped with red chillies, leeks and whole szechuan peppercorns.

I made mine using a combination of methods : first poaching the chicken pieces Hainanese chicken-style, reducing the broth and finally frying the leeks, chillies and peppercorns in hot oil and then pouring them over the chicken in its broth just before serving.

Ma La Salted Chicken :

1 whole chicken (chopped into pieces) or a few chicken thighs (separated)

salt and pepper

a large piece of fresh ginger

5 garlic cloves (bashed)

spring onions

chicken stock

vegetable oil

fresh ginger (sliced)

3-4 garlic cloves (halved)

1-2 thin leeks (cut into 3-4 each)

1-2 dozen(s) whole red chillies

1 tbsp szechuan peppercorns

Rinse and pat dry the chicken pieces. Rub salt and pepper very generously all over them.

Bring a pot of stock (just enough to cover the chicken pieces) to boil with the ginger, garlic and spring onions. Add the chicken pieces and when the stock starts to boil again, lower the heat to the lowest and cover the pot. Simmer the chicken for about 20-30 minutes.

Remove the chicken pieces and put them in a bowl of cold water for 10 minutes. Remove and drain. Set aside.

Reduce the stock. Ideally it should be quite salty. Put the chicken pieces in a serving bowl and cover with the stock.

When ready to serve, heat up some oil till sizzling in a frying pan and fry the ginger, garlic, leeks, peppercorns and chillies till fragrant. Pour over the chicken pieces and serve hot. They should not be removed as you fish out the chicken pieces since they add flavour to the stock.

Mine will require improvement as the chicken pieces were too juicy and the stock not salty enough. I could also have been more generous with the garnishing.

Cream of Porcini (Crème aux Cèpes)

2011-10-20T14:34:00.012+02:00

Cream of Porcini

Lunched with a Chinese friend AD yesterday and she told me about a friend of hers who seemed to be really good at fortune telling. The girl has apparently predicted extra-marital relationships, divorces, pregnancies, illnesses etc with uncanny accuracy.

I am not a particularly superstitious person, but I do not rule out supernatural/metaphysical or illogical occurrences in life. Just for fun I passed AD my birth date and this morning she called to inform me of her friend's initial calculations.

We have never met, but the girl knew a few things about me that she normally shouldn't know. She even made a few quick predictions which involved my marriage and a loved one's health. They were a little cryptic, but not without foundation.

I was reading a biography of Sun Yaoting the last eunuch of China recently and there was a passage in the book that described a prediction in an old Taoist almanac about his life : "Enough food and clothing. Without wife or children." Another of his eunuch friends told him that he shared the same prediction. Sad...

Just for fun I went on the Net and worked out the (western) astrological birth charts for my family, even checked out the compatibility predictions for me and Hub and for me and an ex boyfriend. It was amazing what they said about us, I couldn't have put it better into words myself. I did one for my little sister too and one funny bit was the prediction that she would have a big family and of course she's at this moment waiting for her 4th baby to pop out.

All the above had nothing to do with the Cream of Porcini soup that I made this afternoon, but I did spend quite a bit of time contemplating about life and destiny while making it. How much of our life is destined (e.g. decided by the position of the planets at the time/moment of our birth) and how much of it is made by our own will and actions? Should I be happy with the way my life has turned out, or should I work at making it a more interesting and useful one? Am I really destined to finish my days as a boring housewife?

The soup turned out well, a success with Hub and Baby Girl. There is nothing like eating according to the seasons and while the Chinese porcini lacks the intense aroma and taste of its French and Italian relatives, it makes up (a little) for it with is firm texture. I cheated with dried Italian porcini for the soup stock, so let's just close one eye and get on with life.

Cream of Porcini (feeds 2) :

3-4 dried porcini

120ml white wine

25g salted butter

2-3 garlic cloves (peeled and chopped)

1 leek (sliced)

2 large fresh porcini (cleaned and roughly sliced)

fresh thyme

2 tbsp plain flour (for thickening)*

600ml chicken stock

cream

black pepper to taste

In a small saucepan gently heat up the white wine and add the dried porcini. Do not let the wine boil or it'll evaporate. Remove from the fire and allow the porcini to infuse/soften in the hot wine for at least 15 minutes. Remove the porcini from the wine, chop it finely and set aside. Reserve the wine.

Melt the butter in a soup pot and fry the garlic and leek till fragrant. Add the fresh porcini and thyme and cook till soft.

Stir in the flour followed by the porcini-infused wine (like making a béchamel). Then stir in the chicken stock (try to remove the lumps), cover the pot and let it simmer for 30 minutes.

Remove the stalk of thyme and mix the soup till it's smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste, drizzle some cream over it and serve with the reserved dried porcini. (Or if you prefer it, cook the dried porcini in the soup and mix everything up together.)

*The flour can be replaced by a small potato to help thicken the soup.

MIL in Shanghai (Pictures)

2011-10-20T03:45:00.000+02:00

Lunch on the 91st floor of the SWFC (100 Century Avenue)

I guess it's normal that we should have so many guests in our first year in Shanghai. My own family is now less than 6 hours away by air, many friends and colleagues would have an occasion or 2 to visit Shanghai at least for work (and many have other friends here), others drop by when they are touring other parts of Asia, and MIL would want to spend time with her grandchildren plus visit China at the same time.

