Always wanted to figure out the various flour substitutes and here's something I found for reference. Now to figure out which chinese names & brands match.

Types of flour
Plain flour - all purpose flour / medium gluten flour
Hong Kong flour - cake flour / pastry flour / top flour / softasilk flour / low gluten flour
Cake flour - low gluten flour / softasilk flour / top flour
Sugee flour - semolina flour
Glutinous rice flour - glutinous rice powder / sweet rice flour / sweet rice powder
Rice flour - rice powder
Tapioca flour - tapioca starch / cassava flour
Corn flour - corn starch

Credit: boostprints.com

So deprived

I walked into a Cold Storage today and nearly swooned from excitement.

Fresh produce, lovely meat cuts, aisles and aisles of cereals, diary products, dried goods...everything that I've wished I've had at one point or the other as I shopped & cooked in Shanghai. It sure took a lot of self-control to NOT run through the supermarket in a mad rampage.

Only managed to get my brains in the right place to grab some lovely fresh butternut pumpkin to roast for dinner.

Yums.

Shanghai Mamas Anniversary Party

We all need people to lean on.

In Shanghai, the ladies involved with the Shanghai Mamas mothering group has been an invaluable part of my mothering experience here in this large and often difficult-to-navigate city.

This group was started by a really dynamic lady who, upon her arrival in Shanghai, felt so alone with her son in this large city. Knowing that there must be other mothers in the same situation, she set up a yahoo-based group and viola, Shanghaimamas was born.

The network is currently made of up about 1,000 expatriate mothers - most of whom had given up their careers, left families to come to Shanghai with their spouses, along with their children.
Mothering is a tough job, as we all know, and having to mother in an unfamiliar city without the support network of family and friends makes it so much harder.

I must say, this network has help bridge this gap and for that I am sincerely very thankful.

Through this network of ladies, I've been able to find recommendations on just about everything I need: who are the best pediatricians around, what to do in an emergency (funnily enough, in Shanghai, its not to call for an ambulance but to hop on a cab and head to the nearest hospital), where to locate rose syrup, where to find organic vegetables...the list is endless.

Through this group, my eyes are opened to the diversity of cultures and opinions that make up our world. How simple topics breastfeeding or an ayi napping can be contentious for some of us.

I've also made some very good mates through this group - ladies who I may never have had the chance to meet given that I work full time and have so little time to join in the fun activities that they do when I am chained to my desk at work. For that, I am very thankful.

This has been one of the reasons why I have volunteered to be part of the group to put together an anniversary party for this group. It is also a time for us to say goodbye to the founder, who will be repatriating back to Texas. I'll miss her a lot and especially her sense of humor and how fast she talks (honestly, we think Singaporeans speak fast, wait till you meet this lady!)

Things from an organising committe have been tough though: ticket sales have not been encouraging and many members have been critical but I do love the spirit behind this small group of ladies who are adamant to make this happen. I just know that at the end of the day, the Lord will bless us with a very successful event where everyone who came will walk away knowing that they are part of a big Shanghaimamas family.

So if you are in town this Saturday 16 May, do drop me a note and ask for some tickets to come to this event.

I'll love to catch up with you.

Nutritious pigeon eggs

I've recently discovered pigeon eggs.

Not that I never knew pigeons reproduce via eggs, just that the thought of eating them has never occurred to me. Until my acupuncturist (yes, I go to one, another story another day) recommended that I may want to consider this as a rich food source. Pigeon eggs apparently contain 5 times the nutrition of a chicken egg and yet only 1/5 of the cholesterol. Sounds like a marvel food to have.

As with anything new, I first start off researching this. I did my usual search on the net but couldn't find anything about this. I stumbled across many sites talking about how to raise pigeons, homing pigeons and even recipes for cooking the bird itself. But weirdly nothing about eating their eggs.

So I switched to researching in Chinese. Yeah, I can do this if I really need to, thanks to my 4+ years of being an analyst based in Shanghai. Its not my preferable means, but I must admit, there are loads of information on the Chinese web. So its off to Baidu.com.

And wow...this is a really hot topic in the Chinese world. A quick baidu found that

• Pigeon eggs are indeed superior in nutrition in the world of egg comparison
• Known as "the ginseng of the animal world" (WOW!)
• Benefits children especially for nourishing their growing brains
• Good for post-partum mothers
• Ladies who suffer from anaemia, irregular menstrual cycle and general weakened "Qi"
• Helps improve skin texture
• Strengthens the body, good for the physically ill

鸽蛋的蛋白质和脂肪含量相对较低，钙含量却较高。

鸽子蛋被人称为“动物人参”含有丰富的蛋白质，对皮肤好，小朋友也可以补脑，身体不好的人也可以吃，对生完小孩的妈妈特别的好，鸽子肉跟鸽子蛋是紧盆骨的！再说一句，生完宝宝的妈妈们吃鸽子汤最好了！中医药学认为，鸽蛋味甘、咸，性平，具有补肝肾、益精气、丰肌肤诸功效。《随息居饮食谱》介绍鸽蛋时说：“甘，平，清热，解毒，补肾益身。”《本草适原》说鸽蛋“久患虚赢者，食之有益。”有贫血、月经不调、气血不足的女性常吃鸽蛋，不但有美颜滑肤作用，还可能治愈疾病，身体变得强壮

I checked with a few people I know who live across Asia and its true, apparently pigeon eggs are revered in many Asian cultures as being a good food. I also learnt that its really much costlier than our regular chicken eggs. Sometimes up to triple the price.

