french toast

I can make yummy Hong Kong styled 西多士

Best served with sugar or syrup.

off days

On 端午节 we went to JingAn Sogo with Pick to buy soccer boots. Becoz the guys have a match the next day. Elvis was trying to look professional. Keke... There wasnt many designs/brands to choose from. He bought a black/white Adidas. His FIRST soccer boots.

For dinner, we had Coco Curry. Everyone LOVES it! YUM YUM! Burp~

DAY 2
In the afternoon, we went to buy LIVE fish and prawns coz Elvis cooking for his friends tomorrow night. (The wet market here is open the whole day) After that, Elvis went to play soccer while we stayed at home. At night, we went to THE authentic Tai Ping Koon at Times Square for dinner. Swiss Chicken Wings!!! Burp~

P.S. Apparently, the TPK at XinTianDi is not the "authentic" one. Hmmm...

DAY 3
Lunch appointment (with a baby born 3weeks after Joel) canceled. So we went to XinTianDi/Afternoon Tea (again) for lunch...then shopping (again). Went home in the early evening and Elvis started cooking. Pick, Raymond & Carol coming to our place for dinner. Everyone agrees it's the famous Elvis' World Best Pork Chop. BURP~


DAY 4:Sunday
Elvis starts work.
I decided to skip Joel's play class. Will probably bring him there on one of the weekdays. ;p

ginger free

O ya, the ONLY THING Ahyi improved on her cooking is NOT adding all those big slices of ginger into EVERY SINGLE DISH!!! (It's many many big slices in every dish. NOT thin strips/julienne.)

She told me as-a-matter-of-factly 'ALL meat need to add ginger'. What kind of stupid theory is that???!!! FYI, that includes adding ginger to eggs with prawns. Hence, my eggs always taste of ginger!!! Even before i eat, i can smell the ginger (when i bring the plate to the dining table). It's really worse than my confinement food!

I dont know how to cook, but i thought that most people would add chopped garlic first and stirfry it a bit before adding the other ingredients (i think i saw from all those cooking programmes).

Anyway, i've since told her to STOP ADDING GINGER!!! So, finally, i get to taste the real food-food.

Chicken taste like chicken,
pork taste like pork,
egg taste like egg,
vegetable taste like vegetable,
soup taste like soup...

She also ALWAYS have all sorts of her own theories when i tell her that something is wrong or that it should be done this way etc...and when i tell her the reason why (not). She has never replied with a 'Yes' or 'Ok'. Her favourite phrase is '不会的吧?! ....'. (translated into: It cannot be/I dont think so).

Whenever i ask her about something (which she doesnt know), she will pretend to know and give me some very silly answer. When i tell her my views instead which could be wrong too (coz i asked her coz i dont know)...she will then say 不会的吧 + use my answer, phrase it in another way, and tell me HER NEW ANSWER!!! How smart!

F*** her 不会的吧s!!!

dinner

This is what Ahyi cooked about 3 weeks ago. I remembered i told her to buy the "si ji dou" 四季豆 vegetables...she then suggested with much enthusiasm that she will cook another veg which she cooked for another family and they liked.

End up it's...
1. water chestnut with some mushroom (i dont like leh)
2. chicken with my cashew nuts tidbits, cooked her usual soya sauce style
3. tiny prawns with my usual bottled chili sauce




And this is what she cooked today. Actually all taste ok lah. Much better than before (very bland). It's just the process before the buying/cooking sucks!
1. chicken fillet sliced too thinly with lots of spring onions
2. eggs with prawns (when i walked into the kitchen, i stopped her from "mincing" the eggs any further. Coz she wanted to minced them like what she did the first time!!!)
3. chicken, pork & wolfberry soup (which she didnt cover the lid after turning to low fire...but i wasnt sure until i checked with Elvis later at night. He said can cover the lid fully when it's simmering. Coz i realized Ahyi ALWAYS let the soup EVAPORATE until left 2 small bowls! I thought it was a bit weird coz the nutrients will be evaporated mah...But since i cant cook, i better dont "say her" in case she give me some special ingredient inside the soup.)

