Oh, how I love walking into my local market and seeing these rich purple-skinned morsels (sometimes, I am told, also called aubergines) piled up and glistening among so much green stuffs.
--- Five Facts I betcha' didn't know about eggplant
1. Eggplants are not only classified as a fruit, they are technically a berry.
2. Eggplants, tobacco, tomatoes, chili peppers and potatoes all belong to the deadly nightshade family - and all of them contain some form...[read more]
Waboba is offering a pair of people the chance to win a holiday trip to the beautiful Sanya beach. "What is this Waboba?" I'm sure you're ecstatically clamoring. It is none other than the famed Swedish water bouncing ball (waboba for short), that enigmatic creation which I for one have never heard of, though I'm sure it's oodles of joyfulness. It magically "defies the laws of physics", and if you use it in a three-minute video, you could win a...[read more]
Jean Georges is heading back to the Bund for a week-long stay, indulging the taste buds of Shanghai's gourmets. In honor of Expo - as is anything and everything produced in Shanghai for at least the next month - he'll be featuring a special menu of goodies to savor. Perhaps a Chinese Pavilion assembled from rhubarb sticks or a British Pavilion sculpted from hedgehog spines. A truly British specialty, the Telegraph even has a suggestion for how best to...[read more]
I’m finding that there’s nothing more pleasant than hopping on your bicycle to the nearby coffee shack with one of Sophie Kinsella’s materialistic, yet highly entertaining books to escape the busyness of this season. I just finished the part when Becky gets engaged. I feel a biography on Pol Pot may be next, just to add a little twist in my life.
This isn’t an advert for my eclectic taste, but really for coffee refills. When I’m too lazy for making...[read more]
I was having a conversation about the definition of a biscuit with a British person last week. I am American. To me, biscuits are not cookies or something you have with afternoon tea. But then I found telling this British person what a biscuit is just didn't do this American piece'o heaven justice.
How do you explain an American biscuit to someone who has never sat at the breakfast table of a Grandma in South Carolina, spooning gravy over two biscuit...[read more]
From about midnight, technicians began toying with my heart with flashing lights and a dissemination of unnecessary fog. I could feel the two giant “woos” from the crowd causing emotional distress on my heart. Then finally, as if God sent a messenger, a silhouette of Sasquatch faced the crowd. Lowered slowly, millimeter by millimeter, as she rocked down with “Mud” (Anyone can confirm? I’ve forgotten.), stripped off her clothing into this brilliant pink plastic mess, and off with each song...[read more]
It’s finally beginning to feel like springtime with new leaves sprouting this beautiful green so vibrant that I want to cry each time I look out my window. Not only does the season bring nice greenery, but it also makes me devoted to surrounding myself with fresh fruits, vegetables and flowers. Fortunately, I live minutes away from a man who bikes around buckets of beautiful assorted flowers, and from a fresh market that is just the right amount of stinky.
So...[read more]
The French mastermind behind Le Saleya, Graffiti and La Grange, Alexandre Daune is opening up a new location to accommodate the city's ravenous appetite for French-style bread and meats. Combining his previous butcher and baker ventures, the only thing Les Garcon Bouchers and La Boulangerie still lacks is a candlestick maker. Setting up shop on 356-1 ShuiCheng S. Road, near YanAn W. Road, you'll be able to buy pate, foie gras and meats at Les Garcons Bouchers, while La Boulangerie...[read more]
Even though it's April, it seems that the Shanghai weather is still trying to convince us that warm comfort food is in the cards. Luckily, it's as simple as gathering together some old bones, and throwing whatever veggies you have around in the pot. Here's the way I do it. Because the urge to make stock only hits me once in a while, when the weather is really crappy, I save all my old bones by sticking them in a...[read more]
1. (Day before) Invite people whose company you enjoy. Cross your fingers that a fight won’t break out among the strangers.
