Friday, August 12, 2011
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
How to Eat 小龙包
This is 小龙包 (pronounced xiao [shao] long bao) and it is perhaps my favorite food in the whole world. On the outside, they may look like ordinary dumplings, but we learned in elementary school not to judge a book by its cover. Inside, there can be anything - just as long as it isn't ordinary. These ones have meat and a spicy sauce. The other ones I bought here were filled with a yellow curry. Others still have shrimp, crab, eggs, yams, or bacon, always accompanied by some sort of soup or sauce. They are the ultimate evolution of the dumpling. Calling a xiao long bao a dumpling is like calling a human an ape! Or an amoeba!
"Xiao long" means "small dragon" in Mandarin, which also happens to be the given name of Bruce Lee. It's no coincidence. His parents named him after the greatest food in China and told him that if he could be half as fantastic and powerful as his namesake, he would become world famous. And so brought about the greatest kung fu actor of all-time, until the pressure of being as consistently amazing as his dumpling equivalent brought about his early death. This scrumptious dish creates and destroys heroes.
And so one must always obey proper rituals when eating xiao long bao. They are as follows:
Pick up your xiao long with your chopsticks and place it in your spoon. Have your vinegar (I believe Chinese vinegar is mixed with soy sauce. This is unconfirmed, but may explain its deliciousness) ready, you will need it soon. Using a spoon is not cheating. While the fork and knife are foreign to China, spoons are used on a meal-to-meal basis. Let's keep going:
Next, bite off the top and slurp out the delicious juice/sauce/soup/curry from the inside. I originally took two photos, before and after slurpage but they looked exactly the same. Recapping this is making me hungry.
Step Three (or Four if you count biting and slurping two separate steps). Use your chopsticks to drop your xiao long into your vinegar. I usually poke it around until vinegar gets physically inside the dumpling. That may be against protocol, I'll have to ask my superiors.
Finally, using either your spoon or chopsticks - or both - eat your xiao long. This results in temporary bliss, but are you truly satisfied? Heck no! These things are tiny! Back in September, I ate 30 of these little guys! Taste-wise, they are truly in a class of their own, but must be accompanied with another dish in order to ensure the filling of your stomach.
Alternative Method: Step 1, dunk whole xiao long in vinegar. Step 2, eat it. However, do so at your own peril. The rush of flavor from the meat, vinegar, dumpling skin, and juice/sauce/soup/curry can be overwhelmingly good.
While I've seen people prepare xiao long bao, how they make it is still a mystery to me. If I learn how, I'll share the secret with all of you here. And then this will become the second signature dish on my menu at Scuba's Ji Dan Bing and Xiao Long Shack!
Stephen "Scuba" Lauer
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
鸡蛋饼: Shanghai's Breakfast of Champions
鸡蛋饼 (pronounced ji dan bing) is the best way to start a morning in Shanghai, so I figured it's also the best way to start the blog back up. Ji dan means egg and bing means wrap/burrito; that pretty much sums up the overall concept. Here's the video of how it's made:
There are three ji dan bing vendors within easy walking distance from my apartment, and this lady not only makes the most delicious one, but also makes it the fastest. Her stand is outside of Metro Line 3's Chifeng Lu Station (赤峰路) and one costs 3.5¥ (or $0.54). Let's break this down step by step:
(0:00) By the time I start rolling, she's already putting down the dough straight onto the circular flat iron stove. In five seconds, she's covered 97% of the area with the thick, gooey substance by using a flat metal tool. I imagine that she would destroy me in arm wrestling.
(0:07) Cracks an egg open and covers the whole area (including small holes in the dough) with the same metal tool (wish I knew the name of that). Cooking the dough and frying the egg at the same time - so simple, yet so genius.
(0:15) Throws on some cut up greens and little spiced yellow things. I have no idea what either are.
(0:18) Quickly separates the dough from the pan using the ji dan bing device (there's got to be a catchier name for that). I'm realizing that if I ever want to learn to make this, I need to get one of those.
(0:24) Folds it in half and adds a slimy brown substance. I learned that this is primarily soy sauce and flour, in addition to probably sugar and other things - it's really sweet.
(0:28) She holds up the hots as if to ask whether I want some. I say "dui de" or "correct" which isn't technically the right answer, I should have said "yao" or "I want" - the pressure of my first blog video got to me! Aiyo! By the way, hots in your breakfast is a great wake up call.
(0:32) She puts in some crunchy bread, there is also an option of chewier doughy bits. Both are good.
(0:35) Flips it together and uses the ji dan binger to cut it in half. I stop rolling just before she smiles and gives me a wink. Clearly a rookie mistake.
I'll do better next time,
Stephen "Scuba" Lauer
There are three ji dan bing vendors within easy walking distance from my apartment, and this lady not only makes the most delicious one, but also makes it the fastest. Her stand is outside of Metro Line 3's Chifeng Lu Station (赤峰路) and one costs 3.5¥ (or $0.54). Let's break this down step by step:
(0:00) By the time I start rolling, she's already putting down the dough straight onto the circular flat iron stove. In five seconds, she's covered 97% of the area with the thick, gooey substance by using a flat metal tool. I imagine that she would destroy me in arm wrestling.
(0:07) Cracks an egg open and covers the whole area (including small holes in the dough) with the same metal tool (wish I knew the name of that). Cooking the dough and frying the egg at the same time - so simple, yet so genius.