back to our shanghai life

Saturday
After we cut Joel's hair (see post below), we met Ann & Kitty for lunch at 萃华餐庁 - a new HK 茶餐庁. They liked Joel's new hair! Haha! The restaurant is newly opened and the staff was very blur. Quite pissed when you get lousy service here in China. Haha! ;p

After that, we walked to Elvis' favourite Chang Le/Xin Le Road. Haha... 4 shopaholics on the loose. At Source, only the unrepentant Elvis bought an expensive polo tee from Vanishing Elephant. It was plain black with a plain pocket...and a plain "cross" on its collar. ;p
Before we went to Bali-Spore, we also came here and realized a new Dusty shop a few units away from Source...but today, the shop was closed. Hmmm... We've only been gone 2 weekends and there's also new shops up in Chang Le Road!

Many of the buildings (esp those along the main roads) are getting a new coat of paint. Some just plaster on new tiles on its exterior, leaving the inner building looking the same - i.e. very old. Haha! Shanghai is getting ready for Expo 2010.

Views from the taxi... and waiting for Elvis at the alteration shop (that's Ann & Kitty standing - in black & pink)...

Sunday
We went to Crystal Jade before Joel's play class...and bumped into Ann again! So she joined us for dimsum before she went into office. Elvis was cooking dinner so we invited her. As expected, she couldnt leave by dinner time. :(

Joel: "Let me check if all the food are here!"

Joel had missed 2 weeks of his play class. Even the girls at the reception counter misses him! Haha! Today's class was about balancing. Joel's not very good at it...but he's got a big bum that remained unmoved when they put all the babies on a "rocking mattress". Keke... But after a while, he got frightened and cried for us to carry him down! He enjoyed his lesson anyhow. ;)

It's FREEZING today! We headed to the supermarket for some last minute ingredients...and it's HOME!

These are what Elvis cooked for dinner:
- beef
- giant prawns
- cabbage
- chicken soup
Everything was very yummy except the beef was a bit hard to chew on. Still, i enjoyed the carrots in it a lot! ;)

BTW, China has gone environmentally-friendly for months now and people are encouraged to bring their own bags to the supermarket. You have to pay for the plastic bags if you really need them. So, i always have 1-2 foldable bag inside my diaper bag. So aunty! But of course, my recycled bags has to be a bit nicer lah! Haha!

cooking 11-12

Elvis could come home early these 2 days. 'Early' = 7pm, which is super rare. So, we had dinner at home coz it's too cold to go out for dinner. Yesterday, i asked Ahyi to cook whatever food we have in the fridge.

Ladies & Gentlemen, presenting Ahyi's cooking #11 for yesterday's dinner... (drum roll)...
- same Hong Shao Pork
- same chicken with soya sauce
- same prawns with same chili/black bean sauce
- soup


AND Ladies & Gentlemen, presenting... (drum roll)...
Jo's FIRST attempt cooking real food-food today for dinner...
- 干煸四季豆 gan bian si ji dou with minced pork
- pork chop with ketchup sauce (the sauce looks weird)
- egg & luncheon meat (just in case all else fails, this would be perfect)



K.O. I win! ;)

cooking 7-10

I havent been taking any pictures of Ahyi's cooking...becoz it seems she ALWAYS cook the same old stuffs with the same old seasonings in my fridge! So...i actually bought a few cookbooks a few days ago! She can read them when she's free. Haha! ;)

Ahyi has been here for a month. Other than these food (below), i've been eating McDonalds, KFC & Pizza Hut...and of course, can-never-fail-me instant noodles.

Cooking 7
- Hong Shao Pork
- Prawns with same chili/black bean sauce

Cooking 8
- Chicken with soya sauce
- Fried Eggs with Prawns

Cooking 9
- Chicken with soya sauce
- Steam egg (a special request)

Cooking 10 : Yesterday
- Soup (a special request)
- Prawns with ketchup sauce (mine is still nicer coz hers is oily and smells/tastes of ginger)

I think the reason why she doesnt know how to cook many things is becoz she is very "picky" with food and she has never eaten at restaurants before. She always puts lots of ginger slices in every dish. And since the portion is very small, the smell is pungent - even worse than Confinement Food! She has cut down on the Chinese Yellow Wine now that she knows i dont like it.

