I was cooking today and felt like writing up what I cooked, so any of you who are bored can try making it. No specific amounts listed, because I am sure that you can work them out. Trial and error is the way to cook! :)
Try it and see. They're good.
Monday, May 24, 2010
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Dance, river, and plums...
Saturday was a saga.
It was Flare Dance Ensemble's open day, and they were running 5 hours of free dance classes from 12-5 at Prahran. Of course not an opportunity to be missed, since I so desperately need some exercise, and source of endorphin. So off I went, thinking that I'd be in the city by evening to watch the Moomba fireworks.
It was warm and even somewhat sunny when I left Glenny in the morning, and arrived at Prahran Station. Admittedly un-Melbournian, this was the first time I walked on Chapel St (and yes, I've been asked whether I'm really a female who has lived in Melbourne for 8 years). It was bustling with people, with cafes brewing aromas of sophisticated leisure, and boutiques blowing kisses to fanicily dressed female shoppers... True to Melbourne's mosaic nature, this is yet another funny, over-the-top small universe that exists within Melbourne, with its own peculiar population, trade and air.
Anyhow, the dance studio "The Space" was very easily found, and I made it just to the start of the pop class, which was a somewhat weird composition to the raggae song "Gasolina" by Daddy Yankee. The choreographer was doing a sexy, but way too "soft" dance to a strongly rhythmic song that was made for raggaeton/dancehall, so that was a strange juxtaposition. Nonetheless she was a skilled dancer, and the way she flaunted her curves, would have received a thumb-up from the male audience, I am sure.
So having endured that, I was ultra-grateful to start the hip-hop session. And that was as expected, lots of fun. The choreographer was my old hip-hop choreographer Irvin, although he graduated from uni 3 years ago, and we have no idea why he was still hanging around! Irvin's piece utilised many body isolation moves, especially on the neck and shoulders, and I discovered with dismay that I had become so stiff due to lack of practice! Urgh, blame AMS!
Then I was curious to stay for the contemporary dance class, which I soon found out that it was out of my league. Contemporary was a branch-off from the classical ballet, and therefore required a strong ballet foundation. And unfortunately, I could not, for the world, do all those spins and splits and jumps and falls! Having said that, I did enjoy the contemp warm-up, which involved lots of stretches, sit-ups and other exercises for core muscle strength. My extensive sores today are testimony for that.
So half way through contemp class, I happily retired to where the bags are and sat there to watch the rest of beautifully shaped bellas and (disturbingly feminine and hardcore) fellas dance away, and that's when the storm arrived.
I wasn't exactly sure when the black clouds had creeped over our heads, but suddenly we started to hear loud noises of objects banging on the roof over the dance studio. It was so rapid, like many drums beating all at once, and even the full blast of music was silenced in comparison. What was worse, soon several holes appeared on the roof of this upstairs studio, and buckets of water poured in, flooding the wooden floorboards. The class was forced to stop, and the upcoming popping and jazz classes were cancelled. We quickly packed our stuff up, and tiptoed on the wet floor to exit the building, only to realise that the real hell was waiting outside.
Outside, there was not a single street visible. All that was left were rivers, wide and narrow, filled with murky water, full of ripples from the continuing hail. I took off my shoes and socks, rolled up my pants and started to wade through the ankle-deep rain, but soon slipped on the footpath and fell into the water. Overhead, the torrential rain had completely wet my shirt. Ah well, now there was no need for shelter.
Onto Chapel St for the second time. The scene was in such great contrast to a few hours ago that it reminded me eerily of images in my dreams and in movies of the post-apocalyptic world. Chaos was everywhere. Cars were stranded in water, now up to my calf; waves of water created by the cars were like wild beasts splashing everywhere and rushing into the shops, cafes, bars and restaurants. Trams were stalled and power was out in the suburb. I continued wading through, crossing rivers and occasionally falling in as the water became unexpectedly deep. At the same time, I was lamenting on the fact that I didn't bring my camera to record such scenes. But this is approximately where I was:
http://www.theage.com.au/photogallery/victoria/wild-weather-hits-melbourne/20100306-pph5.html?selectedImage=17
The worse part though, was that the water was icy cold, persumably from the hail, so my feet soon felt numb and pain. Luckily there were a $2 shop on Chapel St (go cheap Asian $2 shops!!!) and I darted in, soaked wet, and asked for a pair of thongs and a raincoat. The Chinese couple were very kind, and they even brought all of the items to me and took them out of the wrapper. I looked around to see that their shop is also flooded and out of electricity, and was so grateful that their Asian cheapness made them continuing business as usual.
When I reached Prahran Station, it was full with elegantly dressed shoppers looking rather like "落汤鸡" as we call it in Chinese - chicken fallen into soup - and still clutching their precious prize of the day carefully to make sure it wouldn't get wet. The tracks at the station were submerged in water, and, to my fear, it was soon announced that trains were suspended. My instinct, was then to go to South Yarra Station, which was a premium station, and situated at a place where there might be more buses. The problem was, I didn't know how to get there.
Luckily, a girl and a guy started making their way to South Yarra, and so I followed them along until we were walking right next to the rail tracks, and the two of them started hail-fighting. Surely if I continue to follow the tracks I wouln't be lost anymore, so I happily left them to their entertainment and continued to walk. All along the boulevard of South Yarra were leaves, lush and green, that carpeted all of the ground. And now that the hail and storm seemed to be taking a break, the whole place was surreal and quiet.
Luck was with me for the rest of the journey, for a cityloop-bound train arrived just as I arrived South Yarra, and when I got to Richmond, I learnt that only Belgrave, Lilydale and Glen Waverley lines were running as normal. And the saga ended with me finally warming up with a hot shower and a hot ginger & brown sugar drink.
However I am still amazed at the havoc of the hail. The station staff at South Yarra said over her mobile phone that if she went inside her office now she would most probably be electrocuted; the replacement buses were stranded in water at Southern Cross Station; and our family friends had their backyard canopy full of holes, not to mention egg-sized dints in their car.