2. (Day before) Call Egghead Bagels and place an order for bagels. I can’t tell you how heavenly it is living one block away from the sweetest bagel joint in Shanghai. Seriously, a carbalicious morning is the foundation of a...[read more]
I've developed an unhealthy obsession with M2. When is it going to open? The management don't seem to have a particular date set and every time I ask it's another day. I'm beginning to think they're just blurting out the first number that comes to mind. It makes you wonder what exactly is going on behind the doors of its new residence, up on the fourth floor of the Hong Kong Plaza. As they've booked John Digweed for the decks,...[read more]
I have to admit that I've never really understood the allure of things like hot-pot and other self cooked dishes eaten in restaurants. People love to go out and eat these things, but my thing is - if I'm paying someone else to feed me....I don't really want to do any work! And man, boiling your own meat means you get hot and sticky from the splattering oil, and your clothes smell like hot pot for the rest of the...[read more]
Catching a 9am flight after a handful of hours of sleep is tough. Rolling out of bed, attempting to dress and deciding the path to the airport with time to groom at the airport’s restroom can cause a frustrating amount of anxiety. Quickly, I decided that a taxi to Hongqiao can’t be too harsh regardless of the morning traffic, and just as quickly, I realized that this was the worst decision in life. (Dramatized.)
After a horrendously jerky 45...[read more]
Qing Ming Festival-Sweeping the graves/tombs of ancestors
Small piles of black ash line the sides of the pavements on the eve of Qing Ming Qie. People burn paper money for their dead relatives and then draw a line of white chalk around the pile- the locals believe this keeps evil spirits away.
Qing Ming Qie (the Tomb Sweeping Festival), celebrated in China on the 4th April, is a time when families pay their respects and remember those who have died. Some families...[read more]
Rumour has it (and I always place my faith unquestionably in rumour) that the denizens of Shanghai are being awarded an extra two days over the Labour Day holiday - that's a total of five days, stretching from April 30 to May 4. Presumably, we will all be marshaled to various sites across the city to bathe in the reflected glory of the parti-coloured pavilions, as they glitter across the Shanghai landscape. Any excuse for extra holidays - I'll take...[read more]
I have to admit, to someone not accustomed to the idea, it probably sounds pretty gross. Old duck soup with rice noodles (老鸭粉丝汤) in Shanghai is basically just that. A broth made from old duck bones, served with all the duck parts that reside inside of the animal. This means you get the works - blood, intestines, and kidneys - all swimming in you soup alongside some fried puffed tofu, cilantro and thin rice noodles. Please, before you react, look...[read more]
Service in China is valued and conveyed in an extremely different way than in any other place in the world. Your first experience as a Shanghai newb at a local mom-and-pop Chinese restaurant was probably confusing as you flagged down each fuwuyuan for napkins, tea, plates, and food only to be blatantly ignored by the fifteen wait staff chatting away. You look around thinking, "It must be really busy today" and notice that there are only four other people eating.
Before...[read more]
You know that place where you go to buy foreign food? It's nice and shiny and clean and is very popular with expats? City Shop? Or is it City Super? Well in May it'll be both. That's right folks, the first branch of a "premium" and "luxury" store is set to grace the banks of the HuangPu in LuJiaZui. While many of you may sniff and say "PuDong, poo poo to that," if all goes well you may see them...[read more]
I'm pleased to announce that mangoes are here and ready to be used for cooking. This succulent fruit permanently stains your pants, blouse and furniture, but jeez it's worth it. Thank you Jesus for this wondrous gift of the season. Really. Eaten raw, stirred in salads, or cooked, this fruit is versatile, so be experimental.
If you need more reason other than its deliciousness, here's something: Every time you eat one, you are experiencing evidence of culture exchange. Mangoes, indigenous to...[read more]
Sex tourists take note: the French are considering the legalization of brothels. This may not seem surprising considering their stereotype as propagators of l'amour. What's more surprising is they'd be far from the first European nation to do so. Among nations that have already legalized licensed prostitution and regulate it - in hopes of controlling the illegal trafficking and human rights violations that often occur - are the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Greece, Turkey, Hungary and Latvia. Considering the...[read more]
Something that was ingrained into my consciousness at a very young age was that leftovers were meant for eggs.
