A day of food experiences

   I started my day early so that I could leave work early to go to a Chinese Cooking Class. I signed up on Sunday and have been looking forward to this day all week! First, it seemed, that I needed to get through my work day which consisted of my first bad food experience. I went out to lunch today with Oliver, Tina and my new colleague Celine (who is just now back from maternity leave). We headed to the mall nearby, where we go quite often, to eat lunch at a spot that none of us had tried before. It was a Sichuan style restaurant and was full of disappointment. It took so long for our food to start coming to the table and when it did arrive, it wasn't the style we thought we were getting.

   The first pork dish, salty, the second veggie dish, very oily, the third mushroom dish, very oily...it didn't ever get better.

    As we are picking through our food the staff brought 2 small bowls of rice, but there are 4 of us at the table. They tell us that we need to wait for more rice b/c they ran out. What is very strange is that we were eating an early lunch and there were only a small group of other tables. How could they run out of rice!? So we wait, and wait and wait some more. Finally the rest of the rice shows up (maybe 20 mins later) and we all eat up b/c this rice tasted better then all of our food. Even the price was very high. In total we spend 1 1/2 hrs at this restaurant. We all left very disappointed and unsatisfied so it was decided to stop at Happy Lemon for some good fresh drinks to counter act all the salty, oily food that we just ate.

Happy Lemon made everything OK! Also, I found out what Rock Salt Cheese is...
it's just a random English name for flavored "health" rock salt that they add to drinks.
Maybe I will try it next time. This time I got a Mousse Spin in flavor Lemon Yakult (don't
worry, it was a mystery to me too until I actually got the drink. It was an entire lemon blended
with ice, rind/pith/seeds/juice...the entire lemon. It was an odd texture but mostly refreshing.

   I went back to the office to complete my work day and wait for 5:45pm to roll around. When it finally did I was out the door in a flash heading to the subway to find the location of my cooking class. The cooking class was being held only 2 subway stops from my apartment so the location was very convenient. The place was called Kitchen By The Garden and this was the teacher, Lin Yuan Yuan

Kitchen by the Garden 

   I had found it online a few weeks back and wanted to try it out. When I signed up Yuan Yuan mentioned that I was the only person interested in the evening class so far this week and that I should invite friends. Friends!? I'm not sure I have any...but decided to check with the girls that I had met last week. Turns out I have friends, Michele, Joan and Carol all signed up for the class the day I sent the email. This was going to be fun!  When I finally found the place (which turns out is Yuan Yuan's apartment) everyone is already there. We are treated to some beverages and a small snack, wash up and get ready to begin.

 The Kitchen.

A lesson in ingredients. Such as light soy sauce (for flavor), dark soy sauce (mostly for color),
 yellow wine (sticky rice based), cooking wine (rice based), Sichuan bean paste, num peppers,
cinnamon and anise. The only way you can pick a good soy sauce is by shaking it, the more
bubble the better. See the thick bubbles in the picture?

    Now we start cooking our dishes. Here's our menu:

Sauteed Asparagus with Garlic dressing  蒜蓉芦笋
Pan fry potato with mixed Sichuan chili sauce 口味土豆条
Spicy chicken with beer paste  啤酒鸡

We start with the chicken dish.

This is the magic spicy bean paste that makes one of my favorite
dishes, Mapo Doufu (AKA Spicy Tofu). This is the brand that s/b purchased.

   Then we start the potato dish. Yuan Yuan demonstrates once for us, we all taste it then each of us takes turns cooking the dish. I was the first to start. As each person completes the dish we all taste and critique so that the next person can do it better. We are also encouraged to make changes based on our personal preferences, more salt, less sugar, more spice and etc. 

I'm giving the potato dish a shot. Turned out good

Right, Carol gives it a shot. Left, all the potato dishes that have been cooked so far.

 And the chicken is now ready for us to sample. It's all delicious.   

Michele's turn

More plates of food to sample.

Joan is sharing her dish

Receiving the explanation of the Asparagus dish

The cooking crew

 There's so much food that we each pack some to go. We were told to bring

empty container just in case. Now I have lunch for tomorrow.

Yuan Yuan saying good night and inviting us all
to come play Mahjong with her this Saturday. She's new to
Shanghai and looking to make some friends too.

   What a great evening. I had so much fun and now can cook an authentic Chinese meal for Donald when I return to Portland. I better start practicing.