Sharing my Ideas, Views and Opinions !

A local guy brings me to local flea market or bazaar. So, what exactly is bazaar? I don’t know the real definition of bazaar but I see it as a place to get just about anything with affordable price. Some take it as heaven for shopping but I take it as a place to kill time.

Of course there are various types of bazaars around. I know a local car bazaar, clothes bazaar, electronic bazaar and of course my favorite one, food bazaar. Normally, I will visit food haven with stomach empty but this time, I visited a bazaar with stomach full.

Instead of getting a lot of food, I only get this. Why? It looks likes donut of course and reminds me of Dunkin Donut and Krispy Kreme Doughnuts but this is sort of donut with a lot a lot of sesame. Not sweet, not dough-ish type but more like a cookie with a donut shape.

By knowing the fact that I will buy this again, so I asked from my friend to teach me on how I can make this myself. Edible or not, that is a different question but let me share with you what I know about this local delights.

Ingredient

150 gr butter

170 gr flour

100 gr finely grated cheese

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

3-4 tbsp cold water

Method

1. Put butter, flour, grated cheese, salt and butter into a bowl and use your hands to make crumbles.

2. Then pour the water and shape the dough into a ball. Put it into a plastic bag and put into a fridge for 1 hour.

3. Cut the dough into 10 small pieces. Roll each piece between your hands and cut each stipe into half to make (about 10cm) stripes. Then shape the round cookie.

4. Beat the egg in a bowl. Put the sesame seeds into another bowl. Dip the cookie into an egg then coat with sesame seeds.

5. Place the cookies on a baking paper and bake in a preheated oven (180 degC) for 20 min. Let it cool down and enjoy!

Of course this receipe is not NOT by me but from my friend Mr. Google.

Mee Suah Soup

Ingredients

1 pcs Mee Suah

2 Eggs (Well beaten with 2 pinches of salt)

2 – 3 stalks Siow pai chai

2 tsp Fried small onion with oil

¾ tbsp TikkoSS’s Secret Ingredient

1 tsp Salt

2 dashes Pepper

Method

1. Heat wok with 1 tbsp of oil. Fry eggs until cook both side.

2. Add 1 bowl of water. When boiling, add mee suah. Stir the mee suah immediately with chopsticks to prevent lumping.

3. Add siow pai chai and continue cooking for 5 mins.

4. Add Fried small onion with oil, TikkoSS’s Secret Ingredient, salt and pepper.

5. Ready to be served.

TikkoSS’s Easy Fried Rice

Ingredients

1 Big onion (Thin sliced)

2 Big white button mushrooms (Thin sliced)

3 Sausages (Thin sliced)

3 cloves Garlic (Finely chopped)

1 cup Mixed beans

2 cup Rice

1 Fried egg (For better taste, add few drops of light soy sauce whilst frying)

1 tbsp TikkoSS’s Secret Ingredient

1 tbsp Oyster sauce

2 tsp Sugar

½ tbsp Dark soy sauce

1 tbsp Light soy sauce

Method

1. Heat wok with 3 tbsp oil. Fry garlic until golden brown and fragrant, follow with onion until soften. Add sugar and 1 tbsp of soy sauce.

2. Fry mushroom until soften and fry sausages for 5 minutes.

3. Add mixed beans and continue frying for 5 minutes.

4. Add rice and keep stirring to prevent burning at the bottom of the wok.

5. Add oyster sauce, dark soy sauce, oyster sauce and TikkoSS’s Secret Ingredient. Keep stirring until the rice is well mixed. Ready to be served.

Yuyuan Garden is a famous classical garden in Shanghai. Although the existence of this garden is about 400 years now and undergoes multiple reconstructions, this place still remains as a famous tourist spot in Shanghai.

Sometime I felt amaze on the architecture of ancient times. It seems like they really spend a lot of time building, reconstructing, refurbishing and try to preserve the crisp of the culture. Technically, we should embrace our history but the remains turn out to be so good for photography.

Maybe I sound a bit melodramatic but as a newbie in the world of camera, ancient buildings turn me on. This is just one of the many buildings in this garden. If you have good stamina, you can walk the 20 000 square meters park, within a day. I am fit (or I wanted to believe that), so, no problem for me.