Whenever she sense (from my face) that the dish doesnt look "the way it should look", she will ask me if the ones i've eaten "outside" looks the same. BUT, all the dishes are not fancy food (eg. fried eggs with prawns). Arent they very common 家常菜 home-cooked dishes???!!!

big eater

Looks like we have 1 small problem here... The pack of Wakodo instant porridge is not a mix...and the portion is just the size of my palm! Looks like he can finish 2 packs at a go! (It's kinda like the size of Ceasar dog pate...maybe even slightly smaller)

Below is the portion that Joel eats every time!!! I've always wanted to blog about this big eater. (This picture has been in my cellphone for a long time) Quite scary huh! Now, he sometimes eats lesser than this amount. But still considered a lot, i think. ;p


To Come: Will test tomorrow and see if it's indeed enough for him...

what i can cook

I'm making a list of the food i can "cook" and/or have "made"...

1. Fried eggs, sunny side up, hard-boiled eggs
2. Fried luncheon meat (or using oven)
3. Instant noodles
4. Microwaved baked beans
5. Microwaved canned corn
6. Egg/Egg Mayo/Luncheon meat/Tuna- sandwich
7. Mashed potatoes
8. Anyhow-Fried Rice
9. Prawns with any instant sauces
10. Prawns with eggs! (today)
11. Pasta with instant sauce
12. Rosti (anyhow-cook-style but very yummy)

I think that's about it.

cooking 6

Here's my 6th home-cooked lunch/dinner. I cooked the egg with prawns! A little too many prawns though...and a bit mistake coz the prawns are not "inside" the egg! But still looks much better than Ahyi's version, right? Tastes better too! Keke... ;p

I left her to cook the rest:
- Chicken with the same soya sauce (as before)
- Vegetables

cooking 5

I've got a feeling my lunch/dinner today is going to taste horrible. Ahyi is still cooking the pork now... Okay, that might taste ok since it's hong shao - cant go wrong with that recipe, huh. It's still simmering. It's just that i can smell liquor from the pot too! I sure hope it will all be evaporated...

It's more about the Eggs with Prawns (or Prawns with Eggs) that i asked her to cook... Hmm... I dont know why it looks the way it looks - dark coloured, minced egg and smells of liquor. Nothing like what we see in Singapore - or in any of the restaurants here for that matter. Apparently, she's placed soya sauce instead of salt, and added quite a bit of the chinese yellow wine, and really "chopped up" the eggs using the cooking utensil! It looks more like minced pork to me than eggs! She said she thought i love soya sauce becoz i told her to cook fried rice with soya sauce before, and she has seen me eat porridge with soya sauce! Wow! She's not kidding me huh. And the wine she said was for ALL meats.

All i can say is...her cooking always looks nice, yummy even. BUT it always taste very 'normal', bland even. Truth is, my cooking (3) was really much nicer than hers! Even Elvis has commented that her cooking is very so-so.

Pictures will come later... Still waiting for my simmering hong shao pork that smells so much of liquor.

Cooking 4
- Fried Rice (for Thur lunch)
which is not very nice, except for the loads of luncheon meat in it.


Cooking 5
- Eggs with Prawns (it does taste weird with the yellow wine. And i cant taste egg?)
- Hong Shao pork (as before, with a stronger taste of yellow wine)

my cooking 3

Today, i cooked my own lunch! Keke... Must show off here! ;p
- Egg & luncheon meat with oyster sauce (as previous)
- Ketchup prawns (new! anyhow-cook recipe)

Although it's only 2 dishes, i still eat until damn shiok! It will also be my dinner lah.

yuan xiao

I've been seeing & hearing lots of fireworks and firecrackers this week...and many more today. There's nonstop fireworks - set off by different people - since the sky got dark 2 hours ago. Everywhere i look, there's fireworks - left, front, right! Becoz today is the last day of Chinese New Year - 元宵. It is a big deal here in China. Families are supposed to eat rice dumplings "tang yuan" today. They like meat and/or vegetables fillings. I prefer to stick to our typical Singaporean ones with sesame & peanut fillings.