Outside Lu Xun's house in Hongkou (that we visited)

I have therefore been too busy to return to the old routine of experimenting in the kitchen, being involved at school, learning music etc. 10 months in Shanghai have gone by in a flash and sometimes I get the feeling that I've not done much since I moved here. I have been meaning to go back to school, pick up a skill, visit other parts of China, visit friends in other parts of the world, work part-time, lose weight - but only managed to put everything off.

Checking out old stuff at the Dongtai Lu market

In addition to that I've started to worry about the Teenager's future (or lack of), wondering if he'll manage to wake up in time to work for and succeed in his IB (looks bleak at the moment), what he'll do at 18 if he fails to get it, how he's going to get on in the next few decades. Should I return to work just so as to be able to help him out financially for the rest of my life?

Exciting moment : 2-yuan bus trip to the Bund from Changle Lu, being surrounded by the locals

If I started working though it would be difficult to find the time to entertain guests who turn up at various moments in the year. It may also be difficult to make time for the various demands that the children's schools make on our person. Yet there are mothers at the schools who have careers, businesses and still time for their children (though maybe not guests).

A French mammie in Hangzhou

Anyway this is a brief view (5 pictures) of MIL's visit (3 weeks) in Shanghai. She had spent many hours reading books in our garden (all these Europeans like to stay outside when the weather is good), we have been to a few museums, old gardens, temples (both Buddhist and Taoist), water towns, longtangs, to Hangzhou, lots of restaurants, took our first public bus in the city together, shopped for souvenirs and tea...Unfortunately with the kids at school we couldn't manage trips to Beijing or Xi'an so hopefully that'll be for another time.

Meanwhile you can go ahead and mention it. MIL doesn't look her age. And she still has almost all her teeth.

Mac and Cheese with Bacon and Porcini Bits

2011-10-19T13:18:00.011+02:00

It was crazy how one could suddenly develop a craving for macaroni and cheese. But I suspect that Carrefour selling grated French emmental cheese 2 for the price of 1 contributed some towards said craving. Imported cheese (if there were Chinese ones I prefer to remain in ignorance) costs quite a lot here in Shanghai, so my need to take advantage of the offer could surely be understood.

10 months after leaving Modena finally saw the onset of pasta withdrawal symptoms da noi. The kids have been asking for spaghetti alla carbonara, Hub all'arrabbiata and I for some reason kept seeing macaroni or chifferi as the Italians prefer when it comes to short elbow-shaped pasta. Actually I do not recall seeing macaroni when I was living in Italy. There was Maccheroni, but it was long and best eaten with meat sauces.

Imported pasta isn't cheap in Shanghai, but one should rejoice in the fact that one could find them rather easily. Armed with my packet of chifferi from Barilla, vintage cheddar from Kerrygold (Ireland) and the French emmental from President, I was ready to cook myself some Mac and Cheese with Bacon and Porcini bits.

It's the end of the Chinese porcini season and I managed to buy some of the last fresh mushrooms a few days ago. Mac and Cheese is basically comfort food that is often featured in kids' menus in American-style diners here though precisely because it's so basic I prefer to make it myself. I have seen packets of Kraft Mac n Cheese mixes at the supermarket and the thought of eating them freaked me out for some reason.

What I love about the dish is the gratinated cheese, so I usually make shallow casseroles that have more surface area for melted cheese. And I also like to make Mac and Cheese in individual ramekins because any excuse to use my Emile Henry porcelain bakeware is a good one.

Mac and Cheese with Bacon and Porcini Bits :

The pasta :

Cook enough elbow pasta (to fill up 3/4 of your bakeware) in salted boiling water. Needless to say the pasta has to be al dente. Drain and place in the casserole.

The Béchamel :

Melt some butter in a small pot. Add a pinch of nutmeg, generous turn of ground black pepper and salt.

Stir in a bit of flour and milk to make the béchamel. Keep stirring and make sure that the flour is cooked before using the sauce. Make enough to cover the pasta in its recipient.

Add grated cheddar cheese to the sauce and stir to melt it (over low heat). Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.

Pour the sauce into the bakeware and coat the cooked pasta with it.

The Filling :

Cut a few slices of bacon and a fresh porcini into small pieces and cook in a frying pan (adding a bit of butter or olive oil if necessary) till the bacon is crisp. Add minced garlic and cook till fragrant.

Stir into the pasta-béchamel mixture.

Final Touch :

Pre-heat oven to 375°C.

Top the pasta casserole generously with grated emmental cheese. Many would add panko or other breadcrumbs to the dish at this stage but I prefer it without.

Bake in the oven for 30 minutes. In the last 5 minutes turn on the broiler if necessary to bronze the cheese and make sure that it's nicely gratinated.

Eat it hot!

Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum

2011-10-19T09:35:00.008+02:00

Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum

I was often told that MIL looked Jewish because of her nose. Even the ticket seller at the Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum (formerly the Ohel Moshe Synagogue) in Hongkou asked. I was tempted to reply in the affirmative in the hope of securing a free ticket (they cost 50rmb each, not exactly cheap for such a small museum in China), but decided otherwise. As far as I know MIL was born Catholic and though non-practising as an adult had been baptised when she was a child.

Back of the former synagogue

It wasn't easy trying to find something to visit almost every day in Shanghai - for 3 weeks. At some point I came across a quick mention of the Jewish Ghetto in an old guidebook when I was looking up the Lu Xun Museum in Hongkou. I later learnt that some 20 000 Jews found safe harbour in Shanghai during the Second World War.

