Friday, March 28, 2014

Zhoumo kuaile!

We're off to Moganshan tonight! About 200 km from Shanghai (I speak in "km" now), Moganshan provides respite to weary city dwellers, where they can frolic in lush bamboo forests instead of a concrete jungle. I'm excited. I can't remember the last time I hiked, and hiking was such a critical part of my San Francisco existence (Mike proposed at the top of a trail in the Marin Headlands after all!).

A friend is running the Moganshan Half Marathon and organized the trip there for about 30 of his closest friends. We had heard great things about the place (nature! fresh air!) and jumped at the chance to go. What's perhaps most exciting is that Shima will be joining us -- our first family vacation! I see this as going one of two ways: somewhat disastrously or rather effortlessly. Hopefully it's the latter.
Credit (and for more info on Moganshan): click here

Thursday, March 27, 2014

Gettin' Into the Groove

I've created a busy weekly routine for myself. Before you laugh at the fact that I schedule yoga, you should know that this is by no means a complaint post. I know how lucky I am to have this time to do as I please, and because this time won't last much longer,
I'm milking it.

This is meant to offer a glimpse into my daily life, to show how one day quickly turns into the next. Spaces are filled with errands and Shima walks; Chinese homework and English lesson plans; blog posts and City Weekend articles (among other writing projects).
More importantly, this is proof (to myself) that I've gotten into a groove here in Shanghai. I've found how to keep my mind and body active and busy, and this makes me happy and whole.

Some clarification on the schedule: I just joined a writers' group that meets Tuesday evenings; on Thursdays, I help my Chinese teacher, Cabell, with her English (answering her vocab questions and editing a grammar book she's writing and hoping to publish).  

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Fatty Tuesday: The Food Challenge

I bet you didn't think there were food challenges in Shanghai, à la Adam Richman in Man v. Food. I certainly didn't. Before Mike and I moved to China, Man v. Food was one of the few shows we'd enjoy watching together (as enjoyable as watching a man stuff his pie hole to the point of illness can be; what can I say? I wasn't into Monday Night Football, he wasn't into Real Housewives of Orange County.). Anyway, I digress.

Ever since we tried our local burger joint (yes, we have a local burger joint in the name of Burger Bistro), Mike has threatened to attempt its challenge: a three-stack burger with extra trimmings -- grilled onions, bacon, a fried egg, lettuce, tomato, and pickles -- a side of fries and a classic milkshake. To be cleared in 15 minutes. Are you shaking your head yet? 'Cause I was. The whole time.

The monstrosity arrived, an edible skyscraper made of beef patties and buns, brightened by yellow yolk and a red tomato who, with the green lettuce leaf, hold on to the empty promise of health. There was no way. But my husband gave it his best effort, going about the ridiculous thing methodically, eating one patty-bun at a time and dunking fries into his milkshake. Until he hit the wall. It came on hard and sudden, and he was done. A failed attempt, but certainly not for lack of trying. Bravo, my love. Now I hope you'll never want to do such a silly thing again.
The consolation prize: a polaroid

Friday, March 21, 2014

Zhoumo kuaile!

I hope you enjoyed this week's recap of our trip to Taiwan, which was actually just a recap of what we ate in Taiwan.

Spring has sprung here in Shanghai this week (kind of -- it was hot and sunny on Tuesday and rained on Wednesday, but I'm sporting my sunglasses regardless) so I'm thinking dog park days are ahead of us.

Enjoy the weekend and these China news links --

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Taiwanese Street Food (Part II)

Breakfast
Part of a complete Taiwanese breakfast is fried dough (I said "complete," not healthy). Turning a deaf ear to warnings about long lines, Mike and I went to Fu Hang Dou Jiang, the breakfast spot in Taipei. We waited about an hour, a quick 60 minutes when the line constantly moves and you have a Starbucks coffee in hand.

Essentially, there's sweet and savory. The sweet is a long piece of deep-fried dough the same shape as a churro, wrapped in sesame flat bread and dunked in sweet soy milk. To be honest, it's a lot of bread and if I'm going to have fried dough, I'd prefer it covered in cinnamon and sugar. To my surprise, I liked the savory better. It's a tasty bowl of soy milk curdled into tofu. Okay, maybe that doesn't sound terribly appetizing, but it was really well seasoned and I liked the floating pieces of fried dough on top.