And this video actually make me think my experiences are rather lucky...
http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/storm-brings-chaos-to-melbourne-20100306-ppm4.html
A special mention of plums. They were my source of sustenance during the 3 hours of wet and cold. I brought a bag of plums from Coles, mistaking them as nectarines (please don't ask -_-///), and ate 6 of them to keep my glucose level up. I think they worked wonders. :)
It was Flare Dance Ensemble's open day, and they were running 5 hours of free dance classes from 12-5 at Prahran. Of course not an opportunity to be missed, since I so desperately need some exercise, and source of endorphin. So off I went, thinking that I'd be in the city by evening to watch the Moomba fireworks.
It was warm and even somewhat sunny when I left Glenny in the morning, and arrived at Prahran Station. Admittedly un-Melbournian, this was the first time I walked on Chapel St (and yes, I've been asked whether I'm really a female who has lived in Melbourne for 8 years). It was bustling with people, with cafes brewing aromas of sophisticated leisure, and boutiques blowing kisses to fanicily dressed female shoppers... True to Melbourne's mosaic nature, this is yet another funny, over-the-top small universe that exists within Melbourne, with its own peculiar population, trade and air.
Anyhow, the dance studio "The Space" was very easily found, and I made it just to the start of the pop class, which was a somewhat weird composition to the raggae song "Gasolina" by Daddy Yankee. The choreographer was doing a sexy, but way too "soft" dance to a strongly rhythmic song that was made for raggaeton/dancehall, so that was a strange juxtaposition. Nonetheless she was a skilled dancer, and the way she flaunted her curves, would have received a thumb-up from the male audience, I am sure.
So having endured that, I was ultra-grateful to start the hip-hop session. And that was as expected, lots of fun. The choreographer was my old hip-hop choreographer Irvin, although he graduated from uni 3 years ago, and we have no idea why he was still hanging around! Irvin's piece utilised many body isolation moves, especially on the neck and shoulders, and I discovered with dismay that I had become so stiff due to lack of practice! Urgh, blame AMS!
Then I was curious to stay for the contemporary dance class, which I soon found out that it was out of my league. Contemporary was a branch-off from the classical ballet, and therefore required a strong ballet foundation. And unfortunately, I could not, for the world, do all those spins and splits and jumps and falls! Having said that, I did enjoy the contemp warm-up, which involved lots of stretches, sit-ups and other exercises for core muscle strength. My extensive sores today are testimony for that.
So half way through contemp class, I happily retired to where the bags are and sat there to watch the rest of beautifully shaped bellas and (disturbingly feminine and hardcore) fellas dance away, and that's when the storm arrived.
I wasn't exactly sure when the black clouds had creeped over our heads, but suddenly we started to hear loud noises of objects banging on the roof over the dance studio. It was so rapid, like many drums beating all at once, and even the full blast of music was silenced in comparison. What was worse, soon several holes appeared on the roof of this upstairs studio, and buckets of water poured in, flooding the wooden floorboards. The class was forced to stop, and the upcoming popping and jazz classes were cancelled. We quickly packed our stuff up, and tiptoed on the wet floor to exit the building, only to realise that the real hell was waiting outside.
Outside, there was not a single street visible. All that was left were rivers, wide and narrow, filled with murky water, full of ripples from the continuing hail. I took off my shoes and socks, rolled up my pants and started to wade through the ankle-deep rain, but soon slipped on the footpath and fell into the water. Overhead, the torrential rain had completely wet my shirt. Ah well, now there was no need for shelter.
Onto Chapel St for the second time. The scene was in such great contrast to a few hours ago that it reminded me eerily of images in my dreams and in movies of the post-apocalyptic world. Chaos was everywhere. Cars were stranded in water, now up to my calf; waves of water created by the cars were like wild beasts splashing everywhere and rushing into the shops, cafes, bars and restaurants. Trams were stalled and power was out in the suburb. I continued wading through, crossing rivers and occasionally falling in as the water became unexpectedly deep. At the same time, I was lamenting on the fact that I didn't bring my camera to record such scenes. But this is approximately where I was:
http://www.theage.com.au/photogallery/victoria/wild-weather-hits-melbourne/20100306-pph5.html?selectedImage=17
The worse part though, was that the water was icy cold, persumably from the hail, so my feet soon felt numb and pain. Luckily there were a $2 shop on Chapel St (go cheap Asian $2 shops!!!) and I darted in, soaked wet, and asked for a pair of thongs and a raincoat. The Chinese couple were very kind, and they even brought all of the items to me and took them out of the wrapper. I looked around to see that their shop is also flooded and out of electricity, and was so grateful that their Asian cheapness made them continuing business as usual.
When I reached Prahran Station, it was full with elegantly dressed shoppers looking rather like "落汤鸡" as we call it in Chinese - chicken fallen into soup - and still clutching their precious prize of the day carefully to make sure it wouldn't get wet. The tracks at the station were submerged in water, and, to my fear, it was soon announced that trains were suspended. My instinct, was then to go to South Yarra Station, which was a premium station, and situated at a place where there might be more buses. The problem was, I didn't know how to get there.
Luckily, a girl and a guy started making their way to South Yarra, and so I followed them along until we were walking right next to the rail tracks, and the two of them started hail-fighting. Surely if I continue to follow the tracks I wouln't be lost anymore, so I happily left them to their entertainment and continued to walk. All along the boulevard of South Yarra were leaves, lush and green, that carpeted all of the ground. And now that the hail and storm seemed to be taking a break, the whole place was surreal and quiet.
Luck was with me for the rest of the journey, for a cityloop-bound train arrived just as I arrived South Yarra, and when I got to Richmond, I learnt that only Belgrave, Lilydale and Glen Waverley lines were running as normal. And the saga ended with me finally warming up with a hot shower and a hot ginger & brown sugar drink.