Main entrance of the museum

We all know that millions of Jews were exterminated during WW2. What I didn't know was that the Shanghai Ghetto, formally known as the Restricted Sector for Stateless Refugees (無国籍難民限定地区), contained in a tiny (poor and crowded) area in the Hongkou District of Japanese-occupied Shanghai, saved Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany, Austria, Hungary, Romania, Poland and Lithuania from certain death.

I didn't expect us to spend so much time in the very small museum, for we didn't know that there was a video filled with testimonies about those times being shown. It was fascinating catching sight of Shanghai in the 1930s and 40s, listening to stories about why and how those Jews arrived in Shanghai, how they survived the difficult years there etc.

Chaim Weizmann (chemist, 1st President of Israel) wrote in 1936, "The world seemed to be divided into two parts—those places where the Jews could not live and those where they could not enter."

Starting from the mid-1930s, doors and borders in Europe and even the Americas were starting to close to Jewish immigration and most Jews who had thought to escape could find nowhere to go. 2 heros turned up rather unexpectedly in those times : the Chinese consul-general in Vienna Ho Feng Shan who issued visas for Shanghai between 1938 and 1940 against the orders of his superior, and Chiune Sugihara, the Japanese consul in Lithuania who got many Jews to Shanghai via Russia and Japan.

Life in Shanghai was not easy for these now stateless Jews. Those who were French or British could eventually live in the French Concession or International Settlement, but the rest lived mainly in squalid conditions (e.g. overcrowded rooms, disastrous sanitation, rampant disease, near starvation, unemployment) in impoverished Hongkou. What amazed us was the fact that the Chinese living in the area were not better off - yet they had to accept the influx of thousands of refugees.

Local Jewish families like the Sassoons and a few American Jewish charities aided the refugees with shelter, food and clothing. However, in no time the refugees managed to establish a functioning community with their own schools, newspapers, theatres, sports clubs, restaurants, shops and even cabarets - a testimony to their resilience.

Things unfortunately turned for the worse for the community again after Pearl Harbour (late 1941) when the Japanese moved them into a restricted ghetto (in 1943) and imposed a curfew. Passes were needed to enter or leave the ghetto and one could get beaten up for no reason by the Japanese manager of the area. Yet though the Japanese were allies of the Germans, they didn't give in to German demand to round up the Jews in Shanghai and exterminate them.

Interesting enough there were many local Chinese living in what was known as Little Vienna. Hence the Jewish refugees had little freedom but they were not isolated either. And according to the testimonies displayed in other parts of the museum, most were really grateful to Shanghai for having saved their lives. The only yeshiva in Europe to have survived the Holocaust was also the one whose members managed to escape to Shanghai.

Almost all the Jewish refugees left Shanghai after the war. There were a few (mainly doctors) who joined the Communists in their military operations, but the huge majority left when they could especially since the foreign powers gave up their concessions in Shanghai in 1943, followed by the Communist takeover of the city in 1949.

Blumenthal's former house in Shanghai

After the museum we took a walk in the neighbouring streets which used to be part of Little Vienna. Saw the outside of the house in Zhoushan Lu where Michael Blumenthal (former US Treasury Secretary) used to live in.

Little Vienna

Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum

62 Changyang Road

Hongkou

Shanghai Hairy Crabs 大閘蟹

2011-10-18T10:21:00.007+02:00

Steamed Hairy Crabs on a bed of spinach

I regret that I still do not know how to kill crabs humanely after more than 3 decades devouring them in all the sauces. The last few crabs I've cooked myself were frozen flower crabs and a few of the earlier big stone crabs I'd boiled them alive. Cruel, I know.

We are now in the midst of Shanghai's Hairy Crab 大閘蟹 season. Our driver offered me a pair of live crabs (one male and one female) knowing how much I'm fond of the crustacean. The good thing is that the Chinese mitten crab (known as hairy crab because of the fur on its legs) is often no larger than one's palm and therefore quite manageable. Even though I have seen various cooks kill crab (using different methods and believing in different humane theories), I have mastered no quick method to put them out of their misery, and could only hope to give them less pain by first numbing them in the freezer for 15 minutes and then steaming them in a pot with rapidly boiling water for 20 minutes.

Restaurants in Shanghai would serve hairy crab meat and roe in dozens of ways between september and december though the classic way to eat it normally consists of dipping the steamed crabmeat in some vinegar, minced ginger and soy sauce. As the flesh is supposed to be cooling (yin), the Chinese would often eat it accompanied by some yellow wine (yang) to balance things up.

In the markets they would sell crabs of various grades and prices though I have no idea how to tell them apart and those that are particularly expensive and prized came from Yangcheng lake 阳澄湖 near Suzhou. Every year there would be syndicates pirating the crabs, passing off cheap crabs for Yangcheng lake ones involving laser inscriptions, fake hair etc. Counterfeiting is an art in China and they will do anything in their quest to make profit.

The smaller crab was female, I think

I simply washed my crabs and put them in the freezer for 15 minutes. In the meantime, I heated a pot of water and lined a metal plate with fresh ginger, spinach, Chinese mushrooms, garlic and a red chilli. Placed the crabs in the plate when the water in the pot is boiling and poured a sauce made out of Chinese cooking wine, light soy sauce and sesame oil over them. Op into the steamer to be steamed covered for 20 minutes.

Fresh out of the steamer

Ate one crab hot with a vinegar and soy sauce dip and the other I kept in the fridge for a few hours after it has cooled a little and ate it cold. The hairy crabs were small but the flesh firm and full of flavour. I must admit that I am now tempted to buy a few crabs myself and cook them again before the season's over. Humane crab killing be damned.

Parc Asterix!!!

