Good Days at Home sweet Home!

Hey My Dear Blog Friends!! I am back!!

I went back home (China) for two weeks, get fully replenished and rejuvenated!!! that is a last-minute decision – sorry for the lack of ‘missing’ notice

I haven’t seen my parents for 1 year. time flies, and they look older than last year – that makes me feel guilty. many kids like me left their parents and chasing their own dreams. when we look back, they just wave their hands and being fully understanding and supportive. They are inevitably older and older – yet we can not fly back right away to be with them. Maybe the excuses are – we have so much to finish and there are so many constrains. Parent’s love is unconditional love. there is no one else in the world would love you unconditionally like they do. I begin to wonder what is our love to our parents- can we do the same? can we treat our parents with the same patience, passion, care, understanding??? I will try my best. what I did this time is transform their living style to be more healthy. I make my Mom to start practicing Yoga, and my Dad to start paying attention to the fat and cal in his diet. I need them to live longer, healthier for at least another 30 years!

it’s always nice to be home. Home-made food, wandering around the farmers market, watching Chinese TV shows and reading Chinese newspapers. oh I love the feeling of being at home. there are quite a few nice newly opened restaurants in shanghai, and we tried some of them. A very typical dinning out of our family is like this :

three appetizers:

Greens and Flavored Miced Tofu. very light and fresh.

Papaya and Lili.

Sweeten Lotus root with sweeten rice filling. this is my favorite – I have sweet teeth the lotus roots is soaked in the (cane sugar) syrup over night. filling in with sweeten rice and steam for a loooooog time till the flavor is well blended.

three main dish:

Sauteed fish and peppers.

Goose and Tofu soup. it’s like the thickened version of chicken soup. Very tasty !

Soysauce Pork Stew with hard boiled eggs. This is my Dad’s favorite – I know it’s high in cal, fat and sodium….but why it taste so good????

one dim sum:

Cornish pancakes. very little ‘cake’ but lots of corn!

one soup:

haha, this translations may sounds funny – its called drunken rice with little balls . the soups is the fermanated sweeten rice with a very special wine taste.

Shanghai is like foodie’s paradise. especially for those who has an Asian stomach. and, for those of you who love pizza – i would recommend pizza hut in shanghai I am not kidding, wide selection of fancy drinks and appetizers, and they have a salmon-wasabi pizza that you don’t want to miss!!!

Now I am back to U.S and will start cooking again!! I will keep on entertaining with food

Very First Blogger Meet up! at Zest Bistro in DC

As a blog “freshman”, it’s so excited to see the “virtual” friend become “real”!!! Sophia organized this meet up and I am so glad that I made it!!!

Maya, Sophia and Me in Zest bistro.

it’s amazing that although the bloggers are someone you have never “met” , but when sit down together, it’s like we know each other so much and can’t wait to share all the stories of our life, and the excitement of blogging, the cuisine experience, the gossip of the blog world, etc. etc. etc. …. . So much fun – and we didn’t stop talking for even one minute !!  Sophia is such a sweet and thoughtful girl – love to heard her opinion of the blogging ; and Maya is a world traveler !! it’s so much fun sharing about the language learning and traveling experience with her!!!

Zest Bistro is on 8th street. small but chic place. I was there a bit early, well for like 20 min I was sitting there “lonely” by myself. and the waiter is REALLY attentive. He stopped by countless time and said ” oh I feel so sorry for you ” ,” oh looks like you are so lonely, I will bring you some bread. “.  ” oh is your friend coming ? you know I normally being late for party and now I realize its really bad “…..alright ……so he brought the bread, he introduce the house specialties, he talked about this party experience…..so. 20 min past by quickly. and I decided to tip him good

I ordered the Grilled Salmon salad , with greens, pine nuts and roasted corn. I was a bit surprised when the waiter ask me “what temperature do you want for your salmon?”…oooops. sorry, I am a bit out. But am I supposed to test the temperature of my salmon?? alright, got it > i said “well done”. it turned out really good. the edges were very crispy, and salmon was still tender and juicy. the greens was  a nice touch . I love the combination.

Maya also ordered the salmon salad. Sophia had this lamb pita. Very fulfilling!!! this bistro had a large selection of lamb. those who LOVE lamb, don’t miss it!

The great thing of dining with blogger friends is that you can take pictures as long as you want, in every angle, for each dish, without anyone staring at you and think ” what the heck is she doing????” and when the dessert menu comes in, everyone began to do the research ” how to incorporate this in to my eats”…”ummm, sweet potato juice? that’s wired! how do you do it???” etc. we kinda full already , so maybe dessert next time

It was a great Saturday!!! I just can’t wait to meet more foodie bloggers and enjoy the wonderful chatting with all those sweet girls !!

(kinda belated) happy new year , to every one of you, my dear friends!!!