However I am still amazed at the havoc of the hail. The station staff at South Yarra said over her mobile phone that if she went inside her office now she would most probably be electrocuted; the replacement buses were stranded in water at Southern Cross Station; and our family friends had their backyard canopy full of holes, not to mention egg-sized dints in their car.
And this video actually make me think my experiences are rather lucky...
http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/storm-brings-chaos-to-melbourne-20100306-ppm4.html
A special mention of plums. They were my source of sustenance during the 3 hours of wet and cold. I brought a bag of plums from Coles, mistaking them as nectarines (please don't ask -_-///), and ate 6 of them to keep my glucose level up. I think they worked wonders. :)
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Lantern Festival @ Glen Waverley
After years of CNY street celebrations in Chinatown, Box Hill, Richmond, Springvale, etc, and years of Asian migration into Glen Waverley making its population 80% oriental, Glen Waverley finally decided to follow suit of street fairs, starting from last year. So today, 15/01 of the Chinese Lunar Calendar, also known as the Lantern Festival, the fair was hosted in Glenny again.
Funny though, the Lantern Festival Fair on Kingsway had very little to do with lanterns. Lantern festivals on 15/01 of the lunar calendar dates at least back to Sui Dynasty (~A.D.600) - that's as far as I have heard of it, in a type of one man talking show called "Ping Shu" - which is basically very skilled storytelling. What I remember was that when a particular hero was young, idiotic and reckless, he got into a fight with the Sui Emporer's third son (whose identity was, of course, unknown to him) at a Lantern Festival Fair and killed him, and from then on went running... Anyhow, I'm sidetracking. But basically, the traditional lantern festival fairs happen at night, and be it Beijing, or Xian (which would've been called Changan in the past), or anywhere else, people would make the most beautiful, exquisite, artistic paper lanterns that lit up streets and houses, and hold competitions, and eat yuan xiao - the glutinous rice balls in plain or sweet rice wine soup (hence it's also known as Yuan Xiao Festival). It was also a romantic occasion for lovers to go on a lantern-sighting (often discreet and unbeknowst to the family) date. In fact, as I have just Wiki'd, Lantern Festivals dates back to Han Dynasty at least 2000 years ago, and Lion and Dragon dances were added to the entertainment in Qing Dynasty... and it would be the Chinese version of Valentines + El Carnaval, if such things indeed exited in that cultivated introversion back then.
Back to Kingway, that's a different thing altogether. Starting from 11am, Kingsway was packed with people browsing through stalls, which sold charcoal BBQ lamb skewers, Tapoyaki by Koreans (with Japanese signs???), Urban Burger, Singaporean Fried Noodles which I was told did not exist in Singapore, Vietamnese Fried Rice Cakes, and, in one lone stall, yuan xiao in sweet rice wine! Then there were other random stalls: one real estate agent (surely tapping into the interest and expertise in property investment of better-off populations ^_^), a message/spa/meditation rep, a bookstore, and a supplements store selling things like Ewe Placenta Essence and Cow Clostrum... The entertainment were at 3 venues, a stage at one end of the stage, with many dance and singing groups performing; a central area, with what I would think the best lion dance group in Melbourne doing lion dance on poles; and inside the building of Village Cinema, where people played instruments. Near the Glen Waverley Library, various Chinese community groups held free Chinese calligraphy and painting sessions for the little ones, and the library itself kindly provided facepainting for the kiddles. So all was entertained.
We spent most of our time watching the lion dancers. They were from Hong De Lion Dance Association (www.hongdelions.com.au) and this was the first time I've seen any performance on poles (which I think is called "Jong" in Malaysia?) except in Jet Li's old Honky movies! The lion dancers would jump from pole to pole, sometimes turning around immediately and other times one person would be swung to another pole by the other! It was truly spectacular to watch. I couldn't believe that they were amateurs who only train once a week. On this site there was some videos from last year's Latern Fest in Glen Waverley, but I think the performance has gotten better this year! (http://www.hongdelion.com.au/en/Gallery/Videos.aspx)
Then we went back home amidst exciting mini-explosions of firecrackers and colourful ribbons and paper blown all over the crowd, and we feasted on dumplings with chives & egg filling, my "wild" mushroom risotto, and red-bean paste and sesame yuan xiao in both plain & sweet rice wine soup. :) Now it's time to dream about laterns illuminating thousands of homes along a narrow, stone paved street, a little creek of trickling water flowing happily next to it, Spring in the air, and let time slow down to a stop...
Funny though, the Lantern Festival Fair on Kingsway had very little to do with lanterns. Lantern festivals on 15/01 of the lunar calendar dates at least back to Sui Dynasty (~A.D.600) - that's as far as I have heard of it, in a type of one man talking show called "Ping Shu" - which is basically very skilled storytelling. What I remember was that when a particular hero was young, idiotic and reckless, he got into a fight with the Sui Emporer's third son (whose identity was, of course, unknown to him) at a Lantern Festival Fair and killed him, and from then on went running... Anyhow, I'm sidetracking. But basically, the traditional lantern festival fairs happen at night, and be it Beijing, or Xian (which would've been called Changan in the past), or anywhere else, people would make the most beautiful, exquisite, artistic paper lanterns that lit up streets and houses, and hold competitions, and eat yuan xiao - the glutinous rice balls in plain or sweet rice wine soup (hence it's also known as Yuan Xiao Festival). It was also a romantic occasion for lovers to go on a lantern-sighting (often discreet and unbeknowst to the family) date. In fact, as I have just Wiki'd, Lantern Festivals dates back to Han Dynasty at least 2000 years ago, and Lion and Dragon dances were added to the entertainment in Qing Dynasty... and it would be the Chinese version of Valentines + El Carnaval, if such things indeed exited in that cultivated introversion back then.