Interestingly enough, pigeon egg whites turn translucent when hard boiled. So you can see the yolk through it. The white is really tasteless but the yolk is contrastingly rich and full bodied. Really yummy, if you like chicken eggs.

We've started having some for 2 weeks now and even little R is starting to like them. I've served them boiled and peeled, soft boiled with soy sauce and pepper and in omelet styles. R was a little turned off by the weird translucent white at first and it took few tries to get her to like it, but she loved the yolk from the start.

A definite must have in on our menu now.

Flowers from potatoes

Of course I've seen a potato sprout before, especially when I buy them in bulk and forget to use them. I must admit though, that I've never seen them grow as tall as they did in my daughter's classroom.

The kids had soaked some potatos in water as part of a science project. When Miss R told me about this activity, I must admit I failed to respond with as much excitement as I do now as I had glossed it over as a typical must-do type of science experiment. Little did I know that I too, would end up learning through her experience. For from the water soaked potatoes came...green sprouts.

And to my amazement, the sprouts not only showed up but proceeded to grow really tall. For the life of me, I can not recall my childhood potato planting experiments to yield such results.

Look, there are even white blossoms gracing the greens!

It just goes to show that I can always learn from the discovery of new facts from "been-there- done-that" activities.

And I am amazed and humbled at His creativity in causing creation to be so beautiful - even from a plain potato.

I made Furikake

Last weekend, I made Furikake.

Mr B thinks its good. Little R shook her head...but I'll give her the benefit of doubt as she was ill.

I read a few recipes here and there online and decided to just give it a go without really following any recipe and it turned out pretty good. I used carrots, canned tuna (in water, not oil), white sesame seeds and some seaweed. A little sake, mirin, soy sauce and sugar.

The final product had a good texture which goes well with rice and knowing that it didn't contain any preservatives and MSG really made us feel comfortable generously heaping it over our rice.

Really pretty easy, healthy, yummy and so much more affordable than the really expensive packets we buy off the shelf.

Wanton noodles for breakfast

So I decided to make some wanton noodles for breakfast last Sunday.

I had gotten the ingredients at the supermarket the evening before, vaguely telling myself that I would make this dish. We had a lunch appointment that day and so Mr B declared that he wasn't going to want any part of this heavy breakfast. So be it - I said.

Daylight arrived and he rolled over and asked for wanton noodles. He's changed his mind apparently. So I trooped to the kitchen and started cooking.

I often cook from memory - recalling how my grandmother slices and marinates, how my mother stir fries, how dad poaches - you know how good cooks love to wax lyrical about their cooking techniques and theories? I've grown up listening to various people around me rambling on about them and they've apparently seeped into my subconciousness.

I find it magical that simple ingredients can come together to create new textures and tastes. It is marvelous.

The dish turned out pretty well. It is a healthy version - well, somewhat...and a lazy version. Probably would make hard core wanton lovers raise their plaques in protest. Yeah, it took me only 15 minutes to put the dish together and the wantons contain...gasp...carrots!

I know its kind of wierd to see carrots in wantons, but I wanted it to be healthy. So armed with some carrots, garlic, minced pork, prawns and some seasonings, I managed to make a whole load of wantons that we ate that morning and froze for future use.

Mr B, an avid cook himself, rolled up his sleeves to prepare the noodle sauce.

Little Rebecca was my wanton-skin-peeler (peel each skin off, fold it into queer shapes and hand it to me).

The end product was yummy and fulfilling. Just check out her pleased-as-a-cat expression.

Too bad she rejected the wantons that she helped make. She declared "eeeee....there're carrots in there!"

No hiding from this child for sure!

Xin Wang - Cantonese cafe Food

A good friend introduced me to this really yummy place with the best wanton noodles I've had in Shanghai so far. The runner up being the wanton noodles from Royal China.

Food here is so good that this particular friend will send her husband down to pack food home, if the familydid not want to venture outdoors. Yeah, I was impressed upon hearing that too.

A good eatery for me must have good food, of course, be clean and have no smoke since I feel suffocated when I am that environment. And Xin Wang fits the bill to a T.

We were there for lunch on Sunday at 12:40pm and had to wait in queue for about 15 minutes for a table of 3. I thought that turnover was pretty quick given that this place must have had about 80 tables or so across its duplex setting.

