Autumn.

I don't think I have every truly expressed how much I enjoy this season. In whatever hemisphere or country I live in, by whatever name she is known, I've yet to see a side of Autumn I dislike. In the Southern Hemisphere, Autumn marks the end of the long summer that was inevitably way too hot and dry for a supposed rainy season. In the beginning, the beach weather is perfect -- you can actually sit outside without sunscreen for at least an hour before you will burn. Sometimes if you're lucky there are some fantastic storms out on the downs that bring some incredible lightning displays and no matter the weather or where you are, the evening sky is often a brilliant shade of emerald green turning to blue (ok this is all based on the fact I've grown up in sunny Queensland, BUT I can vouch for Byron Bay being like this to some degree too). You can still wear summer clothes during the day and then change to a light jacket and jeans at night. AND my birthday is in April (although the older I get, I'm not so excited about that!).

In the Northern Hemipshere, Autumn (or Fall rather) has so much colour! My favourite colour is red (good thing I live in China!) but I especially enjoy the warm Autumn colours (probably cause I can't wear them without them making my skin look like I have Hep C): browns, shades of coffee and chocolate, warm rustic reds and golden oranges and yellows. And baby avocado green. Maple and Oak leaves on the ground, apples and deep, red pomegranates, harvest parties at the local community garden and farms. Oh and PUMPKINS! Ok so I grew up hating pumpkins but was thoroughly intrigued by the concept of Jack-O-Lanterns. In Australia, pumpkins are rock hard. You could kill someone if you threw one at them. So I couldn't imagine how Americans could do this pumpkin carving thing. When I got to California and Fall rolled around, I begged Jason to take me to a pumpkin patch and show me how this carving was done...and now I'm totally addicted. What can I say, small things amuse small minds -- last year, I even grew my own pumpkins, brought home a gourd from the shop every time I went, AND went to a pumpkin patch. Now I'm thinking how I could grow a jack-o-lantern vine on my balcony for next year. So sadly, there'll be no pumpkins this year I guess BUT there will be...

MOON CAKES!

Well, there was already moon cakes -- I'm a little late in getting this post up here. But in my defense we just had two holidays/festivals in three days plus moving apartments again. Its a busy time of year.

So I'm going to write more about the actual holiday in the next post because it will make this one entirely too long and if you're even still reading by now after all my sentimental blubbing, I do commend you. For now, I just want to share the experience of actually getting to make my very own moon cake!

So the other day I come home and Jason says, hey you're friends are going to some lady's house to make bread if you wanna go. So I think sure, good bread is ridiculously hard to come by here and since my bread maker recently kicked the bucket, I can use all the help I can get. Then my friend messages me to ask me to bring my camera and I think, why? It's only bread...but she doesn't message back so I grab my camera and off I go to supposedly make bread. So upon arriving, I discover that Jason's missed most of the details and we aren't making bread at all, we are in fact making yùe bǐng or Moon Cakes. And it costs money for which I didn't bring enough cause I didn't know it cost money (if you ever have a baby, make sure you tell me the details ok?). Anyway, my friend fortunately had enough to spot me and I was so busy taking photos that the teacher practically made my whole moon cake for me anyway, but it was so much fun and I completely documented the whole thing so I can make them myself next time. Then the kitchen people wanted copies of the photos which they announced they would be putting on the wall because we're the first foreigners they've ever taught to make moon-cakes.

Look out Better Homes and Gardens...

Recipe for Yùe Bǐng (Chinese Traditional Moon Cakes)

Measure EXACTLY.

Sift together 100g bread flour and 100g of cake flour in one bowl.

.

Whisk together 400g of corn syrup and 8g of this special water that I can't find the English translation name for. The characters that she wrote down for me look kind of like this: 枧水

(which seems to translate as soap water but I really hope that's not what it is...)

Add 150g of peanut oil. As the wet ingredients mix, they will start to get thicker and become a

richer colour.

Add dry ingredients to wet and knead into dough. Let rest for 20 - 30 minutes

While the dough is resting, prepare your filling. Now we didn't make our own filling from scratch

but you can feel free to experiment at this stage and use anything from mango jam to spicy beef (yuk). You usually choose two flavours: 40g of the first which you roll into a ball and 55g of the second which you flatten till you can cover the first ball evenly. I choose to use the traditional moon cake filling 蓮蓉 lián róng (lotus paste) and 绿茶 lǜ chá (green tea). That's my green ball in the above picture.

Our lovely host

Take 30 - 35g of the kneaded dough and carefully work to evenly cover the filling. Press into mold.

Bake for 10 minutes in an oven that's been preheated to 270 Celsius.

Remove from oven and brush the top with beaten egg yolk. Replace in oven and bake a further 5 minutes or until golden brown.

And Voila! (I don't know the equivalent to voila in chinese yet sorry.)

Rachel -- 5th of October, 2009

Yes, it will all be there, just as intensely and tenaciously alive as ever – all there a

thousand years hence, five thousand, ten. You have only to stroll through Shanghai

to be certain of it. London and Paris offer no such certainty.