Back to Kingway, that's a different thing altogether. Starting from 11am, Kingsway was packed with people browsing through stalls, which sold charcoal BBQ lamb skewers, Tapoyaki by Koreans (with Japanese signs???), Urban Burger, Singaporean Fried Noodles which I was told did not exist in Singapore, Vietamnese Fried Rice Cakes, and, in one lone stall, yuan xiao in sweet rice wine! Then there were other random stalls: one real estate agent (surely tapping into the interest and expertise in property investment of better-off populations ^_^), a message/spa/meditation rep, a bookstore, and a supplements store selling things like Ewe Placenta Essence and Cow Clostrum... The entertainment were at 3 venues, a stage at one end of the stage, with many dance and singing groups performing; a central area, with what I would think the best lion dance group in Melbourne doing lion dance on poles; and inside the building of Village Cinema, where people played instruments. Near the Glen Waverley Library, various Chinese community groups held free Chinese calligraphy and painting sessions for the little ones, and the library itself kindly provided facepainting for the kiddles. So all was entertained.
We spent most of our time watching the lion dancers. They were from Hong De Lion Dance Association (www.hongdelions.com.au) and this was the first time I've seen any performance on poles (which I think is called "Jong" in Malaysia?) except in Jet Li's old Honky movies! The lion dancers would jump from pole to pole, sometimes turning around immediately and other times one person would be swung to another pole by the other! It was truly spectacular to watch. I couldn't believe that they were amateurs who only train once a week. On this site there was some videos from last year's Latern Fest in Glen Waverley, but I think the performance has gotten better this year! (http://www.hongdelion.com.au/en/Gallery/Videos.aspx)
Then we went back home amidst exciting mini-explosions of firecrackers and colourful ribbons and paper blown all over the crowd, and we feasted on dumplings with chives & egg filling, my "wild" mushroom risotto, and red-bean paste and sesame yuan xiao in both plain & sweet rice wine soup. :) Now it's time to dream about laterns illuminating thousands of homes along a narrow, stone paved street, a little creek of trickling water flowing happily next to it, Spring in the air, and let time slow down to a stop...
Saturday, February 13, 2010
crap, corn, cakes, cut
I'm really tired still.
On the upside, my data collection is nearly completed, (about 15/535 left), so hopefully I will be able to spend less time onsite and relax a little bit. AMS is horrible if you have a very strong need for variety and purpose. I don't think it's very well timed in the course, in that we haven't had any clinical exposure, and so haven't had any time to actually learn anything.
In other news, I have learnt that there is such thing as too much corn. Mmm... corn. I ate two-and-a-half cobs on Friday. I love corn. Once I bought a packet of frozen kernels and would fill cups with them, cook them in the microwave, and eat them with a big spoon. Mmmm.
Hans learnt that cakes do not bake at 300 degrees C. Indeed, almost NOTHING cooks at that temperature, it just burns horribly. You'll be happy to hear I rescued it from the oven while there was still an oven, and that there was salvageable batter under the crusty top, which became cupcakes. Even better, turns out he and his mum like the crusty bits. Win all round.
Also, I need a new haircut. Suggestions?
On the upside, my data collection is nearly completed, (about 15/535 left), so hopefully I will be able to spend less time onsite and relax a little bit. AMS is horrible if you have a very strong need for variety and purpose. I don't think it's very well timed in the course, in that we haven't had any clinical exposure, and so haven't had any time to actually learn anything.
In other news, I have learnt that there is such thing as too much corn. Mmm... corn. I ate two-and-a-half cobs on Friday. I love corn. Once I bought a packet of frozen kernels and would fill cups with them, cook them in the microwave, and eat them with a big spoon. Mmmm.
Hans learnt that cakes do not bake at 300 degrees C. Indeed, almost NOTHING cooks at that temperature, it just burns horribly. You'll be happy to hear I rescued it from the oven while there was still an oven, and that there was salvageable batter under the crusty top, which became cupcakes. Even better, turns out he and his mum like the crusty bits. Win all round.
Also, I need a new haircut. Suggestions?
Sunday, January 31, 2010
China trip: food memories
So it's midnight. I'm bored of lit reviewing, and am slightly hungry... Hmmm I miss the food we had on China trip! Why don't I start the trip blogs from here?
WARNING: the following account may cause intense emotions (as well as stomach grumblings)!
Good food:
Faux “Camphor & Tea Smoked duck”, “Stir-fried Eel Strips” and mushroom dumplings with walnut milk, at Wenshu temple restaurant
Northern Sichuan cold glass noodles at Long Chao Shou – one of Chengdu’s most famous snackfood places.
Stewed old pumpkin in claypot, some tiny, extremely ragged looking restaurant in the town of Songpan.
Saozi noodles and pancake soaked in soup on Xian’s Muslim street.
Buffet breakfast at Xian Hotel. Ohhh, I’m so full.
Buns, pancakes with eggplant/radish/carrot fillings, milk, milk tea & soymilk for breakfast.
Hotpot at home. An overabundance of vegies, mushrooms, tofus, gluten balls...
Vegetarian buffet in Beijing, after cycling in the freezing wind for 1 hr.
Homemade, “sino-fied” sushies, using Chinese white vinegar and Chinese pickled radish to substitute for their Japanese counterparts... Still, they were steamy, hot, and delicious; not unlike the master chief who taught us how to make them.
The high-class banquet in a Beijing courtyard, especially the yummy mashed yam!
A table FULL of delicious dishes for only 300 yuan at Guolin, the “home-styled” restaurant, after a day of skiing.
Fruit fest:
Big grapefruits: These are at least 3 times bigger than the grapefruits in Australia (think James’ head XP), with lemon-coloured skin (which is at least 2cm thick!), and tastes similar to normal grapefruits.
“Fragrant” melon: These used to be only found in my mother’s hometown in summer, so I was extremely excited to find them in Beijing supermarkets in winter! They are slightly bigger than a fist, similar to a honeydew, and have a slightly unusual sweet smell.
Chinese crispy dates: Red skin with green flesh, these are sweet, crispy and refreshing. One of my favourite winter treats!
Pomegranates: these look paler in skin and in flesh, but are actually sweet. Each pomegranate seed is bigger and juicier in flesh than the ones in Australia/England (according to James, since I haven’t had enough pomegranates here to tell the difference...)