Dinner
We had all kinds of street food items one evening: (clockwise in photo below) oyster omelet, ba wan (a mega dumpling of sorts), noodles, bubble tea and gua bao (a Taiwanese hamburger). My favorites: the tea and the burger. I know, the tea (aka, boba) is kind of a cop-out, but it's really good and it's different from ones you'd try at home (or in Shanghai). Taiwan is the birthplace of bobas, and they do them right, with soft, sweet tapioca balls swimming in milk tea.
The burger was fantastic: braised pork belly (minus the fat for me), pickled Chinese cabbage and powdered peanuts wrapped in a steamed bun. I loved the fusion of different flavors and textures. Every bite is salty, sour and sweet; soft, tender and crunchy. 
I know what I'm having for dinner the next time I'm in town.

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Fatty Tuesday: Taiwanese Street Food (Part I)

Now I get it, now I understand the love for street food in Taipei!

It was a little challenging to get it all in between family meals, but we did our best. In fact, I think we did so well that I'm going to have to make this a two-parter. Here are some of the most interesting (and delicious) items we tried during our short trip to Taiwan -- Part I.

Grilled rice cakes
Have you ever tried mochi ice cream? Usually served for dessert after sushi, it's ice cream wrapped in a layer of rice that's been pounded into a paste. Imagine taking a big, rectangular piece of that paste, putting it on a stick, and grilling it until it softens and forms a crispy outer layer.
Once grilled to perfection, it's removed from the fire and topped with a squirt of your choice of sauce. Sauces come in a variety of flavors; we tried brown sugar and Thai curry. Both were liquidy and subtly sweet, and curiously tasted just as described.
If I lived in Taipei, I'd make it a goal of mine to try every sauce. 

Sausage-wrapped sausage 
Yes, a sausage wrapped in another sausage. It's a salty, sweet Chinese sausage that forgoes the bun for rice stuffed in a sausage casing (see the "sausages" in the foreground?).
Once both sausages are ready, the grillmaster slits the rice sausage down its middle and inserts the meat one, adding various toppings (such as kimchi and pickled vegetables) and sweet and/or spicy sauce(s).

Ice cream burrito
How could I not try this one? It's like two of my favorite things rolled into one. The "chef" first shaves peanut candy from a large block (see bottom left of photo) and places those shavings onto a thin Chinese crepe of sorts. He then adds two scoops of taro root ice cream and tops it all off with cilantro before wrapping it up like a burrito.
I won't lie, this one was a bit odd -- the cilantro, I just didn't get. But it was worth a try! 

We found these all of these goodies in the Ximen neighborhood of Taipei, not far from the subway station there. 

Saturday, March 15, 2014

Zhoumo kuaile!

Hello from Taipei! The highlight of the visit so far: Grandma saying, "her Chinese is on point!" -- although she did forget my name a few times. I forgive you, Grandma!

I've always heard rave reviews about the food in Taiwan -- from Mike, his sister, and others. But to be honest, I didn't feel the same way after my last visit here. I remember a lot of stinky tofu and a glutinous rice cake combined with pig's blood on a stick. I'm an adventurous eater, but I drew the line there.

This time, however, the food fest has begun and I'm enjoying it a lot more. Here's a sneak peek of next week's Fatty Tuesday.

Thursday, March 13, 2014

Off to Taiwan

Before we even knew China was a possibility, Mike and I traveled to Taiwan in the fall of 2011 after we had just gotten engaged. It was time to meet the extended family that lived half way around the world. The trip was great! Besides the fact that I couldn't utter a word of Chinese to anyone...

Well, Grandma isn't happy that we haven't gone back to Taipei to visit her since moving to Shanghai. Hopefully we'll make it up to her with this weekend trip. The tourist spots, thankfully, have been checked off the list so we can focus our efforts on the food -- and family, of course. Wish me luck as my new Chinese skills are put to the real test!

At the National Palace Museum in November 2011

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Fatty Teaching Tuesday

First, the Fatty -
This past weekend we went on a wild "chicken and waffles" chase for City Weekend in an attempt to find the top three in Shanghai. Yes, Shanghai has chicken and waffles, and yes (shockingly!) there's more than one restaurant that serves the popular brunch dish. In fact, we found five! Stay tuned to find out which ones won the top spots. If you're ever in Shanghai... and feel like chicken and waffles...

