On April 15, my first Sunday back in China, our friend Mr. Mui took Hubby and me to yum cha at the Century Hotel located in the far corner of Daliang. It was our first time there but we have passed by the place plenty of times in the past and each time we did I was always left wondering what that huge castle-like building was for. Mr. Mui told us that it used to be the only 5-star hotel in Shunde. Some people still check in there but now it is mostly visited by the locals for their yum cha.
They still offer the usual yum cha fares but what we really like in this restaurant is their "xiao long bao". This dumpling is also called "Shanghai pao" although it didn't necessarily originate from Shanghai. Another name for this dumpling which I discovered in Hong Kong is "Steamed pork dumpling with superior soup". It is made of the usual ground pork with veggies and spices wrapped in a silky skin made of flour. But what will surprise you once you bite on it is the sudden outburst of "soup" inside your mouth (which most of the time is quite steaming hot). It is because when they make the dumpling they also put aspic inside it which melts when the dumpling is steamed.
We have tried many xiao long baos in many restaurants but most of them are very dry. There is no element of surprise when you bite into it and this "superior soup" inside the xiao long bao is what makes it very special indeed.
In the days leading up to the Chinese New Year, I was inspired to try cooking some Chinese dishes which I had never cooked before or cooked wrongly before. I'm not sure why, but it must be the spirit of the CNY that urged me to try out real Chinese cooking. I also got bold enough to make use of ingredients that I normally don't use in my cooking like: rice wine, mushroom dark soy sauce, dried mushroom and dried whole red chillies to name a few.
Here are some of the dishes I made. And well, CNY 2012 has already concluded several days ago but I'm still going to make some more dishes like the Sichuan style orange chicken so stay tuned...
 my version of General Tso's chicken  pork with broccoli (I used pork instead of beef)  chicken claypot rice (without claypot)  spicy fried noodles
It's funny how, like the dragon, I wanted to spit fire during the Chinese New Year celebrations this year! My husband and I were so looking forward to doing some traveling during this holiday until....his company sent him to a work trip to Indonesia instead!
My mother-in-law is simply disappointed to say the least. Earlier on, we thought this might be the year that Hubby and I will be able to go home and celebrate this occasion with her in Malaysia. Wrong. It is always so hard to plan for holidays with Hubby's work. By the time they could announce the dates of the holidays, all the flights to Malaysia were already either fully-booked or overpriced. So we thought of going somewhere with a cheaper airfare. I thought I hit the jackpot when I found return flights to Cebu for less than 2,000 Yuan for the both of us (including taxes and fees). Wrong again.
Instead, we celebrated the CNY eve just like it was nothing because early in the morning on the first day of the Chinese New Year, my husband left for Indonesia. Talk about celebrating the new year with family! We spent it alone and apart. And as I am writing this entry, he is still there.
Sorry for ranting here in my blog, but I am just too disappointed for words. I still managed to make something "symbolic" for our new year's eve dinner though. I made my signature style steamed fish. They say fish symbolizes abundance. I wasn't able to make something "sticky" to symbolize family togetherness. Well, we could have eaten "glue" and it would still be the same!
 fish prepared for steaming  steamed fish garnished with lots of coriander leaves and spring onions
It's me again guys. I don't know if you're all still here, but I'm back. I must say that now I officially hate the months of October and November. They always bring me sadness and worry for two years now. Fortunately, things always manage to turn around in December and especially in the new year. I just hope that it won't happen again in this year's October and November.
While I was gone though, I never stopped cooking and trying out new dishes. Some of them I got from the websites of food bloggers that I just tweaked to suit my own taste and the availability of ingredients here in China. I have also discovered some new food and new traditions (at least to me anyway). Well, here they are...
For the past three months, Hubby and I also managed just one trip outside of China (together). He travelled to Indonesia on his own twice (much to my dislike and annoyance) and I travelled back home to the Philippines once. But the only trip we made together was to Hong Kong to celebrate Christmas.
In that trip, we stayed in Hong Kong island (Wan Chai) because our favorite hotel, The Minden, in Tsim Sha Tsui, was already fully-booked. We stayed at The Harbourview Hotel just across the Hong Kong Exhibition Centre. It was a nice hotel but they don't offer free breakfast and free internet. And because all our activities were in Tsim Sha Tsui, we needed to take the subway everyday. Not that bad though because we like the Hong Kong train system.
We still did the same things we always do when in Hong Kong: dine at the Outback Steakhouse more than once and Pho 24, have leisurely coffee breaks at Starbucks, window-shop and shop for real at the iSquare Mall, the Harbour City Mall, H&M and this time at Marks & Spencer. I was also able to hear the Christmas mass at the Rosary Church on Christmas day. One of the new things we did this time was to watch a movie in Hong Kong which we enjoyed and we planned to make it a tradition in every country that we visit from now on. The other one was to try Vietnamese coffee (sorry no picture) and the third was do grocery shopping.
Yum Cha is a Cantonese breakfast tradition of drinking tea while eating all sorts of steamed and fried dim sums. It is best done during weekends where everyone is free because of its leisurely nature that could stretch on to lunch.
Hubby's good-natured "transporter", Mr. Mui, usually takes us to yum cha at the Dynast's Hotel near our place but since they are undergoing renovations in their restaurant, he took us to the one at Dong Cheng Hotel in Daliang two weeks ago. Hubby and I found that this is by far the best yum cha in Shunde so as a small "thank you" to Mr. Mui, we brought him back there yesterday.