Dragonfruit: what more can I say: we love dragonfruits as we love fruits.
Watermelon with yellow flesh: I haven’t had them before!
“Huojing” persimmons: these are tiny (1/4 of the size of normal persimmons), very soft, and its skin is paper-thin. Best of all, you can peel all of the skin in one go, and you’re left with only the flesh, sweet, fragrant, soft and simply wonderful.
Mandarins: mandarins are, of course, everywhere in winter, with always too many varieties that I never remember what each tastes like.
A special type of mandarin/orange cross: it’s green in colour, spherical in shape but much smaller than an orange in size; its skin is very thin, and its flesh is somewhat lemon-coloured. It is sweet and sour, while cool and crisp in texture. Hmmmm...
Durian (+durian candy): James’ favourite. Enough said.
Coconut disguised as “Tibetan sacred fruit”! Their husks were polished and painted in maroon colour; and of course, found in Tibetan highlands ;)
Snack attack:
Street-made pancakes with egg, spring onion and sauce. Made on the spot, hot and tasty.
Street-roasted sweet potatos. That plus the sun on my back on a cold winter day used to be my definition of happiness. Now also plus James. :P
Cucumber flavoured chips (and mango flavoured, blueberry flavoured, lychee flavoured and kiwifruit flavoured types too!)
Rock sugar glazed hawthorn fruit. 糖葫芦, the sweet, tasty memory of Beijing.
Crystallised kiwifruits, pineapples, various plums, cantaloups, ginger *gasp*
A sweets bakery in Xian, making biscuits with glutinous pumpkin in the middle and walnut cookies.
BBQ gluten on a stick! Oh how I should give my mice these...
Deep fried chou tofu. :D
Jiu Men Xiao Chi: a “restaurant” full of snackfood stalls. We had deep fried starch sausage with ginger sauce (soooo nice!), “soy juice” – which is more or less a type of rancid soymilk, pea paste cakes (James please don’t say “pea yellow” even though that IS the literal translation of the name...), various pancakes, glutinous sweets, red date juice...
Powered, just-add-water cup milk tea with “Nata de coco” (a harder type of jelly made from coconut)
Many, many, many bubble-tea type of drinks and all-you-can-drink for 18yuan (<$3). Plus wireless (perhaps that’s a snack too?...)
Homemade cake using a electronic pressure cooker!
“Hong Kong Honeymoon Dessert” – better known as “Manji” in mandarin, has opened 2 branches in Beijing. Insanely packed with people, its desserts were pricey but very nice. Ask James about its mango sago (this is what he says on Skype: enlightened0ne: yumyumyumyumyum <- he had 2! Plus a durian ice-cream).
A Taiwanese bubble-tea place which also specialises in the finest “snow shavings” I have seen. It was as fluffy as fairyfloss, and melts at the instant that it touches the mouth. Gentle and soft, but full of sweet surprises. Plus low fat (since it’s just ice shavings XP)!
Homemade milkshake using a banana, milk, yoghurt drink and peach juice in a soymilk maker!
Lots, lots of interesting yoghurts with/without fruity bits.
Lots, lots of yoghurty drinks in bags.
Lots, lots of ice-creams.
“The last dessert”: 2 beautifully presented Haagen-Daaz drinks at the airport, on the day James went back to England. Awww.
WARNING: the following account may cause intense emotions (as well as stomach grumblings)!
Good food:
Faux “Camphor & Tea Smoked duck”, “Stir-fried Eel Strips” and mushroom dumplings with walnut milk, at Wenshu temple restaurant
Northern Sichuan cold glass noodles at Long Chao Shou – one of Chengdu’s most famous snackfood places.
Stewed old pumpkin in claypot, some tiny, extremely ragged looking restaurant in the town of Songpan.
Saozi noodles and pancake soaked in soup on Xian’s Muslim street.
Buffet breakfast at Xian Hotel. Ohhh, I’m so full.
Buns, pancakes with eggplant/radish/carrot fillings, milk, milk tea & soymilk for breakfast.
Hotpot at home. An overabundance of vegies, mushrooms, tofus, gluten balls...
Vegetarian buffet in Beijing, after cycling in the freezing wind for 1 hr.
Homemade, “sino-fied” sushies, using Chinese white vinegar and Chinese pickled radish to substitute for their Japanese counterparts... Still, they were steamy, hot, and delicious; not unlike the master chief who taught us how to make them.
The high-class banquet in a Beijing courtyard, especially the yummy mashed yam!
A table FULL of delicious dishes for only 300 yuan at Guolin, the “home-styled” restaurant, after a day of skiing.
Fruit fest:
Big grapefruits: These are at least 3 times bigger than the grapefruits in Australia (think James’ head XP), with lemon-coloured skin (which is at least 2cm thick!), and tastes similar to normal grapefruits.
“Fragrant” melon: These used to be only found in my mother’s hometown in summer, so I was extremely excited to find them in Beijing supermarkets in winter! They are slightly bigger than a fist, similar to a honeydew, and have a slightly unusual sweet smell.
Chinese crispy dates: Red skin with green flesh, these are sweet, crispy and refreshing. One of my favourite winter treats!
Pomegranates: these look paler in skin and in flesh, but are actually sweet. Each pomegranate seed is bigger and juicier in flesh than the ones in Australia/England (according to James, since I haven’t had enough pomegranates here to tell the difference...)
Dragonfruit: what more can I say: we love dragonfruits as we love fruits.
Watermelon with yellow flesh: I haven’t had them before!
“Huojing” persimmons: these are tiny (1/4 of the size of normal persimmons), very soft, and its skin is paper-thin. Best of all, you can peel all of the skin in one go, and you’re left with only the flesh, sweet, fragrant, soft and simply wonderful.
Mandarins: mandarins are, of course, everywhere in winter, with always too many varieties that I never remember what each tastes like.
A special type of mandarin/orange cross: it’s green in colour, spherical in shape but much smaller than an orange in size; its skin is very thin, and its flesh is somewhat lemon-coloured. It is sweet and sour, while cool and crisp in texture. Hmmmm...