2011-10-18T04:16:00.009+02:00

Obelix!!!

I haven't said my last word after all when it came to amusement parks for 2011. Brought MIL and the kids to Parc Asterix (north of Paris near the airport) when we were last back in France. We prefer it to Disney as we find the queues shorter, the rides more interesting/exciting and the main characters more "intelligent". Asterix is also Franco-Belge humour so it sits better with us.

I have been an Asterix fan for a long time, have read almost every comic book that the Goscinny/Uderzo team had written. "The series follows the exploits of a village of indomitable Gauls as they resist Roman occupation. They do so by means of a magic potion, brewed by their druid, which gives the recipient superhuman strength. The protagonist, the titular character Asterix, along with his friend Obelix have various adventures..."

If you are taking public transportation to join the park, do so from the CDG airport. There is a bus that brings you to the theme park and the RATP sells combined RER-shuttle bus-theme park tickets for a better price than if you had taken them separately. If you were driving parking at Parc Asterix currently costs 8 euros per vehicle.

Entry tickets are not cheap though. It's low season now but each adult ticket still costs 40 euros and child tickets go at 30 euros each. The park only opens on weekends during autumn so check out the calendar before turning up. All performances are in French and one of the dolphins has given birth last summer so they changed their programme and offered only a quiet 20-minute talk about the mammals during showtime.

Demo of what their dolphins can do if they feel like doing so

Stunt show involving "Roman Legion recruits"

Baby Girl with a Roman soldier

It's still a good park to visit if you get the chance. We particularly like the Menhir Express and La Galère (pirate boat) rides and there are also a few big roller coasters. I didn't get to do any this time because the Teenager couldn't stomach them and the Babies are still not tall enough.

Mulligatawny Soup

2011-10-13T07:06:00.016+02:00

Mulligatawny Soup

Most people lose weight for the summer. Not only did we (as in Hub, Baby Girl and myself) not shed any kilos, we actually ~~put~~ pile them on merrily. Now that we have moved into the autumn, we realise that we are FAT big time, even pregnant with the kids I've never weighed this much.

Seriously it wasn't my fault : that we are not living in the heart of the city where I could walk to shops (you wouldn't want to take the metro in Shanghai, it actually crashes from time to time - not that I have any public transportation within a 2km radius of my compound); that we had to leave Italy and have so many farewell lunches and dinners; that we had to arrive in Shanghai and eat out every day in the first few months; that we should have guests almost every month and end up eating lunch in restaurants all the time; that I love to eat.

Still, we look horrendously fat. I had to go all the way to London to shop for clothes last week because there is no way I can fit into Chinese sizes. Even H&M carries mainly EU 32/34 here. You could imagine my joy when I was at Coast, FCUK, Monsoon...on the British Isle and found that they carried UK size 16s. Not that I'm happy about wearing UK size 16. But I couldn't possibly keep wearing my XL Club Med bermudas and X-sized T-shirt when there's no way I can keep pretending that I'm on my way to the beach with us being so much into the Fall.

I had to buy 2 LV bags (on behalf of the Chinese girl servicing our villa) at the Champs Elysées the other day and was the only person in Birkenstocks, bermudas and T-shirt in the super expensive boutique. And the nearest beach is like a few hours away by TGV so I wondered what they wondered when they saw me. Luckily I diverted the salesman from my person to concentrate on my past - because I threw names around and the former Sciences Po classmate I mentioned happened to be the guy's former manager (what a bloody small world) and of course he wanted to know more about what she was like when we were at school together...

But it was great spending another person's money chez LV since we are too poor to afford any such branded bags ourselves, though I was a little nervous as I walked through the Gare du Nord with the bags to take my train, having read an article about pickpocketing gypsies in Paris Match not too long ago.

So Hub said we should have soup for dinner. Carrot and coriander Soup, bak kut teh, leek and potato soup, pho, chicken soup, dhal soup, tom yum soup, tomato soup, hot and sour soup, won ton soup...I've done them all. Then he asked for Mulligatawny Soup which much as I adore is a waste of good deboned leg of lamb that I usually buy every week. Then I noticed that Madhur Jaffrey has a recipe that doesn't call for the use of bone (thank you, chicken stock) which would also give me a chance to check out how well-stocked my Indian neighbour (from New Delhi) is seeing that I do not have besan (chickpea) flour.

I managed to borrow a few tablespoons of said flour this morning as we waited for the school bus. Also met her husband as he was eating his breakfast. He works for Pepsi.

No, he didn't offer me free Pepsi. And we have not lost any weight even after eating all those soups.

Mulligatawny Soup (loosely adapted from Madhur Jaffrey's An Invitation to Indian Cooking) :

3 tbsp vegetable oil

8 cloves garlic

2-cm piece fresh ginger

600g boneless leg of lamb (fat removed and cut into small cubes)

1 tsp ajwain seeds

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp ground turmeric

1/2 tsp salt

1 fresh green or red chilli (sliced)

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

1,5l chicken broth

2 tbsp lentils

2 tbsp besan (chickpea) flour

juice of 1 lemon

fresh coriander leaves

fried shallots

cooked basmati rice

Heat the oil in a soup pot and brown the lamb cubes in it. Remove and set aside.

Pound the ginger and garlic into a paste. You can see bits of garlic in my soup as I didn't have the patience to pound it into a fine paste.

Fry the ginger-garlic paste in the oil till fragrant. Add in the fresh chilli, ajwain seeds, pepper, salt and ground spices.