Aldous Huxley, from his diary, 1926

Traveling to modern Shanghai for the first time is no insignificant matter. One cannot expect to find the infamous Chinese warlords and gangster types of the 1930's (replete with opium beds and steamy jazz music). That would be like assuming everyone in London has bad teeth, big big boobs and all wear low cut frocks (which is certainly not true -- it could also be liked to everyone thinking that all Australians talk like the late Steve Irwin or Paul Hogan -- here's a shout out to our mate Paul: Thanks for totally confusing all the Americans with that 'throw another shrimp on the barbie' comment. I will be forever sorting that one out. Shrimp/Prawn the same thing but we call them prawns in Australia for crying out loud!).

The Bottle Opener/Zipper/Samurai Sword (didn't work out for the architect too well did it?) and the Jin Mao Tower

In her glory days (or not) it was said: If God allows Shanghai to endure, he will owe Sodom and Gomorrah an apology." - unknown. This should give you a bit of a taste as to the immorality that was prevelant on her streets and in her night clubs. The city's opium trade was owned by Green Gang Godfather Du Yue Sheng (Big Eared Du). Clubs and brothels were full of prostitutes, both Chinese and Western, while warlords drove the streets in their limos with guns in their glove boxes. Now she is just a playground for the wealthy, a hub for international business.

Well, she is quite the lady and I feel she needs a proper introduction. Presenting Shanghai -- perhaps the most dynamic city in the world's fastest changing nation. Ever changing, she is a city of contrasts between the old Shanghai and the new. She has been called many things, Whore of the Orient, Paris of the East, and more currently is referred to as the new Wall Street of the world.

An act from Beijing Opera's "Changing Faces"

She has art, she has talent, she has money -- you name it, Shanghai's got it. Even freedom to do many things that other Chinese cities could only dream about (if they were allowed). And more foreigners than we'd seen in nine months. I remember in Sydney wondering if I was still in Australia -- well now I found my self wondering if I was still in China? What with a Starbucks on almost every corner (let it be known -- I did NOT set foot in a single Starbucks. I wasn't going to have another Guangzhou experience. I prefer Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf thank you.) and one of the tallest towers in the world, I believe a good size albeit small portion of the 20,000,000 plus residents are actually not Chinese at all. You could easily live here without learning the language or eating Chinese food (although where would be the fun in that?!). On the other hand, you could live just fine without brushing with the Western side. Shanghai has her delightful little side streets with hawkers vending everything from food to 'real fake Rolex watches'. From her tacky architecture (really, the Pearl Tower looks more like a syringe that swallowed a Christmas bauble or a tacky disco ball than an icon) to her classy business districts to her dirty side streets where they still peddle drugs and prostitutes, yes, Shanghai has it all.

The Pearl Tower

A perfect example of old and new Shanghai together

The cheaper way up to the highest viewing point from inside a building = Park Hyatt + sundried tomatoes and olives (not as cheap as it sounds but cheaper than an actual ticket to go one story higher than we were)

So lets quell a few misconceptions about Shanghai, shall we? First, they do have blue skies. Albeit occasionally but enough of them for the residents to get slightly offended when you make a comment about 'the lack of them'.

Chinese food is harder to find than Western style food (whatever that really is).

There are two Wal-marts in Nanning which has a population of 6 million. There are two Wal-marts in Shanghai which has a population of over 20 million.

And...

No matter how sophisticated Shanghai is, you will always know you're still in China by the "Chinglish" signs.

So our real reason for being in Shanghai was a friend of ours that we hadn't seen since Brisbane days, was getting married and therefor several of our old friends where planning to make the trip over for the wedding. Since Shanghai is going to be home to the 2010 World Expo, we hadn't planned to visit our friend till May or June next year. When she announced her wedding, we bumped Shanghai up to top priority of "places to conquer" and started mentally prepared ourselves to be completely broke until Christmas. We are in the same country after all. And since its unfortunate we can't just jump on a plane and fly home for Jason's cousin's wedding next weekend, I thought a little change of scenery should help out the "missing of family" syndrome. Needles to say, we didn't do as much sight-seeing as we would normally do on our own but it was a blast to catch up with friends, eat foods like parmesan cheese, olives and Indian, and enjoy the break from the sweltering heat down here in Nanning! We'd still like to make it back for Expo '10 but so do millions of other people so I'm saying that Shanghai will be claustrophobic will be a slight understatement.

There is no doubt, that from here on, the only way for Shanghai to go is up (literally -- they're building a new tallest tower) and if there was an equivalent to the American Dream for Chinese, Shanghai would be that.

Rachel -- 25th of September, 2009

They tell me Summer is coming to a end. But for the steady decrease of my favourite fruits, I wouldn't believe them, what with the weather still getting to a staggering 36/37 C and 50% + humidity. Today I think it actually reached 90% for a good hour before we finally got a thunderstorm. And two days ago, the Paper's headlines actually read "Nanning Experiences Hottest Summer Since 1956."