Durian (+durian candy): James’ favourite. Enough said.
Coconut disguised as “Tibetan sacred fruit”! Their husks were polished and painted in maroon colour; and of course, found in Tibetan highlands ;)
Snack attack:
Street-made pancakes with egg, spring onion and sauce. Made on the spot, hot and tasty.
Street-roasted sweet potatos. That plus the sun on my back on a cold winter day used to be my definition of happiness. Now also plus James. :P
Cucumber flavoured chips (and mango flavoured, blueberry flavoured, lychee flavoured and kiwifruit flavoured types too!)
Rock sugar glazed hawthorn fruit. 糖葫芦, the sweet, tasty memory of Beijing.
Crystallised kiwifruits, pineapples, various plums, cantaloups, ginger *gasp*
A sweets bakery in Xian, making biscuits with glutinous pumpkin in the middle and walnut cookies.
BBQ gluten on a stick! Oh how I should give my mice these...
Deep fried chou tofu. :D
Jiu Men Xiao Chi: a “restaurant” full of snackfood stalls. We had deep fried starch sausage with ginger sauce (soooo nice!), “soy juice” – which is more or less a type of rancid soymilk, pea paste cakes (James please don’t say “pea yellow” even though that IS the literal translation of the name...), various pancakes, glutinous sweets, red date juice...
Powered, just-add-water cup milk tea with “Nata de coco” (a harder type of jelly made from coconut)
Many, many, many bubble-tea type of drinks and all-you-can-drink for 18yuan (<$3). Plus wireless (perhaps that’s a snack too?...)
Homemade cake using a electronic pressure cooker!
“Hong Kong Honeymoon Dessert” – better known as “Manji” in mandarin, has opened 2 branches in Beijing. Insanely packed with people, its desserts were pricey but very nice. Ask James about its mango sago (this is what he says on Skype: enlightened0ne: yumyumyumyumyum <- he had 2! Plus a durian ice-cream).
A Taiwanese bubble-tea place which also specialises in the finest “snow shavings” I have seen. It was as fluffy as fairyfloss, and melts at the instant that it touches the mouth. Gentle and soft, but full of sweet surprises. Plus low fat (since it’s just ice shavings XP)!
Homemade milkshake using a banana, milk, yoghurt drink and peach juice in a soymilk maker!
Lots, lots of interesting yoghurts with/without fruity bits.
Lots, lots of yoghurty drinks in bags.
Lots, lots of ice-creams.
“The last dessert”: 2 beautifully presented Haagen-Daaz drinks at the airport, on the day James went back to England. Awww.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Sunday, January 17, 2010
The last sunday
Sorry James, no holiday blogs yet. You know, writer's block. (actually, in my case it's the AMS block.)
So today marks the last sunday before I start injecting mice again and no longer have a weekend. Therefore I wanted to have a proper weekend.
And it was fun :). My grans, my mum and I went to NGV and saw the "Chinoserie" collection. I had planned to see the other collections too, but soon realised that in fact, visiting art galleries requires stamina. We soon reached a point of brain saturation with paintings and chinas and the like, compounded with the grumbles in our stomachs. I'm sure stamina develops with exposure, but for noobies such as us, it was enough art to call a day.
Where to lunch? They asked. At the same time my mind must've started its autocleaning and it went blank. Well, somewhere relatively close...grans' legs are tired. And somewhere relatively good...fussy eaters they are, and fussier when it's unaccustomed western cuisine (for I could not, for the life of me, think of any decent Chinese restaurant around Flinders Station/Fed Square/Arts Centre area). "Okay, we could try Degraves St."
Which turned out to be a good choice, except that Degraves was as usual packed with people, therefore we sat outside, chilled by the drizzle and wind. "Degraves Espresso" (I think???) was the cafe, chosen at random, and risotto, omelette, panini and French toast were our orders. Food was nice, the risotto superb and the smoked salmon & spinach omelette doubly superb. With my grans' watchful "no-waste-food" eyes, I lamented in my head that there's no such thing here as petit portion...
We also got hot chocolate and tea just to combat the chill, and at the end, I poured the thick syrupy chocolate, left over tea and milk together, and created a warm reminiscence of the instant milk teas in china, that comes in a paper cup in power form with with small cubes of jelly/coconut and a big plastic straw. Those were good moments...
Things were rather comical after that. First it was a group of mudpeople doing their mud yelps and dancing around in a circle on Flinders. Then there was a street artist performing on fed square in a tight one-sie, dirtydancing with some other guys... And, to end our day out on an epic note, we wandered into a gay & lesbian festival thingy in Alexandra Gardens, where gazbos shaded stalls selling rainbow patterned fake tattoos and male underwear...
PS: There's a new restaurant called "Petalling Street Malaysian Hawker Food" on Kingsway in Glen Waverley, which seems to be always packed with people. I've tried it twice and thought the food was nice, but can someone who knows of Malaysian food come and verify its authenticity? Can others without knowledge of Malaysian food come and verify that it's food?XP (i.e. Hong's lame excuse for a catch-up)
Peace!
So today marks the last sunday before I start injecting mice again and no longer have a weekend. Therefore I wanted to have a proper weekend.
And it was fun :). My grans, my mum and I went to NGV and saw the "Chinoserie" collection. I had planned to see the other collections too, but soon realised that in fact, visiting art galleries requires stamina. We soon reached a point of brain saturation with paintings and chinas and the like, compounded with the grumbles in our stomachs. I'm sure stamina develops with exposure, but for noobies such as us, it was enough art to call a day.
Where to lunch? They asked. At the same time my mind must've started its autocleaning and it went blank. Well, somewhere relatively close...grans' legs are tired. And somewhere relatively good...fussy eaters they are, and fussier when it's unaccustomed western cuisine (for I could not, for the life of me, think of any decent Chinese restaurant around Flinders Station/Fed Square/Arts Centre area). "Okay, we could try Degraves St."