Return the lamb to the pot, add the lentils and cover with chicken broth. Cover the pot and simmer on low heat for at least an hour or till the lamb is melt-in-the-mouth tender.

Leave to cool and keep the pot in the fridge for a few hours so as to be able to remove the fat easily.

Heat up the soup. Dilute the besan flour in a bowl of water and stir into the hot soup.

Stir in the lemon juice and serve hot with (2 tbsp of) rice, fresh coriander leaves and fried shallots.

Really nice day to be eating this soup as it has been raining non-stop since this morning.

Paris Je T'aime

2011-10-12T17:08:00.042+02:00

PARIS

Like many students in the Commonwealth, I dreamt of studying in the UK and sometimes still wonder how things would have turned out if I had done so.

This is France. Whether they actually live it or not, most believe in it.

As life would have it, turning down an undergraduate scholarship to study in the UK (and opting to do my first degree in Singapore) actually brought me a few years later to Paris on another scholarship (this time Post-Graduate) and down the path of the Overseas Singaporean who would end up calling a few cities in the USA, Spain, Germany, Italy and now China home.

Police interrogating a few Roms/Gipsies - they have been infesting the city stealing/pickpocketing/begging in gangs

But none of the other cities has ever captured my heart or imagination like Paris had. Paris is grand, old, beautiful, mysterious, chic, romantic, rich, snobbish, bourgeois, cultured, timeless, stubborn, cosmopolitan, Black/Arab, French...and I just love it so very much.

A typical French restaurant along the River Seine

The French just love sitting outside cafés to watch the world go by (and be seen)

My 3 children were all born in the city. Baby Girl almost became Spanish, but she held out till we could move back to Paris (by overnight train) and get us a bed in one of its famous public maternities. When Baby Boy was born, we bought a Haussmannien flat near the Arc de Triomphe and proudly called ourselves Parisians - until the nomadic call came and moved us to other pastures.

A building opposite the Notre Dame de Paris on the left bank

The Babies therefore have few memories of their lives in Paris. They couldn't remember that they first saw the light of day in the city, took their first steps in its cobbled streets, ate beef really rare before they could even talk and tasted wine even as they were nourished on their mother's milk.

The Seine in Paris

When Baby Boy let it go that he thought he was German (one of his first words had been "Nein!"), I told Hub that we had to bring the kids to Paris, introduce them to their roots. So before the Chinese Golden Week started, we (as in the kids and I) ~~escaped~~ flew back to France with MIL and when Hub joined us after his business trip to Italy and Germany, we rented a car and drove the family to Paris.

The bouquinistes along the River Seine near the Latin Quarter

Shakespeare & Co. - one of the oldest English bookshops in Paris

We started at the Latin Quarter. Used to live there when I was a student. Walked to Sciences Po every day from Maubert-Mutualité. Paris at 6 one morning in the autumn of 1995 when the streets were just awakening (market stalls being set up, cafés opening for business, peace at the Seine...) marked the very moment when I fell in love with the city. After all these years and now 6 years living away from Paris my fascination for the capital has not dimmed. Paris je t'aime.

The facade

Seen from further away (see the bateau mouche?)

Visited Notre Dame de Paris during Sunday Mass. I love the stained glass windows in the cathedral and realised when I saw the facade that the restoration has finally been completed! The kids all wanted to light candles - and inflation has reached the church too since each small one now costs 2 euros instead of 50 cents a few years ago.

door of the Notre Dame de Paris

Sunday Mass

Love the stained glass windows

We walked through Place St Michel and had a sandwich grec for lunch. I sometimes crave for the kebabs in the area, they reminded me so much of my student days so long ago.

Eiffel Tower contre jour

Then off we went to the Tour Eiffel. I had the smart idea to reserve our visit (not easy to find slots though) online which saved us quite a lot of queuing up. For 13,5 euros each you get to go all the way up to the summit. Something one should do only once (especially for the price) for the view would be just as good on the 2nd floor. The kids were really excited though and we enjoyed the view of Paris on a beautiful sunny day. Competed with each other to spot the monuments and then we admired the metal work as we walked down the tower taking the stairs.

Viewed from below

View of Paris (can you see the Arc de Triomphe?) from the Tour Eiffel

I've been a number of times to the tower, of course. Have even watched the fireworks from the Champ de Mars a few times during 14 Juillet when the Teenager was a baby. Hub brought me once to the Jules Verne up there for lunch which only made this last visit all the more lovely for the memories. We were disappointed though that we couldn't find an ancestor's name engraved on the Tower as the family myth goes. He supposedly worked on the tower with Eiffel.

The Green Wall of the museum

We then walked through the gardens of the Musée du Quai Branly (designed by Jean Nouvel) which housed indigenous art, cultures and civilizations from Africa, Asia, Oceania, and the Americas (we've seen a good part of the exhibits in the past when they were in the other now-closed museum). There was a photo exhibition (including works by a few Singaporean, Malaysian and Indonesian photographers) in the open that continued all the way to the banks of the River Seine opposite and I certainly miss living in Paris for this constant exposure to culture and events.

Self portraits by the photographer

Albino kids in Black Africa

North African female motorists

Finished the day at the Champs Elysées as the kids wanted to visit our flat near the Arc de Triomphe. Though reasonably big for Paris, it is now too small for us after a few years of living in big houses elsewhere. I've missed it though as it was really conveniently situated, but I guess we'll be happy to come back to it the day we retire.