(0:15) Throws on some cut up greens and little spiced yellow things. I have no idea what either are.
(0:18) Quickly separates the dough from the pan using the ji dan bing device (there's got to be a catchier name for that). I'm realizing that if I ever want to learn to make this, I need to get one of those.
(0:24) Folds it in half and adds a slimy brown substance. I learned that this is primarily soy sauce and flour, in addition to probably sugar and other things - it's really sweet.
(0:28) She holds up the hots as if to ask whether I want some. I say "dui de" or "correct" which isn't technically the right answer, I should have said "yao" or "I want" - the pressure of my first blog video got to me! Aiyo! By the way, hots in your breakfast is a great wake up call.
(0:32) She puts in some crunchy bread, there is also an option of chewier doughy bits. Both are good.
(0:35) Flips it together and uses the ji dan binger to cut it in half. I stop rolling just before she smiles and gives me a wink. Clearly a rookie mistake.
I'll do better next time,
Stephen "Scuba" Lauer
Monday, August 8, 2011
Restarting the Scublog
Hey all,
I've returned to Shanghai for Year Two with some new goals in mind. One of these goals is to not only blog more often (which wouldn't be difficult really)... but much more often. Last year, after setting the bar rather high in Europe, I kind of faltered out once real life started in Shanghai. In retrospect, I wish I could have kept it going, but I realize now that when my life changed - from vacation to career mode - I should have changed my blog format too. During vacation in Europe, I had only one responsibility: blog about the cool stuff I did. So I devoted hours to long, gushing entries then reviewed and edited them several times before publishing. I no longer have this much time and, since I'm cramming my brain full of Chinese, sometimes I forget the interesting things I do on a day-to-day basis. Therefore, I'm going to switch my style up.
If I know one thing about myself, it is this: I've got two gears, first and fifth. I'm all or nothing when it comes to a lot of things. Trying to blog once a week, for example, is way too close to blogging zero times per week. So instead I'm going to go all out: by blogging everyday. So if I miss a few days, you can still get me three or four times a week. Mostly I'll do short blurbs, maybe a photo or a video with a little analysis or just something I learned/thought of that day. In addition, I'll try to have a "feature length" article each week, with the amount of depth that you've come to expect from me (whenever I actually posted something). I figure not only will this keep you guys up to date with what I'm doing, but force me to take more photos and do more awesome junk more often so that I can make my blog (slash life) fun.
Without further ado, here's some goals/topics I'm plan to achieve/write about in the coming year:
I've returned to Shanghai for Year Two with some new goals in mind. One of these goals is to not only blog more often (which wouldn't be difficult really)... but much more often. Last year, after setting the bar rather high in Europe, I kind of faltered out once real life started in Shanghai. In retrospect, I wish I could have kept it going, but I realize now that when my life changed - from vacation to career mode - I should have changed my blog format too. During vacation in Europe, I had only one responsibility: blog about the cool stuff I did. So I devoted hours to long, gushing entries then reviewed and edited them several times before publishing. I no longer have this much time and, since I'm cramming my brain full of Chinese, sometimes I forget the interesting things I do on a day-to-day basis. Therefore, I'm going to switch my style up.
If I know one thing about myself, it is this: I've got two gears, first and fifth. I'm all or nothing when it comes to a lot of things. Trying to blog once a week, for example, is way too close to blogging zero times per week. So instead I'm going to go all out: by blogging everyday. So if I miss a few days, you can still get me three or four times a week. Mostly I'll do short blurbs, maybe a photo or a video with a little analysis or just something I learned/thought of that day. In addition, I'll try to have a "feature length" article each week, with the amount of depth that you've come to expect from me (whenever I actually posted something). I figure not only will this keep you guys up to date with what I'm doing, but force me to take more photos and do more awesome junk more often so that I can make my blog (slash life) fun.
Without further ado, here's some goals/topics I'm plan to achieve/write about in the coming year:
- The Qing Dao beer festival
- See the Terra Cotta Warriors
- Visit (and high five) a live panda in its natural habitat
- Chill down a river in Guilin or Yangshuo
- Make stops in Hong Kong and/or Taipei
- Cook Chinese food (post step-by-step recipes)
- Go to a professional badminton and/or ping pong tournament
- Rate the video arcades of Shanghai (I can't find listings or ratings online, so I need to take this into my own hands)
- There is supposedly a World of Warcraft based theme park outside of Shanghai, I never got into WoW, but I that won't stop me from dressing like an orc and riding all the roller coasters (zug zug)
- Ride a horse
- Celebrate the many Chinese holidays
- Potentially go to India, Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam this winter break (fingers crossed)
- In the case of a lockout, see as many NBA players as possible in the Chinese Basketball League
That is a lot of future articles right there, hopefully I can pull this off.
Speaking of Chinese holidays, Chinese Valentine's Day was last Saturday and today is Chinese Father's Day. This is because today is the 8th day of the 8th month [8/8] and the number 8 is pronounced ba in Mandarin. 8/8 = ba ba and ba ba is the informal term for father in Mandarin. So Happy Father's Day to all the fathers in the world (especially you dad).
I would love to make this blog more interactive too. So if you have any suggestions, questions, comments, additions or subtractions (no multiplications or divisions though), please send them my way.
Until next time (uh, tomorrow),
Stephen "Scuba" Lauer
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