Up to Shanghai (as an expat) - November 17th 2009 and onward

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April 2010


Page 3 of 3.
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Dinner at Home on April 25, 2010
Di Yin often makes dinner for us at home. I rarely bother photographing it, but this day I figured I ought to because she spent so much time in the kitchen. First, she made a chicken stock, then had me separate the bones and skin from the chicken meat, all of which we removed from the stock. With the stock, she cooked a fish soup, which, besides fish, also included mushrooms and bamboo shoots. She also braised bamboo shoots (seen in the two bowls, center) with the chicken meat. She cooked pork with two different kinds of mushrooms (bottom-right). Finally, she also cooked a squash-like vegetable (shaped like a zucchini but the most watery of any squash I've had) with pork (bottom-left).
Di Yin often makes dinner for us at home. I rarely bother photographing it, but this day I figured I ought to because she spent so much time in the kitchen. First, she made a chicken stock, then had me separate the bones and skin from the chicken meat, all of which we removed from the stock. With the stock, she cooked a fish soup, which, besides fish, also included mushrooms and bamboo shoots. She also braised bamboo shoots (seen in the two bowls, center) with the chicken meat. She cooked pork with two different kinds of mushrooms (bottom-right). Finally, she also cooked a squash-like vegetable (shaped like a zucchini but the most watery of any squash I've had) with pork (bottom-left).
Dinner at Boonna Cafe on April 26, 2010
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Di Yin and I ate dinner again at Boonna Cafe. We shared a smoked chicken on focaccia and a ham on ciabatta. The breads were remarkably similar, which wasn't bad because they both were decent.

We also had a vegetable wrap. This tasted like mu shu vegetables wrapped with a bit of pickled vegetables in phyllo dough and baked. This also was decent.

Dinner at Dollar Hot Pot on April 28, 2010
Having realized I lived in China for around six months without eating hotpot, I decided we should eat hotpot before we left the country. We went to a reputable chain, Dollar Hot Pot. The bulk of our order is shown in this picture: regular hotpot broth (center), tofu sheets (top-right), mixed leafy vegetables) (cabbage, spinach, and something else) (top-left), and lamb rib rolls (left). The standard sauce in the square plate at left was a pleasing mix that included soy and something herby. (It wasn't complex but I forget the details.) As for the sauces at the bottom, see the next picture.
The dipping sauce bar. A dozen pre-mixed sauces (e.g., spicy sichuan-style, peanut-chili sauce) on the near side, and a dozen ingredients (e.g., soy sauce, sesame oil, sesame seeds, oyster sauce, diced garlic, diced ginger) on the far side with which to mix one's own sauce. I tried two pre-mixed sauces but didn't like either. I preferred the default dipping sauce and the sauce Di Yin made.
More of our meal: sliced ribeye, vermicelli noodles, and a (poor) plum drink.
The last item to arrive: sliced fish.
Having realized I lived in China for around six months without eating hotpot, I decided we should eat hotpot before we left the country. We went to a reputable chain, Dollar Hot Pot.
The bulk of our order is shown in this picture: regular hotpot broth (center), tofu sheets (top-right), mixed leafy vegetables) (cabbage, spinach, and something else) (top-left), and lamb rib rolls (left). The standard sauce in the square plate at left was a pleasing mix that included soy and something herby. (It wasn't complex but I forget the details.) As for the sauces at the bottom, see the next picture.
The dipping sauce bar. A dozen pre-mixed sauces (e.g., spicy sichuan-style, peanut-chili sauce) on the near side, and a dozen ingredients (e.g., soy sauce, sesame oil, sesame seeds, oyster sauce, diced garlic, diced ginger) on the far side with which to mix one's own sauce. I tried two pre-mixed sauces but didn't like either. I preferred the default dipping sauce and the sauce Di Yin made.
More of our meal: sliced ribeye, vermicelli noodles, and a (poor) plum drink.
The last item to arrive: sliced fish.
Misc
I built a tower to toast bread without singeing it, unlike during the summer. This picture is obsolete in the sense that a few days later I figured out how to build a simpler, more elegant tower than the one photographed. On the toast I spread kaya which I brought back from Singapore.
I built a tower to toast bread without singeing it, unlike during the summer. This picture is obsolete in the sense that a few days later I figured out how to build a simpler, more elegant tower than the one photographed.
On the toast I spread kaya which I brought back from Singapore.