Arc de Triomphe and the Champs Elysées

The next day was devoted to the Sacré-Coeur Basilica and its surrounding Pigalle (think sex shops and Moulin Rouge) and Montmartre (cafés and artists) neighbourhoods. When I was living at Porte de Clignancourt (next to the Marché aux Puces) I used to walk there because I just love the Hell and Heaven contrast. ND de Paris is more than 800 years old while the S-C is only about 100, if I'm not wrong and they were built in really very different styles. The S-C also had very political origins reflecting the bloody divisions in French society (e.g. Catholics and Royalists vs Socialists, Democrats and Secularists) after the French Revolution and is a symbol of reconciliation in its aftermath. It also provides a very nice view of Paris since it has been built on its highest point.

Sacred Heart Basilica

Lunch was at Bouillon Chartier near the Grands Magasins - a historical institution in Paris. It used to serve cheap workers stews and soups, specialising today in (not-so-cheap) classic French fare. I've heard rumours that some of its waiters bought their places and would never leave till they retire. In any case they are definitely good in mental Maths because the bill is always tallied on the paper table cloth and I've never seen them go wrong. Food was so-so, I usually go there for its ambiance, not its cuisine.

Main dining hall in Bouillon Chartier

The afternoon was spent walking through the Marais, Place des Vosges, Palais Royal-Musée du Louvre and the Tuileries Gardens. In my earlier years in Paris I have walked through many neighbourhoods in the city for there is no better way to discover Paris than on foot. Pining for a honied doughnut in one of the Jewish bakeries at Couronnes/Belleville, slurping down a bowl of thick rice noodles with pig's intestines at a Wenzhou eatery in rue au Maire, grocery shopping Chez Frères Tang in avenue de Choisy, choosing fish at rue Daguerre/rue Poncelet, digging through boxes of discounted designer wear in Vincennes or rue du Bac near the Bon Marché...

Musée du Louvre

Jardin des Tuileries

We are fond of the Marais and love its cobbled streets, beautiful grand Hôtel particuliers, cafés, museums (e.g. Picasso, Beaubourg, Carnavalet), the fact that Jews, Chinese (some of the earliest migrants), gays, aristocrats, DSK (our notorious Champagne Socialist) all live there...

Place des Vosges - DSK & Anne Sinclair live in one of the buildings

The Swedish Institute in the Marais - we had tea there once a few years ago

Our last day in Paris was spent at the Parc de la Villette where the Cité des Sciences (one of the largest science museums in Europe) and La Géode were situated. I've reserved a 3D movie at the Omnimax theatre and a hands-on Science session at the Cité des Enfants for the kids.

Cité des Sciences and La Géode

We walked through the park to the Cité de la Musique (we've spent a few summer nights there watching open-air movies in the past) and the Grande Halle which used to house the Parisian abattoirs and national wholesale meat market. There was a children's playground where we used to bring the Teenager (when he was little, of course) to play in but unfortunately it was closed for maintenance when we were there.

Lunch was at this really good Au Boeuf Couronné (same group as Bouillon Chartier) that served a good-value lunch menu (33 euros) featuring foie gras, good quality beef, cheese and crème brulée among other dishes. Said to be the "last trace of the Villette’s formerly booming meat industry. And while you won’t find any more butchers in full length aprons, quality cuts of good meat are still king here..." We totally recommend!

I left the family that afternoon and made my way to London alone on the Eurostar. Felt the need to be on my own for a few days much as I love my kids and love looking after them myself. And any excuse to shop in London is always a good one, of course.

The Teenager in the Paris metro - probably not used to it any more after so many years being chauffeured around in a car

Our stay in Paris was short but sweet and hopefully helped the kids to reconnect in a small way with the city of their birth. We do not know if they would choose one day to live in France again, but they know that they can always go back to Paris whenever they feel like it.

葱花拌面 Caramelised Onions on Noodles

2011-09-26T16:00:00.007+02:00

Caramelised Onions on Noodles

I ate this at 鼎泰丰 (Din Tai Fung)'s Yuyuan branch a few weeks ago when I brought MIL there to try its famous xiaolongbao and became quite hooked on the simple noodles. Visions of caramelised onions filled my head for days until I couldn't stand it any longer.

The bathroom scale has run out of battery and I could no longer weigh myself until I get new ones (those round flat 2430s are really expensive) - and you knew that the batteries were running low when you were weighing 70 kgs and still eating tonnes of carbo one night and suddenly before your very eyes the weight kept decreasing till you were weighing 50 (I do so wish). Sigh, I really wish I could stay away from the rice and noodles - especially at night - but I couldn't and so you now get this piece on my Caramelised Onions on Noodles 葱花拌面.

I bought an enormous yellow onion from the supermarket a few days ago and surprisingly needed only half of it to make this dish. I ate 2 portions of noodles the other day and still have a small bowl of caramelised onion sauce left - probably enough for another 2 portions. If you are running on a low budget, give the cheap spaghetti a miss (used to cook penne with BBQ sauce almost every day when I was a student in Paris, adding cheap Frankfurt sausages from ED/Leader Price occasionally for the protein) and go for this onion noodles instead. And didn't I read somewhere that yellow onions have antioxidant properties, can improve men's sexual prowess etc?

葱花拌面 :

1 medium-large yellow onion (finely sliced)

2 tbsp canola oil

2 garlic cloves (chopped)

1 small piece fresh ginger (chopped)

1 fresh red chilli (sliced)

2 tbsp chinese cooking wine

2 tbsp sugar

2 tsp dark soy sauce

2 tbsp light soy sauce

2 tbsp fragrant vinegar

hot water as required

fresh noodles (cooked and drained)

soy sauce

sesame oil

pepper

Heat the oil in a small casserole with a lid and fry the ginger, garlic and chillies till fragrant.