Which turned out to be a good choice, except that Degraves was as usual packed with people, therefore we sat outside, chilled by the drizzle and wind. "Degraves Espresso" (I think???) was the cafe, chosen at random, and risotto, omelette, panini and French toast were our orders. Food was nice, the risotto superb and the smoked salmon & spinach omelette doubly superb. With my grans' watchful "no-waste-food" eyes, I lamented in my head that there's no such thing here as petit portion...
We also got hot chocolate and tea just to combat the chill, and at the end, I poured the thick syrupy chocolate, left over tea and milk together, and created a warm reminiscence of the instant milk teas in china, that comes in a paper cup in power form with with small cubes of jelly/coconut and a big plastic straw. Those were good moments...
Things were rather comical after that. First it was a group of mudpeople doing their mud yelps and dancing around in a circle on Flinders. Then there was a street artist performing on fed square in a tight one-sie, dirtydancing with some other guys... And, to end our day out on an epic note, we wandered into a gay & lesbian festival thingy in Alexandra Gardens, where gazbos shaded stalls selling rainbow patterned fake tattoos and male underwear...
PS: There's a new restaurant called "Petalling Street Malaysian Hawker Food" on Kingsway in Glen Waverley, which seems to be always packed with people. I've tried it twice and thought the food was nice, but can someone who knows of Malaysian food come and verify its authenticity? Can others without knowledge of Malaysian food come and verify that it's food?XP (i.e. Hong's lame excuse for a catch-up)
Peace!
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
I will, eventually, post something more here...
Anyone feel like writing a post on how their holidays/lack of holidays were/are? Just out of interest, we now have 48 searches in google for "rat faeces photo" and 24 for rat faeces photo blog. Who searches for this? That's a significant proportion of our visitors. Perhaps you should actually post a photo so that all these people find what they are looking for, Joanne... :P
Monday, December 28, 2009
I'm back...
Hi all... blog entry coming soon, I hope. I'm back in England now, with 37.7kg of checked luggage. So much to do now that I am back... and that doesn't even include work stuff. Shopping for food seems quite important. :P More later...
Thursday, December 10, 2009
A taste...
Blogs are still to come, but I've been sorting through my photos and thought that I should post one. I wish that photos could do justice to the beauty of Jiuzhaigou; the colours here are what the camera sees, and can never quite reproduce what the eye sees. I'll post photos that include still water later... you won't believe that I haven't used photoshop to add the colours!
Sunday, November 29, 2009
deadly household appliances
overheard on the tram (a while back now):
"... and the washing machine fell off the wall, smashing the chair that she had been standing in 2 seconds earlier!... none of the neighbours came to check - I would have come home to find her DEAD!!"
I love eavesdropping.
"... and the washing machine fell off the wall, smashing the chair that she had been standing in 2 seconds earlier!... none of the neighbours came to check - I would have come home to find her DEAD!!"
I love eavesdropping.
Saturday, November 28, 2009
An interesting way to find the site...
Just briefly, I thought that this was very amusing. We have had one visitor to this blog via google, apparently from Auckland. The search term he/she used? "rat faeces photo"... This took her/him to Joanne's blog entry from a while ago. I checked, and if you search for the term on google we're about the 12th link. Since I've written this, we'll probably shoot up closer to number 1. So if you forget our address... just search for rat faeces!
Friday, November 27, 2009
Quick notification: Hong and James are still alive
James: A proper entry or three will be coming soon, but at the moment we are travelling around Sichuan, and not really able to use the computer. We're currently at 3000m above sea level in Jiuzhaiguo, with a tenuous link to the internet via a 3G modem. For the first time in a while, we are properly warm, with a hotel room that has 24 hour airconditioning (that works!) and hot water during the times that matter. It's funny that it seems expensive and luxurious, when it's only about $12 each per night. One place we stayed at was about $4 each per night... but had a pillow and doona that smelled of sweat and cigarettes, and hot water that required significant negotiation with the owner to ask them to change the battery in the water heater. Oh, and to get there we had to cross the channel that had been dug to provide a new subway... a 30m deep pit with operational earth-moving machinery and construction workers giving advice about where to climb. At least the climbing skills were useful, as they were put to the test in JZG today, when we used them to access closed walkways in the park.
Hong: Sorry to disappoint all of you who are expecting something more "exotic" to have happened to us. But we have survived a city of dust, a bum-splitting 10hr bus trip through earthquake rubble, landslides and rock falls, a freezing old town without any functioning heating device, except our fevers, which stemmed from URTI of dubious origin... (James' assertion: probably the expectorated bacteria of someone in Sichuan; they spit everywhere, including on buses and on carpet!) Jiuzhai is very beautiful, as an understatement, and please be prepared to be inundated in James' photographs, as well as an album of the photo maniac James taking photos during this trip. Hmmm... what else.... Oh, and bought a Tibetan maroon lacquered coconut, being sold as a special Tibetan fruit that grows in the mountains and taste like sour milk. Ours tasted like normal coconut milk...
Monday, November 9, 2009
As you can probably tell by now, I have very little desire to do well at this AMS gig. I have low interest in the subject, my supervisor is a tool/n00b/incompetent (as a supervisor... as a clinician he does well), and I'm tired. Very very tired.
I'm taking a weekend off from 20-22nd November. Can't wait.
I just got water on my notebook. Damn.
I'm going to buy a camera, so I can post photos of really uninteresting crap (unlike James, of course).
I want to go home and bake. and then throw the cake at something.
I'm taking a weekend off from 20-22nd November. Can't wait.
I just got water on my notebook. Damn.
I'm going to buy a camera, so I can post photos of really uninteresting crap (unlike James, of course).
I want to go home and bake. and then throw the cake at something.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
The Head
A photo from before the battle in Leominster. You can see how serious the people were... this would be a heavy helmet, and it's dented too...
