Small girl. Big appetite.

P&B’s bake sale / garage sale, baked delights courtesy...

Tue, 27 Nov 2012 22:13:00 +0800

P&B’s bake sale / garage sale, baked delights courtesy of D. Brownies, carrot cake, lemon bars, and chocolate almond cake. Oh my!

Thanksgiving, 2012

Tue, 27 Nov 2012 21:53:57 +0800

Thanksgiving, 2012

My new favourite cafe - Seesaw Cafe at the new, beautifully...

Wed, 14 Nov 2012 18:40:14 +0800

My new favourite cafe - Seesaw Cafe at the new, beautifully renovated Jingan Design Center on Yuyuan Lu.

Happy Diwali!

Wed, 14 Nov 2012 18:33:17 +0800

Last weekend, my friends D&A hosted a Diwali party at their home. True to her Southern roots, D is an absolute hostess with the mostest, and cooked the most delicious home made Indian feast…while six months preggers! You can imagine how inadequate we all felt. Given my sweet tooth, the highlight of the meal was the chai spice cupcakes…basically two things I love combined into one. Genius!

Pizza margherita @ Bella Napoli on Changle Lu. My Italian...

Wed, 14 Nov 2012 13:40:17 +0800

Pizza margherita @ Bella Napoli on Changle Lu. My Italian neighbors swear by this place and claim that the pizza here is as good as, if not better than, pizza back home. So of course I had to try it for myself! I loved the slightly charred exterior yet chewy interior of the crust, topped with a simple tomato sauce with fresh mozzarella and fresh basil. We also ordered the spaghetti with pesto, which I learned is generally only found in Genoa and rarely on restaurant menus in other parts of Italy. Oh, and we also had a tortelloni bolognese. Heavy but delicious! I will be back.

D’s scrumptious chocolate cupcake

Wed, 14 Nov 2012 10:16:07 +0800

D’s scrumptious chocolate cupcake

Apple caramel tart from Farine on Ferguson Lane, the latest...

Wed, 14 Nov 2012 10:12:20 +0800

Apple caramel tart from Farine on Ferguson Lane, the latest boulangerie/patisserie in town. This tart was delicious and I’m also obsessed with their smoked salmon sandwich.

Brekky @ Sunflour Cafe on Anfu Lu

Wed, 14 Nov 2012 10:09:49 +0800

Brekky @ Sunflour Cafe on Anfu Lu

Hand-delivered from Singapore: Bengawan Solo’s kueh lapis,...

Fri, 21 Sep 2012 12:56:00 +0800

Hand-delivered from Singapore: Bengawan Solo’s kueh lapis, a traditional SE Asian layered spice cake. Please don’t tell me how much butter and egg yolks go into this sinfully delicious cake.

Chicago Steakhouse Experience in Shanghai at Roosevelt Steakhouse

Fri, 21 Sep 2012 12:50:00 +0800

Last Tuesday was Joce’s birthday, and I dined with, her parents, and Andrea at Roosevelt Steakhouse. I had heard so much about this place from my steak loving friends (i.e. Eugene) and was excited to finally try it. I’m always a little hesitant when trying Western restaurants in Shanghai, but this place met my expectations and even exceeded them with a few standout dishes!

First off, the steak was delicious. We ordered a porterhouse and a NY Strip to share between the five of us, and the meat was juicy and flavourful, and perfectly cooked Medium Rare as we had requested.

The soups were also delicious. I had a lobster bisque while the others had the French onion soup.

The sides were also good, particularly the mac & cheese: creamy and not too cheesy. It had us reminiscing about mac & cheese from our college days - for me it was Annie’s mac & cheese while for Joce and Andrea it was all about Kraft’s (frighteningly orange and artificial-looking) mac & cheese! The creamed spinach was a little too creamy for my liking, and the bone marrow with foie gras was way too oily and rich.

We also ordered a tuna tartare which I thought was quite good.

I scream for ice cream!

Mon, 03 Sep 2012 22:45:57 +0800

These days, my current obsession is ice cream. When I was in NYC last month, I gorged on il laboratorio del gelato, Grom, and Je & Jo. The first two are old favourites while Je & Jo was a recent discovery, thanks to my friend PK who brought over some cardamom ice cream with snickerdoodle cookie bits for dinner one day. Absolutely delicious! Mixing in cookie bits elevates the ice cream to a whole new level. I’m hooked!

While in the Bay Area, I had Bi-Rite, Humphry-Slocombe, and Three Twins. I had heard about Bi-Rite from so many people and had to try it for myself. Coincidentally, it was just down the block from Bev’s place where I was staying. Bi-Rite is as good as people describe it, and I loved the salted caramel ice cream. If you’re looking for something a little more unique, then Humphry-Slocombe may be for you. Their flavours are unlike anything you’ve ever heard of (case in point - Jesus Juice Sorbet and Elvis the Fat Years) and unlike anything you’ve ever tasted. Weird but delicious! I had Three Twins ice cream at the Oxbow Public Market in Napa. I love everything about that market and Three Twins is no different. The Sea Salted Caramel and Strawberry Je Ne Sais Quoi ice cream were both rich, creamy, and delicious. My grandma enjoyed it too!

