Sago soup 西米露

Last week I was looking up recipes I had a chance at making on my hot plate -- a narrow list that solely includes things that can be boiled, such as soup and noodles -- to use some of my stash of foods the school has given us teachers for holidays.  I have things like dried mushroom, jujubes, lotus seeds, etc.  I found that an obvious thing to do was red or green bean (different than American beans, I think we'd call them azuki and mung beans) soup.  All I'd need to buy was sago, the tiny tapioca balls.  Well, long story short I've gone crazy and already made a huge bowl of red bean soup, and today decided to make a quick and easy sago milk soup, or 西迷露。 I've had it at restaurants and quite enjoyed it, so I'm thrilled that mine turned out the same. I added apples instead of taro, since that's what's in my fridge today.

The incredibly easy recipe via pictures tutorial:

Sago starts out small, white, and dry.

Boil in water for 10 minutes

The outside will be translucent and the inside still white.  Turn off heat and allow to sit for 10 more minutes, it will continue to cook itself.

The white inside will become clear.  Drain the water and return sago to pot.

Add coconut juice and a fruit for flavor, such as mango, taro, or apples.  Cook for a couple minutes for flavor.

It's usually served chilled, if you can wait that long.  As it sits, the sago will expand and thicken the soup slightly.

And the delicious result:

Enjoy!

Veggie meals and supermarket fishing

Vegetarian eats are very rare in China, since even vegetable dishes are cooked in animal grease and everything's cooked in the same place (I gave up after the first week of not being able to eat anything and decided for sake of sanity to eat meat). But there are a couple (expensive) restaurants I've been to that are delicious, and we recently found a new cute place with great food and better prices.  Take a look.

And not vegetarian, but entertaining.  Just a man fishing for dinner at the supermarket.

Looks like someone found a girlfriend

I found a mantis on my building two weeks ago

I found this today.

Dafen Oil Painting Village (大芬油画村）

About 1.5 hours from me is a "village" that is famous for it's oil paintings, everything from replicas of famous works to commissioned work and originals.  We made a trip out there to see if it was as cool as it sounded, and indeed it was.

As you can see, the buildings were painted in bright colors that are unique to the city, making the artsy area easy to find and memorable.  There were aisles upon aisles of little shops and studios.  

I had brought two landscape pictures to have commissioned, because when else in my life am I going to be able to commission an oil painting?  We had a recommendation of a painter from a friend, but in the sprawl and confusion of the village we couldn't find him.  So we walked around for a while and found an artist I liked.

Some of the most confusing communication ensued, because they of course do not speak any English and my oil painting vocabulary is weak.  But some headache later, I left with a receipt.

A week later I was able to return and pick up the artwork, and all the hassle was worth it.  The pieces are gorgeous and I'm thrilled, because one of the paintings is a 25th anniversary gift for my parents.  The other, naturally, is for me :)  

I felt confident enough to order a portrait piece of my nephew as well, and I'll get to pick it up in about a week.  Fingers crossed!

I'm trying not to go too nuts with getting things commissioned, like paintings and clothes from the tailor.  But it's such a fun opportunity and when I'm dirt poor again in the states I will never be able to.  Even on the small small salary I make here, we're put squarely in the middle class of China.  And it's so cheap comparatively!  My painting totaled about $40.  If only I could learn to paint too!  Unfortunately I found the village too late, and with only 3 weekends left there's no time.

For your viewing pleasure, my new painting:

Picture I took in RMNP

12x20in (or something like that) painting

Dim Sum

Some delicious food pictures of our dim sum.  We ate at what Lonely Planet called the best dim sum restaurant in Zhuhai.  It was great indeed!  Yum yum.

Macau for May Day

We got a three day holiday (which in China actually means we had to work on Saturday and then got Sunday-Tuesday off) and so we again packed our bags and this time headed to Zhuhai and then across the border to Macau.  It's the middle of monsoon season now and the rains were pouring, but luckily the weather improved and only sprinkled a few times for us.  Zhuhai turned out to not be too interesting, but we stayed there because it's much cheaper than Macau!   Monday morning we crossed the border (after a two hour line) and headed to the Vegas of the East.  We started at the Venetian, where Thomas explained a lot of the games to us.  It was my first casino!  And what a choice. It has the biggest casino floor in the world, and is head to toe gilded. 

We did some tours of Cathedrals and architecture, which was interesting because Macau used to be a Portuguese colony so it is a big difference from mainland.  After a delicious feast at Alfonso III, we went to some more casinos, including the Grand Lisboa, the Wynn, and the MGM Grand.  After getting a refresher course from Thomas, I played black jack and won a hundred dollars!  As my first time gambling, it was a great time and I can now say I've never lost :P

  

Rain out my window

Fisher girl statue at Zhuhai

the Venetian

St. Paul's Cathedral ruins

View over the city

In the MGM, an actual live butterfly globe

Lookin at a winner!