Add the onions. Fry till they turn brown, lower the heat, cover the pot and let them sweat, stirring from time to time to prevent burning.

They will become soft and brown. Pour in the wine and stir in the sugar, but only after the onions are already brown.

Stir in the soy sauces to provide colour and salt to the onions. Only add in the vinegar towards the end or it'll evaporate too much. Taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary (it should taste sweet, salty and vinegary). Add some hot water if necessary to dilute the sauce.

Cook and drain the noodles. Immediately toss with a dash of light soy sauce and sesame oil.

Divide the noodles into serving bowls and spoon some of the caramelised onion sauce on top. Add pepper to taste. Mix well before eating.

I am now busy packing. We're leaving on Wednesday morning. The kids will have to miss a few days of school but I'm sure it'll do everyone some good to be back in France. We're going to bring them to Paris for a few days. They were all born in the capital, but left France when they were very young. The Babies have almost no recollection of their time in the city - something we hope to remedy. I've already bought tickets to the Eiffel Tower, Cité des Sciences and hopefully we'll find time to visit Montmartre, the Latin Quarter and the Champs Elysées as well.

A bientôt!

灵隐寺 Lingyin Temple, Hangzhou

2011-09-23T18:02:00.017+02:00

Lingyin Temple, Hangzhou

MIL (facing courtyard of Cheng Huang Temple in Yuyuan) : I've already visited this.

Me (big puzzled frown) : This is not possible. You've never been here before.

MIL : I've already seen this with my son.

Me : This is even more impossible. He only brought you to Zhujiajiao since you arrived in Shanghai.

MIL : It looks the same.

How many times have I said the same thing after visiting a few cathedrals and churches in different European cities in the past 2 decades? Yet we would continue to visit one each time we arrive in a new city - because that's usually the thing to do.

So MIL was on to her 2nd Chinese temple - and thought it looked just like the first one she'd visited. Which is fine by me, only that while European churches usually offer free entry, most Chinese temples charge for it. So I wanted to make sure that we got some value for my money and I dragged her to every nook and corner to take a closer look at the gods, pray for peace and fortune and just short of greater fertility because quite seriously I do not need help in that direction.

I was tempted to seek divine intervention for the Teenager's grades, but thought finally that I should keep that for our visit to the Notre Dame de Paris. I do not speak Shanghainese and Cheng Huang is after all the city's god and was dead long before Mandarin became the official language.

Anyway we would have the occasion to bring MIL to her third Chinese temple - the very important 灵隐寺 in Hangzhou.

Yellow wall = 1st class

Temples in China are classed according to colour and when it's yellow like Lingyin, it's first class. In fact Lingyin is one of the wealthiest (not surprising seeing how costly the entrance tickets were) and largest Buddhist Chan (Zen) temples in China, containing many pagodas, grottos and religious rock carvings.

Feilai Feng Pagoda

Guanyin

Laughing Buddha

It was founded by an Indian monk Hui Li who now lies at the foot of the Feilai Feng pagoda. The pagoda fronts a limestone peak containing a large number of caves and grottos with quite amazing carvings all over. Within the cave dedicated to Guanyin, there is a crack in the ceiling that stretches up to the surface, so that a person standing at a certain position can see a sliver of sunlight (一线天). I couldn't see anything, of course, not caring to overstrain my neck and eyes.

The temple is divided into a number of halls and my favourite was the one containing this large benevolent-looking Buddha statue carved from camphor wood. The back of the hall contained a statue of Guanyin backed by a large screen containing carved images of some 150 Buddhist personalities.

Largest wooden Buddha in China

Guanyin

There was also a Ji Gong Hall, one dedicated to the Medicine Buddha and a hall containing bronze statues : Hall of Five Hundred Arhats. I've always said that most Chinese temples frighten me because of the heavy presence of large ferocious statues, though I was always happy to visit one back in Singapore when they offered free vegetarian food on special occasions.

I must say that the gardens and temple had been worth the visit even though we were dying from the heat. The price was quite steep (e.g. 45 rmb pax for the gardens and 30 rmb for the temple) especially when you have to pay for so many people and if you hire audio phones you need to leave a 100 rmb deposit. Plus those in Mandarin cost 10 rmb while those in English would cost 40 rmb! They also do not offer discounts to senior citizens who do not carry a Chinese passport.

Hall of 500 Arhats

We didn't spend too much time in Hangzhou as Hub was busy with work and had to prepare for a business trip to Europe just after. He was also sulking about having to share his space with so many other tourists, claiming that they spoilt his enjoyment of the beautiful scenary. Bear with us, it was just 8 months ago when we left our big field in Italy and we are still trying to adapt to being surrounded by so many people every where we go.

Cheddar Cheese Scones

2011-09-23T15:56:00.010+02:00

Cheddar cheese scones

Baby Girl had a friend over for a play date this afternoon and I have a fridge to clear out before we leave for France in a few days. The girl is from Israel though from what I've understood from her mum they are not Orthodox Jews. Still, I made sure that what I baked was vegetarian and contained no lard.

The kitchen smelled wonderful when the Cheddar Cheese Scones were being baked. A little Indian girl from next door dropped by (she's a fan of Baby Girl) with her Chinese Ayi and the latter asked if I was cooking dinner because the house smelled delicious.