I went to buy them this afternoon for supper with Elvis. Then Elvis said he wont be home too late, so i've asked Ahyi to go buy food to cook dinner too! Wah! Like a real yuan xiao meal!

Today, the 3 dishes taste yummy! I think coz it's more salty. ;p
- Prawns with the same bottled sauce (as before)
- Egg with vegetables (that looks like spring onions)
- Hong Shao Rou (which looks too watery)
- and of course, tang yuan


The Chinese also like to visit the temples, see lanterns and solve the "puzzles" (cai den mi)... I should have gone to ChengHuang Temple/YuYuan to soak in the festivities.

Happy Yuan Xiao, everyone! ;)

special menu

It seems that many people are rather impressed with my recent home-cooked meals! Keke... ;)

I'm "not" very picky with food...but there are some things i dont eat eg. squid, sea cucumber, any chewy stuffs, green leafy vegetables, bittergourd, anything bitter... I cant think of anything else now, but when i come across it, i will know...and pick them out from my plate!

I DO LOVE eggs (any style), luncheon meat, cabbage, prawns, crab, chicken wings/drumstick, anything potato... Not forgetting instant noodles, McDonalds...

So...i specifically told Ahyi what are the vegetables and the meat i eat/like...she went to the market to get them...i told her what to cook with what (so at least i dont get some weird dishes), what "special things" to add... And i get a rather decent home-cooked lunch! ;)

And also thanks to my mother & sisters for sending the dried mini oysters, dried scallops, dried whatever - the salty & smelly stuffs. Of course need to buy lots of bottled instant seasoning too! Haha!

P.S. Ahyi was quite "funny"...coz she wanted to cook the chilli prawns BEFORE the cauliflower. So i told her to cook the veg first then she dont have to wash the wok twice. Hmm... Even i cant cook also know that. What was she thinking??? :/

cooking 2

This is what Ahyi cooked today. Food i like!
- Prawns stir-fried with black bean/chilli sauce (the glass bottled ones)
- Cauliflower with pork slices (I added mini japanese dried oysters)
* Egg & luncheon meat (I added oyster sauce...YUM!)
- Cabbage soup (I added dried scallops, ikan bilis & dried shrimps. I also took an egg out but she forgot to add it in.)

* I fried the egg/luncheon meat before she arrived...coz i dont wanna "trouble myself" to teach/explain how to cook it. I like my egg/luncheon meat this way with oyster sauce! Super nice! ;)

For the prawns, i peeled the shells and Ahyi just used the seasoning directly from the bottled black bean chilli. No extra seasoning needed. For the rest of the dishes, i took the dried goods for "extra seasoning" and told her to add them in. Haha!

ahyi cooking

Ahyi has started "extended hours" at our place from this week. It was just cleaning/housework from 1-3pm Mondays to Fridays. Now, she stays till about 7pm to help look after Joel, play with him etc. I'm also "trying out" to get her to cook lunch for me when she comes in at 1pm. So far, i've tried her cooking once on Tuesday.
(Wednesday, i went out with Joel and told her she could leave after cleaning. Today, i ordered McDonalds. Not becoz her food is not nice. I just felt like eating McDonalds.)

It's simple fare
- cabbage with pork slices
- chicken drumstick with soya sauce/chinese wine
- tomato & egg soup (which turned out looking more like a dish instead of a soup)

The taste... ehh...is very home-cooked. Nothing very yummy or very yucky...

Everyone must be curious! Here's how it looks:

eat and shop again

Saturday

Sunday

It must be the cold weather that makes us so lazy! We just kept "delaying" going out...so in the end, we ordered McDonalds delivery lunch on Saturday coz we were too hungry and lazy! Keke...

