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Lotus Root with Peanuts Soup

Ingredients

150 g Lotus root

½ cup Peanuts

10 Red dates

400 g Pork ribs

11 cups Water

2 tsp Salt

1 tsp TikkoSS’s Secret Ingredient

Method

1. Boil 500ml water. Add pork ribs and cook for 5 mins. Drain water and set aside

2. Cut lotus roots into thin slices and red dates into half.

3. Boil 11 cups of water. Add pork ribs, lotus roots, peanuts and red dates.

4. Cook for 30 mins over high fire before simmer over small fire for 2 hours.

5. Add salt and TikkoSS’s Secret Ingredients. Ready to be served.

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.

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:

Hello, can I call for room service? Ok.. What service do you want, sir? We provide all kind of services to our customers including some special one.

I am curious about the special one but let’s not get there. This is a typical type of conversation you will have when you call front desk in hotel. Nothing special about it.

Try again if either of you do not speak English. The conversation will become as challenging as what Chinese said, like chicken and duck speak.

Believe it or not, a simple mushroom soup will turn out to be the most difficult soup to order. If the soup turns out to be tasteless, the effort just goes to drain. Luckily, it did not happen to me this time.

By right, most menus should be numbered. It simplifies the communication between the guest and the hotel when in urgent need. When come to this, pictorial menu is completely useless.

Imagine how I ordered Sirloin Steak with Tiger Prawns and Fries, medium rare? The waitress for sure is patient and polite but probably in her mind, she will say this “What the F*** are you talking about?”

In normal circumstances, I will order a soup, main course, desserts and a drink. Now, the conversation is not only testing her patience but mine too.

The Banana Fritter and ice cream is one of the tough one. I know how to describe banana and ice cream but definitely not fritter in foreign language. I nearly fainted when I ordered strawberry milkshake and turned out to be orange juice.

All the hard works did paid off when the dinner was finally sent to my room but 30 minutes late. This is really a milestone for me and in fact one of my biggest fear in foreign places. Imagine if they sent “something special” and not food!

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Goodbye 2011 and here I come 2012. Beside countdown, many people tend to recap on what happen throughout the whole year or jot down their New Year resolution.

That practice has long gone for me. Not because TikkoSS is getting a year YOUNGER, but because there is nothing much we can do about the past and future is yet to happen.

Fundamental rule of survival, feed the stomach today, worry about tomorrow later. So, instead of sharing what I did in 2011 or plan to do in 2012, let me bring you to food haven.

Before clock ticking 12 like any other day, I decided to spend about RMB 300 (RM 150 ish) on an unforgettable dinner, just to add some flavor to the welcome 2012. Yea..

While busy hunting around this foreign place, I came across this Chinese – Japanese Restaurant, proly about 15 min drive from Jiaozhou Bay Bridge and Qing-Huang Tunnel.

They called themselves Chinese – Japanese Restaurant but beside sushi and sashimi as starter, the chef is a local Chinese and the rest of the food is no where close to Japanese or Chinese.

I cannot remember what is the first thing I did in 2011 but I know what is the last thing I did in that year, a murderer. Oh yea, I ended my last meal in 2011 as carnivore.

First, I am associated with killing goose and sturgeon for goose liver with caviar. Then salmon and king prawn along the process. No regret, I am making a right decision.

If you read my blog throughout 2011, you will learn that TikkoSS is considered as big eater with bottomless stomach. For sure, dishes where people consider as main course are only starter to me.

The menu continues with freshly baked oyster, traditional Chinese – Japanese baked fish, genuine beef cutlets and OPS, green vegetables to so call “balance my diet”.

At this point, I am so close to curse the chef for serving very small potions to young man like me. Of course those food are not even close to feed my belly. I thought the surprises ended here.

But the wise chef read my facial expression acknowledging that I need more food or I will go on strike. To kill my hunger, the chef decided to surprise me with nothing less than..

Medium rare herb steak + Sea cucumber soup + seafood fried rice. He told me, “Exquisite foods never come in big potion BUT I have prepared all these just to complete your dinner!”

Before I leave the restaurant, they served me with two specials desserts, milk pudding and the white fungus with red dates soup.

By spending a reasonable amount, my last day of 2011 is super awesome and I owe a great appreciation to this restaurant for making my night, a remarkably wonderful one.

My-Yum Restaurant

3F, Eastern Plaza of Qianxilong Garden,

Cross Rd of Zhujiang Rd and Alishan Rd,

Econ & Tech Zone, Qingdao, China

TEL: +86 – 532 6805 1177

GPS: (still locating )

WEB: www.my-yum.com