Smoky Oven Spareribs with Dill and Bacon Smashed Potatoes

The Amateur Gourmet inspired me to make these ribs!  My version took about two hours instead of six and I substituted all spice for the cloves.  The next day, I deboned the leftover rib meat and made a pasta sauce.  Yum!

Banana Cake with Chocolate Chips

Whenever I have ripe bananas lying around, I'm always tempted to make banana bread. I wanted a simple recipe, so I looked in the Joy of Cooking. Sure enough, there's a recipe for banana bread (interestly named "Banana Bread Cockaigne") with a list of simple ingredients, all of which I had available at home! I added some leftover chocolate chips for good measure and within an hour, I had hot banana cake! Delish! I call it banana cake because it has a fluffier consistency, less dense than the usual banana bread.

And just in case you were wondering what the "Cockaigne" means, from Wikipedia:
In the popular cookbook The Joy of Cooking, the author's favorite recipes include "Cockaigne" in the name, (e.g., "Fruit Cake Cockaigne"), explained in the foreword to the 1975 edition as after the name of the Becker country home in Anderson Township, near Cincinnati, Ohio.

Note: after a day, the cake was pretty dry. I recommend adding an extra quarter stick of butter (1/8 cup) and extra banana for good measure. I also omitted the lemon zest, since I didn't have any. Here's the modified recipe:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Grease a "normal size" loaf pan.
Whisk together:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
Beat in a separate large bowl:
2/3 cup sugar
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, softened
2 large eggs
3 ripe bananas
Add the dry ingredients in about 3 to 4 parts. The batter should be thick and fluffy. Add optional ingredients such as chocolate chips or nuts. Scrape the batter into the greased pan and bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Original recipe calls for 1 hour in the oven, but in my oven, it takes only 30 minutes.

Farewell for now, PhoKing

PhoKing has always been a trusty neighbourhood restaurant for us, offering a simple selection of comforting Vietnamese noodles at a reasonable price. Every time we have a visitor, we always end up there for at least one meal. Alas, we walked by the restaurant last weekend, to find it closed and the note at the door said they were shutting up shop because of problems with the management company of the building in which they are located. Apparently, there were cleanliness issues and the owner of PhoKing is clearly disappointed and frustrated with the lack of response and action.

Interestingly, the Chinese note adjacent to the English one was brief and only said that changes were in progress (duh). I bet the management company would not have allowed such a candid note in Chinese. Ah well, we'll be on the lookout for the next restaurant in this location, but hope that it will be clean.

Craving

Sometimes, a good hearty sandwich can really hit the spot. It was one of those days, and we headed to City Deli to enjoy a Reuben (bottom) and Vietnamese sub, the Banh Mi (top). The Reuben was great - bread that was sturdy enough to hold everything together without being tough, soft layers of pastrami, sauerkraut, melted cheese and a sweet thousand island dressing. I believe the original Reuben recipe calls for corned beef, but this variation was just as good. The Banh Mi was not the best Vietnamese sub I've ever had (shout out to New Asia in Richmond, BC!), but this one has character. I liked the combination of pate with the sweet roast pork and it had a good portion of the pickled vegetables. The bursts of spicy from the jalapenos rounded out the sandwich nicely. Craving sated!

While grocery shopping...

What more can I say? There's never a shortage of weird and entertaining uses of English in China. Those are chocolate bars, by the way.

Happy Halloween ... I <3 Chocolate

Adam and I spent Halloween apart, not that it really matters since we're not really into dressing up anyways. I'm not against eating candy though! Especially chocolate covered extra-crunchy peanuts. I like this brand (see picture) and definitely could not resist the Halloween packaging.

Comfort Food

Whenever we feel like a bowl of no-frills Shanghainese noodles, we head over to 王家沙. Inevitably it will be in the evening for dinner, when the items on their menu board start to dwindle (we like the counter service area on the ground floor). I've been on a mission to try their eel noodles, only to find it sold out each time we go. This time, however - success! The eel strips are served on the side, covered in a glossy, garlicky, dark sauce. The noodles are al dente, swimming in a simple broth. I was very pleased with this choice and rank it a close second to our all-time favourite, the dan-dan noodles!