We finally left the house about 5pm to XuJiaHui/Gateway to meet Ann & Kitty then they brought us to this Japanese BBQ restaurant on the 2nd level of a "weird" building in GuBei. (GuBei is a popular residential estate for the Japanese) It is called Friendly Meat Shop! Apparently, this is a famous meat shop! There were lots of Japanese waiting outside for their table...but we had reservations coz of Joel! If you have a baby, you can get priority too! Haha! So nice! ;)

It's our first time there and we were quite amazed! The entrance looks like any regular Japanese restaurant, but once you get in, it's rows and rows of Japanese-styled seating (on the floor with the "hole" in the middle) with the "exhaust pipe"/hood at every table...and each section is partitioned! There's a small hotplate about A5-size in the middle of each table. We got the table right at the corner. Fortunately, we had brought along Joel's small stroller coz we predicted they wouldnt have baby highchairs. So at least Joel wouldnt be crawling around as we ate.


On the walls, there's lots of recommendation/menu/prices written in #1 Japanese and #2 Chinese. I would say about 80% of the diners were Japanese. The meat are "good meat"...so it's very delicious and tender. We ordered a variety of beef & pork. I ate a few pieces of 1 kind of meat (which i thought that its "texture" did look a bit weird)...and i later found out it's the cow's TONGUE!!! Awww... I was conned! Elvis didnt tell me those are things i dont eat - including the intestines! O and there was the pig's leg which they said is super nice (and has collagen good for skin). I really didnt like it...plus it's disgusting to eat the fatty skin. So i figured i should stick to meat-meat. Overall, it's a good experience at this BBQ meat shop! ;)
(No website for this, but it's under this Group.)

After dinner, we decided to go shopping in XinTianDi coz I.T. is having SALE! Everyone says they're going to see but not buy. In the end, everyone bought something. Elvis bought a Puma by MIHARAYASUHIRO hi-cut shoes and i bought a See by Chloe purse. (If you buy ¥10,000, can get another ¥3000 "FREE" on additional items that you pick. The catch is CANNOT deduct directly. Buy ¥5000, get ¥1200 "free".)

After that, we sat outdoors at CoffeeBean. Actually, it wasnt that cold these few days...but probably still about 5˚c. There's a few of those standing heaters placed outdoors...but it really doesnt help at all. (The temperature is expected to drop again on Thurs to at least -2˚c)

Sunday
We had lunch at Afternoon Tea at XinTianDi (AT & XTD again. Boring people). Maybe i should stop taking pictures since it's always the same food/drinks. Elvis had the risotto and i had my fav Flying Roe Carbonara AGAIN. (Last week at DaMarco, 1 our friend who is American-Japanese told me that it's a popular pasta in Japan now)

We tried a new seasonal dessert Strawberry Mousse Tart. The Caramel Milk Chai was exceptionally good today...coz the marshmallow took longer to melt. Keke...so i finally got a good picture of it...showing what's really inside. Today, they also served the Chai with powdered cinnamon (i hate) and sugar cubes (i like)- 1 brown, 1 white. Hmm... (Usually they will pour the tea into the cup for you and the blob of cream, caramel and marshmallow melts immediately. SO now you know the ingredients...you can try to make your own concoction!)

The headcount for Joel's Gymboree class was full, so we went to alter Elvis' clothes at this very local shop. (Usually we go to Parkson but their prices have increased to almost double and there's always a lot of people. This tailor is also very good...and we realized his prices also increased! Maybe Shanghai's standard of living is just higher now.) I took some pictures of the alley which i thought was quite "unique" and charming in its own way. ;)

After that we walked to another of our favourite street - XingLe Road - where Source and many other small shops were also having SALE! A new Dusty store also opened on that street! Now everywhere also SALE SALE SALE!