There are 6 main scenic areas that you must visit: Sansui Hall, Wanhua Chamber, Dianchun Hall, Huijing Hall, Yuhua Hall and Inner Garden. I went there twice and I don’t think I ever visited those places or maybe I did but forget the names.

To me, the main attraction is not those scenic spots. I have discovered Nanxiang Steamed Bun Restaurant, the most famous and authentic siu long pau. Now, I also discovered the best dumplings in Shanghai called Ning Bo Dumplings (don’t know where they get the name from).

This restaurant is usually congested and probably you need to spend some time queuing to get seated and queuing to order and pay the bills. Maybe this place is the most affordable as compare to others? To me, crowded means good.. hehe..

As you might notice, they do serve big pau and some other dim sum too but the highlight is definitely the rice ball dumplings. Instead of ordering one, the long queue makes me order additional bowl. The sesame and crab roe dumplings.

In Singapore Chinatown, you can get this with almond or just plain sugar water soup. Over here, they only serve with plain water as the soup. In that case, the soup is like drinking hot water. On the other hand, the dumplings taste very nice and the texture is just perfect.

Two bowls are definitely not enough for me especially on good food. As soon as you walk out from the restaurant, you will notice that they also sell take away dumplings. I did not get it but I think it is a good deal. According to the lady, it can last about 3 weeks without fridge.

I am not leaving that place empty handed. I bought myself herbal bean curds with pigeon eggs. No, it is not stinky bean curd. This also taste good except a little spicy. Gosh, you should try to drink the soup too. Now, my floor is wet coz I can’t stop drooling when I write about this.

Ning Bo Dumplings

Yuyuan Garden, Shanghai

GPS:

Light bulb is created for a reason. If you fail your history lesson before, let me introduce Thomas Alva Edison, an American inventor who claimed that he haven’t fail although he found 10000 ways something won’t work.

He is also a man who claimed “Genius is 1 percent inspiration, 99 percent perspiration.” Whatever that means, I must admit he is a true genius as he can forsee the importance of light in the next century.

One of the enigma he resolved is night market. Imagine if you visit a night market without the source of light? How are we going to bargain and hunt for things that appeal to us?

Thanks to him, I get to visit Night Market in Hangzhou“visibly”, a place where I considered very congested with human traffic, a heaven of pirated goods and a perfect shopping place for girls.  

Considering that I am gay virtually and not very much into pirated stuffs, I am here for a sole reason, STREET FOOD! While everyone is busy bargaining for great deals, I am busy hunting for local food.

So, without further ado, I bought homemade tofu with eggs and traditional rice cake at approx RMB 10 (~RM 5) each. The tofu is super delicious, slightly spicy and the traditional rice cake is pretty much tasteless .  

My food hunting does not stop there. I continued to hunt for long queue restaurant. Why long queue? As a rule of thumb when you travel abroad, “long queue” restaurant perceptively means they serve good food.

Without knowing what it is, I bought this stuff. Looks very oily and unhealthy food means it is a right choice. It is actually freshly prepared tako balls with dried minced pork. This is a good one that I actually go back there the next day to get it again.

By setting my budget approximately RMB 50 (~RM 25) for my dinner (thanks to Lou Wai Lou, West Lake for drying my whole week budget), it is definitely not enough for to feed someone as fit as me.

Following my instinct led me to Chicken Hero, another famous franchise inChina. When I reached there, I know I have made a right decision. By paying about RMB 15 (~RM 7),  I get the whole piece of deep fried chicken with seasoning powder.

It is just nice to crave my hunger deliciously. 

I am not sure if I share with you before that I am a fan of bubble milk tea. Without miss, everytime when I come across this, I will definitely grab a cup. Again, long queue attracted me.

If I am not mistaken, I paid approx. RMB 8 (~RM 4) for a cup of bubble milk tea. The drink is definitely easing my thirst after whole lots of deep fried stuffs. It is a great paid off considering I spent 10 minutes for my order.

So, don’t be upset when your fund is running low. All you need is just finding a right place for a right food and bet you won’t need to die of hunger.

Night Market in Hangzhou

Youdian Road, Hangzhou

GPS: 30.251913, 120.168961