Now on to the Teaching -
The kids' lesson today: toys! Dolls and trains and games and airplanes. Mine: I learned that there's a mandatory five-minute self-massage session in the middle of the afternoon. The kids are supposed to sit quietly as they massage their eye sockets. It's kind of fun to watch; they look like little executives contemplating their next acquisition. Apparently, the practice is in line with traditional Chinese medicine and is supposed to calm the children down. I'm not sure it does that (there were multiple ruler incidents this afternoon), but I appreciate the tradition, certainly.

Friday, March 7, 2014

Zhoumo kuaile!

I'll sign off this week with the image below taken on Nanjing Pedestrian Street, the Third Street Promenade of Shanghai, part of the Goubran-Wang city tour. Where Third Street is home to not-so-professional musicians, Nanjing features not-so-professional dance troupes. Or jazz-ercisers. (What is that thing he's standing on?!)

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Five Qs for Hanni

Part of the requirement of coming to visit us is answering a few questions after you leave. 
Just kidding, but not really. My mom did, Kira and David did, and now my friend Megan (nicknamed Hanni; don't ask) has:

What was your favorite experience?
Sleeping with Shima. Also: Walking down the food streets in Beijing where they sell crazy things like scorpions.

What was the best meal?
The Italian one (sorry). [I've failed.] 

What did you find most surprising?
People will want to take a picture of/with you because you are blonde. I had heard this happens but was surprised it actually happened to me!
[I was hoping she'd say this just so that I'd have an excuse to post this photo.]
Three points to consider here: 1- This kid's parents asked Hanni to pose with their son. 2- They put those lens-free glasses on him before the picture was taken. 3- That haircut!
And doesn't he remind you of a certain cartoon character?! 

What did you find most challenging?
The plane ride back home. [It's a long one, that's for sure.]

What did you miss most from home?
Clean(er) air. [I hear you.]

Thank you, Hanni! And thanks to you and Fur (another nickname; don't worry about it) for making the trip out here. xo

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Teaching Tuesday

In an attempt to fully round out my experience of living in China (during my time here, I've worked at a multi-national corporation, I've gone back to school, and I've freelanced), I decided to volunteer. It's something I've been wanting to do for a while; even before landing in Shanghai, I thought volunteering could be a great way to spend a few hours of the week.

After reaching out to a few different organizations, I was most impressed with Stepping Stones. They seemed well run and well established, and were the most responsive to my requests for more information. Stepping Stones places volunteer English speakers in the classrooms of Shanghai's migrant schools.

Let me explain. Shanghai has a population of approximately 23 million (!), 9 million of whom are migrant workers and their families -- Chinese who leave their rural hometowns in search for better, higher-paying jobs in the big cities (they're usually the housekeepers, the waitresses, the construction workers). As such, they have little to no access to social benefits (medical care and welfare services), living conditions aren't great, and education for their children (about 500,000 according to the latest stats) is substandard. Here's more from Stepping Stones:



So today was my first day. With 50+ kids to a classroom, it was chaotic. And noisy. And exhausting. All I wanted to do after coming home was kick up my feet with a large glass of wine and cheers teachers all over the world. The kids' lesson of the day: head, shoulders, knees and toes (knees and toes). Mine: boys making paper airplanes in the backs of classrooms aren't unique to the States.

Monday, March 3, 2014

On the Hunt

We went treasure hunting this weekend. Over a year ago, we discovered one of Shanghai's "antiques market," which is really just a big warehouse of old stuff, mostly junk. But "one man's trash..."

Funny enough, we bought two of the same items we had found the last time: another abacus and another cherry wood watering jug. Plans aren't entirely set for the abaci (abacuses), but I'm envisioning a wall of them if we're able to find more in the same size and of the same quality. As for the new watering jug, it's in much better condition than the first one -- and two are better than one.

The big treasure this time? Two halves of a beautifully-built table. A versatile piece we thought would make sense for our next home, whatever it might look like and wherever it may be. We're cautious of picking up big pieces here, as much as cheap treasures may tempt us -- considering the likely small size of our future apartment in San Francisco. If we even find one. Don't get me started on the real estate market there; I'm absolutely positive apartment hunting won't be as much fun as treasure hunting.

Pudong Antiques Market:
1788 Ji Yang Road, near Shangpu Road