Last nights pot roast? Pot roast omelets! Left over stir fry? Stir fry scramble! And if there was nothing in the fridge besides kimchi and lunchmeat?Well, guess what kind of meal we had for dinner.
And the thing is that, eggs work as a great binder! They absorb strong flavors while highlighting the good ones. We loved...[read more]
Ayi is an enigma. She’s the only one able to fix the coffee machine in the office. She may seem all elusive, but really she’s omnipresent, sitting in the shadows or walking slowly and silently down the darkened corridors. Sometimes you don’t see her for hours, then suddenly you’ll be aware of a figure sitting very close behind you, starring intently at your computer screen. If you move around too much she’ll steal your chair and occasionally the...[read more]Posted: Tuesday, March 16, 2010 under Chinese Culture | 5 comments
Eagerly anticipating watching the Alice in Wonderland film, whether by illicit DVD or an actual trip to the silver screen, I have been Googling the hell out of the film, the cast and all random related trivia. That's when I fell down the rabbit hole and landed smack bang on a page summarizing a lovely little 1970s' porno. That's right folks, Alice goes on her trip through Wonderland, and it's full of phallic interactions, girl-on-girl appreciation - and singing...[read more]
Do you ever just have one of those months when it seems like there's just no time to cook? You get home from work and it's like - I don't want to move, think or breathe any more than is necessary. Well, I'm having one of those months.
It's too cold and rainy to drag my butt over to the wet market. The idea of walking into a Tesco and listening to that stupid song they play over and over and...[read more]
Since first visiting Cha Canting a few weeks ago, I've been to the restaurant a couple of times and each time, I come away thinking, Cha Canting really IS the best Cantonese restaurant in town.
If you don't want to wait half an hour for a table, go to the restaurant after 8:30pm - you'll get a table after 5mins. Alternatively, while you're waiting, why not pop round to Hof - 2 doors away - and order a glass of wine...[read more]
1) What you sometimes need is a child. Heading out to examine Rosso Italiano's brunch and new chef, I enjoyed a thoroughly hearty Italian meal, full of lasagna, cannelloni, polenta, salami and Italian breads. As I was merrily reaching for my glass of wine, I suddenly realized I was completely surrounded by Italians - ‘a very good sign for the food', I thought, ‘I have truly stumbled into a promising little haven'. Only then, food in belly and wine...[read more]
So I admit it. I recently watched the movie Julie/Julia, and was probably the advertising departments dream target. Meryl Streep was electrifying as the odd-ball awe-inspiring cookbook author, and I promptly became fixated on the idea of Julia Child and her recipes. So much so that for Christmas I asked my mother to buy me the mammoth two-volume bible "Mastering the Art of French Cooking." This was an intriguing request for my mother, as she knows that I follow recipes...[read more]
A building suspended mid-mountain, being within 2 meters of a powerful waterfall, 2,000 year old Pingyao City are some of the sights to see in Shanxi Province. Pingyao City is the only Ming-Qing Dynasty style town still standing. The city was the birthplace of China's banking institution and at its height, much of the country's banking business took place here - but there are no longer any banks in the city today.
The City Wall gives you an idea of the...[read more]
1) Mexican food in Shanghai is set to get hot! New restaurant Mi Tierra is entering its soft opening phase and it is a truly opulent Mexican retreat - as well as being the lucky eatery slated to hold court in the Mexican pavilion. Starting out in deliveries and frozen foods, the owners are moving up up up and have rented and renovated a villa that is simply gorgeous. We'll have the full scoop in our review next week.
2) M1NT...[read more]
I don't own an oven, but for my sweeties birthday I was bound and determined to bake a cake. This is a dangerous prospect for a half-hazard cook like myself, but hey. A birthday's a birthday and love is love. So after getting the birthday boy out of the way, I high-tailed it to Tesco, where I was sure I could pick up an oversized oven, big enough to bake a small cake in. On arrival, I realized it was...[read more]