Service is very good by China standards, friendly and attentive wait staff, efficient food flow and decent order-food arrival service times. The menu is heavy on Chinese food, focusing on Cantonese cafe offerings - such as gong zai meen (instant noodles) + various toppings - with a sprinkling of Shanghainese dishes.

They serve the bread version of Cha Siew buns that is very tender and not too sweet. Its pretty unique as it matches the Cha Siew with sauteed onions, a rather unique combination I thought. I also like that Xin Wang allows bun orders by number - so we could order the exact number of buns we needed and did not have to feel like we were overladen with extra food. Their Pineapple (Po Lo) buns are also good - especially if you like the thick chunk of butter in the middle. They have to be eaten hot though, as it wasn't as yummy when it cooled down - unlike those that I've had in Hong Kong that are good even when chilled.

Mr B and I shared a bowl of wanton noodle that came with 3-4 large wantons, a roast duck/soya sauce chicken rice combo, a Xin Wang Huai Hai Lu spring roll special, roast pork (R's fav...and mine), cha siew buns, pineapple or po lo buns and a horlicks! Quite a bit. The bill came up to be RMB145 for the meal. We didn't think it was super cheap but not extremely inexpensive either. A fair price for the decent offering. Not REAL Hong Kong standards but at least there's the option of having some food that's nearly there.

Xin Wang serves breakfast from 7am daily, a real plus for mothers who drop their kids off at school and need somewhere decent to breakfast. It also only apparently shuts at 5 am, probably to cater to the clubbers at Babyface next door. (lol).

I can't wait to go back again.

兴旺茶餐厅
Building across from Pu An (Ni Hong children's market)
Opposite Lane Crawford
I know it doesn't help much but I really can't recall properly*roftl

Orange rice is yummy

In a bid to get us, that is, mother and child, to take more fruits and vegetables, I've started to serve colored rice for our meals.

It is really quite simple and I wonder why I had not done this earlier.

Grate carrots as finely as possible. Use a microplane grater if you have one. I have one, but can't locate it, so used a small blender to mesh the carrot.

Mix the grated carrot with white rice to sit in the rice cooker for a few minutes before serving. The grated carrot can even be mixed in at the very last moment before service.

R loves it and I sometimes shape it for her with rice moulds, at times incorporating sesame seeds and seaweed bits in there. We have also done purple/light pink rice with cabbages last Sunday and it wasn't as successful as I didn't manage to grate the cabbage as finely as I should and there was a distinct "green" taste to it. We have so much fun with it that veggie eating Mr B wants his own share of colored rice as well.

This natural way of coloring rice is very popular with Bento making hobbyists such as this entry from Just Bento but I've modified it slightly to leave out the oil and salt and microwave portion of it and find that it works well for me. It really makes food a lot more fun, both during preparation and when eating it. This coloring works well with both brown and white rice - give it a try!

A sizzle-ping meal

Since I couldn't take Reb to her gym class today and am immobile from an injured ankle, I decided that the easiest way to satiate her hunger (and keep her from being too hungry and resorting to a bottle of milk for lunch) was to make up some sizzle-and-ping food.

It is really simple.

Pop some fish fingers onto a pan for 5 minutes , pop a chuei kueh into the microwave for 30 seconds, cut everything into bite-sized pieces, randomly spear them with animal toothpicks. Serve with mayo and black sauce. Her choice of sauces and I think its the hokkien side of her that is showing.

Not super on nutrition but can do for a quick lunch I guess.

It is the first time in a long while I've seen her chomp at her food so happily. She was so pleased that she requested for a second serving of chuei kueh...and no bottle of milk before her afternoon nap! A miracle!

Rebecca requested for a repeat of the same menu for dinner and to give it some variety, I heated some dried prawns and mixed them with some steamed rice and seaweed, served in a muffin cup as a carb replacement for the chuei kueh. She finished two of those. Happy mother, Happy daughter. If only every meal was so easy with her.

Kids masquerade party at Paulaner

We were at Paulaner Brauhaus 宝莱纳 for a Kid's masquerade party today. It was RMB150 for a semi-buffet and kids got to eat for free. Mr B had some german sausages and I had the fried chicken and mash combo which Rebecca found nice and proceeded to finish off.

We had a good time and dressed Rebecca up as a fairy princess, complete with plaits and a pseudo tiara. Her costume was actually a dance costume I got from a dance store. There were toy play stations, an ice cream station though we had to pay RMb15 for a cone, balloons and even a magician - who was unfortunately really boring.

Here are some pictures from the lunch and we were having a good time until I fell and hurt my foot. The irony that it happened when I was in only one inch height boots was not lost on me, since my regular weekday work heels average three inches. I blame it on the soaked, synthetic carpet grass that was uneven, and probably combined with a preschooler on my hip. It is definitely an old injury, weakened from my dancing days.

I am on the road to recovery now and am thankful for the handful of friends that were around to fetch me a coat, some ice and hold on to me worried that I was going to pass out. It was also very sweet to watch Rebecca stay by my side to make sure I was ok.