Now that I’m back in Shanghai, I’ve been indulging in MooMoo ChaCha ice cream, a brand new line of home made ice cream made by my friend Ev. Ev is Malaysian-Chinese and has created a line of ice cream with Southeast Asian-inspired flavours. Yes, that means pandan. And lemongrass. And mango sticky rice! My favourites are the lemongrass with candied ginger and the pandan with peanut brittle. Everyday I come home from work, make a beeline for the freezer, and treat myself to a bite or two or ten of MooMoo ChaCha. Because, as Ev says, the world needs more Cha Cha…

Last Friday night my ultimate dream came true when I had the...

Mon, 25 Jun 2012 22:38:00 +0800

Last Friday night my ultimate dream came true when I had the honour of eating a home cooked Mexican meal! In Shanghai! My friend Elia and her mom are from Oaxaca and they were in Shanghai for a few days as part of a whirlwind tour of China, including Beijing, Xian, Hangzhou. We gathered at my friend Lilian’s place for the epic meal. Elia’s mom made garnachas, corn tortillas fried with shredded meat, lettuce, and salsa. They brought Mexican tortilla flour with them and made the tortillas from scratch! My mouth was watering as I watched her prepare the meal and it tasted even better than I had imagined! Que rico! They also brought Mexican chocolate with them and made us Mexican hot chocolate, but with a Chinese twist. Instead of milk they used soy milk. Mexican-Chinese fusion! Elia’s mom did not speak English so I was in heaven being “forced” to use my broken Spanish. There were also three other Chinese people at dinner who speak varying levels of Spanish, so we spent most of the night jabbering away in Spanglish. I joked with Elia that I bet she hadn’t expected there to be so many Spanish speakers in Shanghai and that they would all be assembled under one roof!

Today I met Daniel for lunch at MQ Coffee Lab, a hidden cafe...

Mon, 25 Jun 2012 21:56:35 +0800

Today I met Daniel for lunch at MQ Coffee Lab, a hidden cafe tucked away on the top floor of an old building in a quiet residential compound off of Shaanxi Bei Lu. The cafe is an interesting space as it houses three different food purveyors - MQ Coffee, Strictly Cookies, and Spread the Bagel. Since it was my first time there, of course I had to try something from each one of them! Lunch consisted of an iced coffee, bagel with smoked salmon and cream cheese, and an ice cream cookie sandwich. A perfect meal on a hot summer’s day!

This morning I woke up and felt a sore throat on its way so I...

Wed, 20 Jun 2012 01:53:24 +0800

This morning I woke up and felt a sore throat on its way so I decided to make some minestrone soup. Found a recipe in Marcella Hazan’s Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking, which my brother kindly hand carried to Shanghai for me. The recipe was straightforward and the soup turned out quite well! Best of all, I was able to soothe my irritable throat. As a precaution, I’m loading up on vitamin c powder that you dissolve in water. Let’s hope that I wake up tomorrow feeling brand new!

Homemade cookies for my lovely Italian neighbours.

Wed, 20 Jun 2012 01:46:44 +0800

Homemade cookies for my lovely Italian neighbours.

In addition to the Saturday cake, I baked a giant cookie! Best...

Sun, 10 Jun 2012 01:58:16 +0800

In addition to the Saturday cake, I baked a giant cookie! Best to stick to regular sized ones. The cooking time was off and the cookie never quite reached the desired texture. It’s a good thing I have enough batter leftover to make more cookies!

Saturday cake, aka chocolate almond flour torte. Named for lazy...

Sun, 10 Jun 2012 01:26:49 +0800

Saturday cake, aka chocolate almond flour torte. Named for lazy Saturday afternoons when all you want to do is stay in and bake.

Dinner at Veg Inn (素人素食), my favourite Buddhist vegetarian...

Mon, 04 Jun 2012 23:12:08 +0800

Dinner at Veg Inn (素人素食), my favourite Buddhist vegetarian restaurant in Shanghai. Food is tasty and not oily, and the staff are friendly and quirky. Favourite dishes include the mushroom & celery with Sichuan peppercorns and the tofu skin with tomatoes, cucumber, and mushrooms. I once took my carnivore friends here and they all loved it! For meat lovers you can ever order dishes like vegetarian hong shao rou (紅燒肉)!

Brunch at Nene, my favourite Italian neighbourhood joint. Love...

Mon, 04 Jun 2012 11:38:54 +0800

Brunch at Nene, my favourite Italian neighbourhood joint. Love the buffalo mozzarella salad and thin crust pizzas!

Beautiful handmade pillows for sale at the Wuyuan Lu flea market

Mon, 04 Jun 2012 11:38:42 +0800

Beautiful handmade pillows for sale at the Wuyuan Lu flea market