Check out at this sweet potato machine! I was attracted to it by the nice smell! Haha! So high-tech...coz usually the sellers will be peddling on the streets in those "big can" (like a huge rubbish can) and they will weigh the sweet potato you pick with a "chen" (Chinese weighing scale). This is ¥5 nett. I didnt buy any...just wanted to show this here. ;)

We left about 5+pm to go home to cook dinner. Coz we still had some leftover meat from last week and we wanted to cook everything before we go back to Singapore. Here's our dinner... Elvis' specialty pork chop, "wa wa" vegetables and luncheon meat/egg (i like!)...and chicken soup. ;)


O i wanna tell you about this Happy Lemon drink stall which we like. Usually, the crowd standing around is at least 5 times more than this... (That's Elvis in the middle while i'm munching on my Beard Papa puff!)

And this is the fireworks & firecrackers makeshift stall set up just opposite our place. It's legal. I'm always tempted to check it out coz i always see/hear all these fireworks from our balcony. Ann said last year, her colleagues chipped-in about ¥2000 and they had a decent fireworks display! Their own! Shiok huh! ;)

MSG

Elvis joined me on Friday for Indomie Mi Goreng supper.

Nice nice but quite spicy! (The onion/oil solidified in my cupboard)

And this is my favourite China noodles by far - 康师傅 "Dong Bo Hong Shao Rou Mian" (the 3-layer pork flavour).

The little pack on the top right is like black bean sauce...so it's super yummy! It's soup based, but i've tried eating it dried...very nice too! Just add less of the powdered MSG.
(I also like Nissin 出前一丁 "Chu Qian Yi Ding" and it costs ¥6 EACH PACK coz it's sold separately & IMPORTED. This 康师傅 "Kang Shi Fu" brand is about the same price for 5 packs!)

homecooked

Today, we had 2 friends over for dinner - Ann & XiongBao. We cant invite more people coz our house is too small. We also had to reduce Joel's play yard (from a square) to an 'L-shape' to accommodate all of us in the living room. Keke...
(XiongBao doesnt like children at all, but he likes Joel. As for Ann, she wanna marry Joel! Haha!)

Elvis cooked his specialty pork chop, steamed pomfret, sambal prawns, cabbage and a herbal chicken soup. Everyone agrees it's really good. (I would say this is the first time that ALL the dishes came out perfectly!) I didnt take pictures of the dishes coz we were all busy eating! Keke... They also brought a chocolate/banana cake from Awfully Chocolate for dessert (i think it's like the "Lana" cake from Singapore. They said Awlfully Chocolate IS from Singapore!). We had a good time and they finished 2 bottles of wine while chatting! Me, i just sticked with cola! Keke... We should do more of these gathering. Haha... Right, chef? ;)

P.S. The last time we cooked at home was more than 1 year ago when Aye's girlfriend Ching Ching came to visit Shanghai. Haha...

sedaap

Last night, i decided to have instant noodles for dinner. If you know me, you'll know i simply love anything instant and/or processed. I could eat plain instant noodles i.e. without adding any other ingredients. I LOVE instant noodles with ketchup! ;p

Anne sent me 3 different types of instant noodles from Indonesia. The 2 others were Indomie - a brand i knew. I picked this Sedaap Instant. It says on the pack 'Asli Kriuk Kriuk' - whatever that means. But i liked drumstick, egg and prawns. Being a graphic designer, i was almost sure the bad colours on the pack didnt do the noodles any justice. My expectations of these Indonesian noodles were HIGH!

When i opened the pack (and took this photo), i realized the "oil" had solidified! That's how cold it is here in Shanghai...even my cupboards are like freezers! GREAT, there's English instructions on the back. It says to stir in all the tiny packets AFTER cooking the noodles. Okay...it's not soup-based.

I was a bit hesitant about adding the chilli sauce and the oil...coz i'm not a 'chilli & oil' person. But since it was authentic Indonesian noodles, i should at least TRY to make them as authentic as possible, huh. Ok, i added them...and the 'Kriuk Kriuk' is actually the tiny bits of crackers in the silver foil. I get it...Crunch, Crunch!

And...here's my very yummy almost instant dinner! 3 minutes! I almost forgot to take a photo of the cooked noodles...coz i ate a few mouths (already). I devoured them within the same time it took to cook. SEDAAP!

P.S. I could eat 2 packs of these at a go! No wonder Indonesians girls are skinny!