Sharing my Ideas, Views and Opinions !

Last Saturday, while walking around the local market, I spotted this shop which sells a lot of traditional desserts. Yes, I am a fan of dessert and no, I am not so adventurous to try out all of it. My taste buds are customized to Malaysian desserts and not intending to change it yet.

While wiping away my drooling saliva, all of the sudden, I spotted this. The local called it Beze or Meringues or Russian Beze Cookies but I called it, the heaven of all dessert. Most of the dessert that I ate before are kind of too sweet, too fattening, too creamy and too ugly but this one is completely different.

This whole pack costs about ~RM4. Yes, it is not expensive. The uniqueness of this dessert is not on the sweetness but at the texture of it. It is crispy inside out and will not stick on your teeth too.

Once you take the first bite, you will definitely crave for the second one. Half way enjoying these cookies, I was wondering what if I am addicted to it and unable to get it elsewhere.

So, I decided to learn how to make it. The cost of making this is probably just few cents and it is not difficult at all.

Ingredient

2 x egg whites

1/3 cup of sugar.

Method

1. Simply put egg white to the mixer bowl and start beating it on high speed. Please ensure not a single drop of water or oil or it will ruin the whole cookies making process.

2. Beat egg white until it form solid white foam about 3 times the volume of the initial egg whites. Then add sugar spoon by spoon and continue beating it until all sugar is mixed and completely dissolved.

3. Warm oven up to 210F . Use pastry bag to pipe the filling onto parchment paper (normally use baking tray for easier handling).

4. Put baking tray into oven and let it dry for 1 – 1.5 hours (this is depending on size). It takes longer to dry if it is bigger in size.

5. Let it cool down. Once cooled down, it is ready to be served.

Remember to put it in air tight container too!

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:

There is an old saying “When you shit, don’t expect others to wipe for you”. Maybe last time they don’t have the sophisticated toilet seat like the one in Best Western New Seoul Hotel.

This is not a disgusting post but what I am trying to say is, finish what you have started. So, I will complete my roadside food hunting journey here. Wink Wink.. ok.. stop wondering about how much my bottomless stomach can take in one day.

After a short milkshakes break, I scented a wonderful aroma from a food stall not very far away. I have to clarify, it is definitely not stinky bean curds but rather a whole range of steamy food. My feet automatically walked towards that direction like mice going after the cheese.

I ordered this skewer Fu Chok alike food which I have no clue what it is called in Korean. At first I thought it is nothing but a type of noodles but this turn out to be exceptionally good. The soup that comes with it tastes super awesome too. Maybe it is full with MSG but who cares?

While walking along the Myeongdong road, I noticed this stalls that sells roasted chestnut. What I find it special is the way they roasted the nut. Oh yea. I love nuts. Instead of using hard work to stir the hot wok manually, they used a special automated rotating basket. Simply clean and easy! Smart right?

I came across this old lady who sells some type of worms and vege. The worms are still alive for godsake. I nearly want to try one but the lady told me it has to be cooked first. So, no luck for me!

BUT BUT.. I also came across this small stall by the corner of the road that sells “tall” yogurt ice-cream. It is about 25 cm in height but due to some optic illusion, I cannot show it in photos because I am too busy eating it after that. Lucky me isn’t it?

If you think that ice-cream is my dessert, you are wrong! I managed to stalk a stall that sells sugar biscuit. Sugar biscuit? Yea literally the biscuit is made of sugar and nothing but sugar only. It was then roasted until the sugar melt (turn into slightly brownish) and …

Walla.. the sugar biscuit is made. Sweet and slightly bitter but the combination of the taste makes it very special. It is almost like hokey pokey. I tried one with a bunny shape since I am the animal “not” lover but I cannot finish it as I can sense I am a step closer to be a diabetic.

Now come to skewer hotdog with spiral potatoes. Well, it is just a typical hotdog with potatoes actually but it is creatively produced. I am not a fan of hot dog and potatoes but I still buy it to compliment for their creativity.

How often you can get that right? Simple thing that make it so complicatedly presentable. I did actually walk towards the seller and said this is a very smart idea to sell their products although I don’t know if she knows what I am saying or not.

While touring around this area, I saw a lot of Korean drinking these two type of drinks. Well, since a lot of people drink it, it must be real good. So I manage to dig these two types of drinks. Not too expensive and you can easily get it from any store.

And my advice is, try to ask for a sip from the passerby first before you buy it because i) you might prone to puke ii) you might make an extra friend in an unfriendly manner iii) you might get a free stencil of five finger on your face.

Coming from “shy & conservative” background, I decided to spend 5000 won to get those two. Just to try. Not bad actually but not so good either. It taste like melted vanilla lime ice – cream and ordinary orange juice.

Hmm.. that complete my food hunting journey (P/S: what you see is probably 10 % of what I actually ate on that day.. of course I did not blog about food that is not so good!)

Cornflakes Cookies

Ingredients

130 g Cornflakes (Crushed lightly)

110 g Sugar

110 g Butter

130 g Self-raising flour (Sifted)

½ tsp Vanilla essence

1 Egg yolk

Method

1. Beat sugar, butter and egg yolk until creamy. Add vanilla essence

2. Add self-raising flour. Put the mixture into fridge to chill for 30 minutes prior baking

3. Add cornflakes and mix it well

4. Pre-heat oven to 175 deg C

5. Shape the conflakes dough into the preferred shape and bake for 8 minutes. Ready to be served