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Gourd flowerpots
Aren't these cool? I want to grow some gourds at home and use them for this... These gourds were found on the side of a covered road in a little village on a hillside. It was a funny village; no vehicle would be able to traverse the majority of the streets because they were so steep and so uneven, and little old grandmothers lined the ways, selling apples and oregano and (mmmmm) figs, as well as some hand-made things. There was a tiny area with some tourist-oriented shops, and the village was famous for its wine (which was, apparently, very unusual; quince wine?), so quite a number of wine stores were offering tasting. We ate in a restaurant which sold delicious stuffed zucchini flowers. The owner of the restaurant challenged me to a chilli-eating competition, which was fun. :) Small green chillis are hot, though not unbearably so...
Friday, October 30, 2009
The things one learns...
Yesterday, I found out that a cell line with which we have been working in the lab actually has prostate cancer because of a virus (Xenotropic Murine Leukaemia virus-related virus), and we have not been working with it in a containment level appropriate to this. It's been in the literature for 2 years, but we were only told yesterday... and my supervisor wanted us to keep working with it. I'm not too keen on getting chronic fatigue/prostate cancer, so there's a definite NO from me. It's pretty terrible that he asked us to keep working with it! I just hope that I didn't catch it while the cells were growing.
Ah well... at least it was found out before I started doing heaps of work with that cell line...
On a happier note, my site is now fully up and running; it has 20 prints for sale, at last. It's shocking how expensive it is to actually have something printed at high quality, though; I really want to find a cheaper source! (Other than the really good one in the US that won't ship outside America)
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Turkish meat
I don't know what this stuff is called, but it is raw meat, semi-dried. Not dry like jerky, but not that bloody. It's coated in something like flour, which has become soaked in blood. It appears to be kept for months at a time, and is eaten as is... no cooking, no washing, no disinfection. It seems the Turkish are quite used to eating meat that has sat around unrefrigerated for a considerable amount of time; most of the doner kebabs sit around all day, free to any flies, dripping meat juice and fat, until evening comes and the cooker is turned on. Still... the stuff in this photo is worse, eaten raw, as it is. It has a strange smell, too...
Marshaling
In the light of having plenty to whine yet nothing much to actually tell, I'll write on the boring subject of marshaling at the GP Exam.
This is the exit OSCE exam for aspiring GP reg's. While it can be taken at any stage of GP training, most candidates sit for it in their last year... which can be pretty sad for those that I have seen 3 years in a row.
The 14 OSCE stations can range from basic to very challenging; purely Q&A to procedural skills. A marshal's job entails ensuring smooth transition of candidates between each station, bringing them water and escorting them to toilets, and making sure they're not doing what they're not supposed to do. It really is a easy job - therefore not surprisingly boring after the first hour. Apart from looking after an unbelievable number of nerve-stricken candidates, who's cerebrum automatically shuts off and therefore cannot see signs, are unable read their names on the name sheet, and fail to hear instructions, there is not much else to do. And as long as one is vigilant at recognising such lost sheep and provide babysitting service promptly, any drama can be avoided.
Because I've marshaled for a number of times now, I became the lead marshal for Sunday afternoon's session @ RWH. An even easier job, because rather than being stationed at a particular position and watching over that whole area, I was the roamer - which actually means that I don't need to do anything at all. I did attempt to make myself useful, by volunteering for the occasional water jug refills, chatting with the College admin staff, and sometimes strolling around, smiling at everyone and asking "everything cool?" The rest of my time were spent either at my Spanish workbook, which I did pathetically little of, or in front of mountainload of very yummy free food... muffins, yogurt slices, fruit cakes, croissants, biscuits, sandwiches, rolls, puffs, salads, nectarines, apples, pears, bananas, melons, pineapples, strawberries, dried nuts, dried fruits. By the end of 6 and half hours I concluded that GPs, too, are a contributing factor to obesity.
So when this finally ended we counted the marking sheets, mused ourselves with glimpse of not-so-nice examiner comments on candidates who I have seen 3 years in a row. And then as the marshals get their $80 gift voucher, I get $120 for my "additional troubles". Mmm, not complaining =).
This is the exit OSCE exam for aspiring GP reg's. While it can be taken at any stage of GP training, most candidates sit for it in their last year... which can be pretty sad for those that I have seen 3 years in a row.
The 14 OSCE stations can range from basic to very challenging; purely Q&A to procedural skills. A marshal's job entails ensuring smooth transition of candidates between each station, bringing them water and escorting them to toilets, and making sure they're not doing what they're not supposed to do. It really is a easy job - therefore not surprisingly boring after the first hour. Apart from looking after an unbelievable number of nerve-stricken candidates, who's cerebrum automatically shuts off and therefore cannot see signs, are unable read their names on the name sheet, and fail to hear instructions, there is not much else to do. And as long as one is vigilant at recognising such lost sheep and provide babysitting service promptly, any drama can be avoided.
Because I've marshaled for a number of times now, I became the lead marshal for Sunday afternoon's session @ RWH. An even easier job, because rather than being stationed at a particular position and watching over that whole area, I was the roamer - which actually means that I don't need to do anything at all. I did attempt to make myself useful, by volunteering for the occasional water jug refills, chatting with the College admin staff, and sometimes strolling around, smiling at everyone and asking "everything cool?" The rest of my time were spent either at my Spanish workbook, which I did pathetically little of, or in front of mountainload of very yummy free food... muffins, yogurt slices, fruit cakes, croissants, biscuits, sandwiches, rolls, puffs, salads, nectarines, apples, pears, bananas, melons, pineapples, strawberries, dried nuts, dried fruits. By the end of 6 and half hours I concluded that GPs, too, are a contributing factor to obesity.
So when this finally ended we counted the marking sheets, mused ourselves with glimpse of not-so-nice examiner comments on candidates who I have seen 3 years in a row. And then as the marshals get their $80 gift voucher, I get $120 for my "additional troubles". Mmm, not complaining =).
Photo schmoto
Cupcake doodles > James' arty farty shots.
Only kidding. Can you tell my mind is wandering? If only my feet could too.
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