The scones disappeared almost as soon as they were out of the oven. MIL said one had to battle to have one's share. It was a good way to finish up leftover vintage cheddar and fresh rosemary. It also provided me with a good reason to use my ajwain seeds.

Meanwhile the Teenager is away at school this evening for a charity High School Lock-in. He will be back at midnight and will have to be picked up by our driver. I feel bad about making the guy work this late, but I have no means of getting to the school bus drop-off points at that time of the night. Our back gate (nearest to the nearest drop-off point) is closed after 9pm and in any case it would be dangerous to be walking out there in the night. Taking a taxi may not be any safer. I miss my Phedra on days like this.

One consolation is that our driver lives near the boy's school and would welcome the extra income from working over time.

I would have baked these scones for his lock-in if they could be stored over night. Unfortunately scones are best eaten fresh out of the oven, as I've discovered at my English friend JW's yummy coffee mornings.

Cheddar Cheese Scones :

200g self-raising flour

1 tsp double-action baking powder

1 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

50g salted or non-salted butter (cubed)

80g sharp cheddar cheese (grated)

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

1/4 tsp ground cayenne pepper

a few sprigs of fresh rosemary

2 tsp ajwain seeds

3-5 tbsp cold milk

Pre-heat oven to 400°F (my current oven uses °F and I am trying to get used to it).

Sift the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar together into the bowl of your mixer.

Add the butter, cheese, black pepper, cayenne pepper, ajwain seeds, rosemary leaves and milk.

Pulse till everything comes together and you get a rough, yellowish dough.

Knead the dough till you feel that you can work with it. I did not bother to roll it out with a rolling pin, I just used my palm. It should be at least 1cm thick, and more than 2cm if you want the high ones.

Using a biscuit cutter cut out the scones and place them on a paper-lined baking dish.

Bake in the hot oven for about 15 minutes.

Eat them fresh out of the oven. Good for breakfast, afternoon tea or even as aperitifs. For non-halal scones, fried bacon bits could be added to the dough before baking, and those who love cheese could also add grated cheese on top just before putting it into the oven. And they can be eaten on their own or stuffed.

Mooncake Experiment 中秋月饼

2011-09-22T05:20:00.008+02:00

中秋月饼

MIL arrived just before this year's Moon Cake Festival so I hadn't been able to experiment with making my own moon cakes the way I had wanted to. Managed only one session and the results were so-so, purple sweet potato paste not being as soft as red bean or lotus seed paste therefore producing pretty but relatively hard fillings.

Pandan snow skin moon cake with purple sweet potato and salted duck egg yolk filling

The pandan paste I bought from the Fairprice supermarket in Singapore also had a chemical taste - so the next time I'll try to use natural pandan juice instead.

Other than that, as they say, failure is the mother of success. So I can only hope that this batch of moon cakes would serve as a step towards future success in moon cake making.

But the tea was great. Found this small shop in Tianzifang in Puxi that sells really good tea leaves. Expensive, but oh so very good. Now I find it difficult drinking mediocre jasmin, tieguanyin or puer tea. One should never get too used to good things, it makes one's life more complicated after that.

樱花菜市场 Cherry Blossom Wet Market, Pudong

2011-09-22T03:32:00.012+02:00

Cherry blossom wet market in Pudong

Back in Singapore I am fond of wet markets especially for the food stalls that would usually be found in them. Over here in Shanghai, I have been putting off visiting one since I wasn't sure if I could stomach the food if there were any, and I do prefer to do my grocery shopping nowadays in air-conditioned comfort.

You see propaganda inciting the use of polite language in the market

View of ground floor from the escalator

But the kids' school organised a wet market tour recently and I thought that it could be an interesting outing for the MIL. We were led by a Shanghainese-American mother who fed us horrifying tales about pesticide-filled vegetables, hormone-injected meat, pork masquerading as beef, gutter frying oil - and she concluded by informing us that she wouldn't risk eating any seafood in China. Apparently they made trips to Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore when they felt like eating any.

Quite a large choice in soy products

So we visited the 樱花菜市场 somewhere in Pudong. Was surprised to see that the market was quite clean, the stalls tidy and bad odours limited mainly to the live fowl section (also the abattoir) which was housed in a separate annexe next to the market. Didn't take any pictures of the latter as I couldn't live with the smell and had to run out in a flash, faster than you can say "chicken".

A butcher

One of the vegetable/fruit stalls

The wet market was divided into 2 floors, the upper floor containing mainly rice, toy and clothing stalls. The ground floor was divided into fresh vegetable/fruit, cooked food (take-away only), soy products, preserved products, meat and seafood. There was also a guy preparing fresh dumplings and egg dumplings for sale, they actually looked quite nice - if you could trust his meat filling.

Cooked food : a lot of weird stuff if you ask me. See the pigs' snouts?

I wasn't inspired to make any purchase, probably lost any desire after taking a look at the cooked food section, plus the fruits and vegetables somehow looked unnaturally big and juicy at most stalls. MIL and I started to wander away from the group because we were bad at following, lacked concentration etc. Outside there were mobile vegetable and fruit sellers as well as a few stalls selling fried food - but thinking of the gutter frying oil of course I didn't buy anything.

Crab season'll be here soon

From the look of things I'll have to stick to my expensive supermarkets with their imported food sections. There are of course many ways to die, but hopefully I would be able to avoid some form of acute food poisoning until we somehow manage to build up more resistance. Plus I do not derive any pleasure from shopping at the local wet markets, unlike the bliss I usually feel when I visit European ones.