Yu Garden

Adam's dad is in town, so we're finally hitting some of the tourist spots that we have been saving up. The destination today was Yu Garden.

I last went to the Yu Garden area in 2001 with a friend - it was a rushed affair, the driver dropped us off and directed us to the xiaolongbao take-out window, we lined up for it, then hurried back to the car to eat the steaming dumplings in 35 degree summer heat. We didn't get to see much and needless to say, it was not the best experience.

Today was a pleasant contrast. The weather was cool. The crowds from the national holiday break had since gone home. And I actually got to see the inside of Yu Garden. The garden is serene, like an oasis in Shanghai city. Yu Garden has been around since 1559 and showcases some beautiful architecture, ancient trees, and lots of lucky koi and turtles swimming in the ponds. There are also two resident cats, seen here napping in the shade.

The maze of stores in the Yu Garden area provides plentiful choices for souvenirs and trinkets. The day so far had been relaxing and I didn't mind a bit of good-natured bargaining on behalf of Adam's dad. After wandering through the stores, we ended up back at 南翔, the ever-popular XLB joint. As expected, the line at the take-out counter stretched along the wall. Instead of waiting in line, we went to the upstairs sit-down section and enjoyed the XLB while taking in the view. Much better.

Adventures in Pudong

We don't venture over to Pudong very much, but this weekend since Adam had a bit of business over there we decided to stick around for dinner. Some quick online research led me to Sushi Inc, the sister restaurant of Haiku by Hatsune, which we had heard good things. It's on the second floor of the Citigroup Building office tower, so it's not at all crowded on weekends, probably much more popular for business lunches. Nonetheless, the food and the service were good (and a nice change from the crowds at Super Brand Mall). An amuse-bouche of bitter melon salad was provided as we looked over the menu. We started with cold tofu and sashimi salad (the only dish that was a bit disappointing), then got the "Clayton" roll (very tasty), assorted vegetable tempura and a grilled fish head. Sushi Inc, like Haiku, is famous for the extensive list of creative sushi rolls. Next time, we'll probably check out Haiku and try a few more rolls.

Brunch at New Heights

Adam and I went for a treat - brunch at one of the fancy restaurants along the Bund. The brunch itself was okay, but it's the view that entices people to go. New Heights is on the 7th floor of Three on the Bund. We walked around the outside patio afterwards and took in the sights.

(top) Adam surveys the re-construction of the promenade along the Bund for the World Expo.
(bottom) The Pearl Tower and the rest of Pudong is just across the way.

A second chance for Lay's

I've told a few people that I found Lay's potato chips in China to be less tasty than in North America. The comparison was between the "classic" yellow bag that is the plain salted kind. My theory is that potatoes in China are a different variety, hence a different and slightly inferior product in my opinion. However, I know everyone and every potato deserves a second chance, so I gave the Sichuan Spicy Flavor a go. It was tres tasty! Good job! I enjoyed this particular flavor of potato chip, but I secretly still think that the potatoes are different and in this case it doesn't matter because the flavoring covers it up.

Afternoon tea friends in HK

We're in HK for the Dragonboat Festival long weekend and what trip to HK can be complete without a visit to a 茶餐厅 (HK-style cafe)? If Adam could have his way, he'd have a daily dose of yeen yeung 鸳鸯 (half milk tea, half coffee) and nai yau doh 奶油多 (condensed milk on toast)! We went to a random one this time. The food wasn't particularly good, but look at the menu! The cafe takes pride in the following famous 招牌 items, from left to right:

豆浆 (soy milk)
油条 (plain donut stick)
松糕 (sponge cake)
粽子 (rice dumpling)
肠粉 (rice flour crepe)
油炸鬼 (sweet donut)
煎堆 (sesame ball)

Haha, too cute!

Dumpling Joint (North East Food)

So my feeling for dinner tonight was "quaint more than ghetto" but we ended up going to a dive-y dumpling place.

Happy to find that it's quite tasty and cheap, and the staff is proud of what they serve. Pork and veggie dumplings, shrimp and pork dumplings, and stir-fried veggies.

I'm trying Harbin beer too, which you can actually get in Vancouver. It's not very good.

27RMB not including drinks!