I believe it is a very popular yum cha restaurant in Daliang because no matter how large the dining area is (and they are in two levels of the hotel), it is always full of people and for the two times we went there, the waiting list has always been so long and parking of course is very hard.
Aside from their nice and tasty yum cha selections, this restaurant also serves a wide variety of seafood that you can easily see as they are displayed right at the lobby. I should give them credit for introducing me to some sea creatures that I've never seen before in my life like some "giant mussels" (which by the way I really don't know what they are called), "elephant trunk" clams, stone-like fishes, giant lobsters, sea snakes and turtles. They also have two kinds of snakes inside large white tubs which turned my joints to jelly just by looking at them (they have this effect on me). I have always wondered how the latter would taste but one thing is certain: turtles and snakes will never ever end up on my plate!
Last May 29th, my husband's good old "transporter", Mr. Mui, treated both of us to lunch with his family in an authentic Cantonese restaurant here in Leliu. Aside from traditional Cantonese dishes, he also ordered some fried pao which when I tried was sooo good, it felt like I was transported into another place and time.
The white bun was so creamy and the filling was so unique, it wasn't like any of all the paos we have ever eaten before. And although it was fried, it wasn't greasy at all.
We were not able to finish the whole lot in the restaurant because he ordered so many other dishes but knowing we really liked it, he was very kind enough to let us take home the remaining 4 paos. I really wish you can try it too but for now here are just the pics.
 looks nice, tastes even better
 a flower market in Guangzhou (only opened for CNY) Today is the first day of the Chinese New Year in the year of the metal rabbit. This is our second CNY here in China and the second time for me to do my observations as to how the Chinese in China celebrate this very important occasion.
The Chinese New Year in China and in some other parts of Asia are celebrated for 15 days. Most of the activities happen during the first and last day of the celebration but they do get a holiday off from work for at least a week so it is very nice.
Last year, Hubby's officemate and friend, Vanessa, invited both of us to her family's New Year's Eve dinner. It was my first time to visit a real Chinese house on this occasion and it was very interesting. We were greeted with different kinds of finger foods like candies and nuts while drinking warm water (it is indeed winter here on CNY). Each house or each family have different rituals for CNY depending on which part of China they came from. For Vanessa's family, each NYE dinner, they must eat pork dumplings. Since we arrived early, I was able to help her parents-in-law in preparing the dumplings. They usually make hundreds of pork dumplings and in only one dumpling, instead of pork, they will wrap a candy. This is then the lucky dumpling - they believe that whoever gets it will be lucky for the whole year. Aside from the dumplings, they also prepared lots of dishes containing pork, beef, lamb, fish and vegetables. After dinner, the elders give "ang paos" (red envelopes) to the younger ones so Vanessa and her husband, Robin, gave an "ang pao" to their son while their parents gave to them including us! It's very nice to receive a very unexpected gift for this season. In the workplace, it is also customary for managers or group leaders to give ang pao to their subordinates.
We didn't get any invitation for NYE dinner this year and I have also just returned to China after a few weeks in Cebu. I arrived back here on Tuesday morning, just 2 days before the start of the big celebration and I've noticed how busy everyone was in preparing for this occasion.
The afternoon of my arrival, Hubby and I went to Guangzhou. All the shopping centers were teeming with people making their last minute shopping and in almost every corner of town you will see flower markets. Almost everyone you meet were carrying bundles of flowers and other decorations. Some were carrying kumquat trees filled with fruit. They give these as gifts to their friends, family or business partners. The kids were all carrying flower-shaped toy windmills. I actually don't have any idea as to the significance of these but this is part of their tradition every CNY.
Then yesterday while at home, I've noticed our neighbors busy cleaning their houses, cars and shops. I found out that no one is allowed to do any type of cleaning including washing their hair on the first day of the new year. They believe that it is like throwing away your luck. True or not, I also just did my laundry yesterday and never did any cleaning today except washing dishes and of course washing my hair. :-)
Well, whatever the ritual, there are always these things that the Chinese (and now most of us) pray for during the new year: good luck, good health, good wealth and happiness. Kung hei fat choy!
Have you ever tried eating in the toilet? Not just eating candy or chips but real food in the toilet and eating from the toilet bowl? I guess not. Tell you what, Hubby and I did! Yesterday while we were at the mall.... Still couldn't get it? Here's the story...
There's a newly-opened restaurant in our favorite mall and Hubby and I had been so excited to check it out because of its very unique concept. Finally, yesterday we braved the crowds and the long waiting list and got ourselves a table at the Modern Toilet Restaurant. Of course we prepared for this treat by bringing our respective cameras.
It is already a very common sight for passersby to stop and stare and laugh at you while you are enjoying your time in the restaurant. Why? Because through the glass walls they can see you sitting on a toilet bowl, digging in to a toilet-bowl-shaped bowl for your food and sipping your drink from a urinal. Finally, when you order dessert, they can see you delighting yourself with a poo-shaped ice cream - some look like hard feces while some look like that from a bout of diarhhea.
The Modern Toilet Restaurant chain started in Taiwan and is now fast making their way throughout China and Hong Kong. They serve a wide variety of food from rice dishes, to pasta, to noodle dishes and of course their wide ice cream selection. If you're lucky enough to travel to these places, why not check them out for a really one-of-a-kind dining experience? In the meantime, feast your eyes on these toilet delights....
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