Good -- I didn't miss it. I was really planning for my first year in China to be the hottest Summer in, like, FOREVER.

So without further adieu, this post is more or less an ode to two of my dearly beloveds that I won't be seeing for much longer. Alas, they are already becoming harder and harder to find and aren't really by any means freezable so I'm getting as much as I can of them before going into the famine...ah Winter.

Let me introduce you to two very under-rated, and almost completely if not entirely unknown fruits to the west: the Mangosteen and the Rambutan (also known as a Thailand Lychee). In fact, the Rambutan is so unknow that the dictionary on our Mac here, doesn't even recognize it as a word and doesn't even give me an alternative spelling.

The only thing Mangoes and Mangosteens share in common is the first five letters of their names. Known in South-east Asia as the Queen of the fruits (a noble title seeing as how the King of the Fruits belongs to the smelliest, most awful fruit possibly known to man, the Durian), its the small apple shaped looking fruit in the middle of the above photo. When you manage to get through the thick, leathery, dark purple skin, you get to the amazingly sweet, white sections inside. I first fell in love with this fruit when in Malaysia about five years ago. My house-mates and I used to buy huge bags of them and sit there gorging ourselves between classes. I found out the other day, that Mangosteens have been on America's banned import list up until recently according to the New York Times, but I've never seen them in Australia either so both countries appear to have been missing out all this time. You can however buy the juice, with is pretty pricy being as its considered a super-fruit (right up there with Acai berry and Noni juice) and it costs an arm and a leg...and here I sit, eating them by the bagful again (I don't mind rubbing that in -- you really don't know what you're missing!).

And then there is my exotic friend, the Rambutan. These at least I know you can get on the odd occasion in Australia but usually, they're very expensive. Rambutans are cousins with Lychees. When we were kids, we used to refer to Lychees as 'eye-balls' due to their soft, almost transparent like flesh and the hard black pit inside. Rambutans are sweeter than Lychees (the reason I like them better no doubt!) and prettier with their crimson skin and long, reddish, green tendrils. They look good in my fruit bowl.

I have to admit, it has been my upmost pleasure to broaden the horizon of Jason's taste-buds this Summer. I guess I'm weird but I really like nothing better than walking the isles of the many markets here and discovering a fruit or vegetable that I've had before that he hasn't. Pineapples, mangos, lady-finger bananas, guavas, longans -- now the American's are going to dispute me on the pineapples and mangoes I know but I stake my ground. You haven't really had a pineapple or mango until you've had one naturally ripened and hand-picked from a local farm! The taste completely different. On the other hand, I'd never had peaches or berries like I did in California and do I ever miss that!

To me, heaven will be a garden where I can get all my tropical and non-tropical fruits all together, all year round -- fruit salad anyone?

Rachel -- 10th of Sept, '09

*Please note: this blog is blatant procrastination of the Chinese study I should be doing. And I have a test on Monday. Yipee.

I tried something new yesterday. Acupuncture. I hate it so far but I have one more session of it before the new chiropractor says he'll even touch my back.

Now the chiropractor has a tiny, dimly lit office upstairs of a restaurant. There's a little mat on the floor with a buckwheat petal pillow and surprisingly (thankfully), an air-conditioner that works. Jason, the amazing husband that he is, sits there and watches eight needles go into my lower back and two into my calves. Actually, he's only there for moral support because I'm such.a.sook. when it comes to needles. Overly really. I can't stand needles. I like to use every reason I can think of under the sun to not get a vaccination or my blood drawn, and there I am laying on the floor voluntarily with needles stuck in my back and legs.

Which made me wonder -- if my back hurts, why are there needles stuck in my legs?

So the good doctor explained that the Chinese believe that all parts the human body are inter-connected. So if one part of the body is in pain or not working, it affects other parts. You're not well, unless your whole body is well. If something is wrong with your neck they would do acupuncture in your hand.

Now transfer this theory to modern day medicine and it explains why if someone breaks their hand here, the doctor will cast your shoulder to your elbow (don't laugh -- it's happened). I guess you could stay we're stuck in a bit of a time warp here in that regards. BUT I did manage to get two back x-rays in 15 minutes for less than $10.

Tomorrow is my last round of acupuncture...so we'll see!

Several times a week we go walking by the pretty man-made lake right down the road from us. When we want more peace and quiet (read: only 3 people incessantly staring at us instead of 30), we follow the real river that runs behind the mountain on the other side of our apartment complex. But when we want entertainment, annoyances, or just pure perplexing circumstances, we head to the man-made lake (which is a very nice by the way) but has more people, more traffic, and waaaay more Chinglish! These photographs are of an apartment complex that's being developed across the road from the park. Every time I pass by, I have to stop, reread them, and have a good laugh before I can be on my way. Laughter is good for exercising right?

Ok keep in mind, this is an unbuilt apartment complex. The English interpretation of the name is England 18 Sales. Sorry the pictures are a little small...

Alcohol Goods life of England -- definitely a great sales pitch right there.

The occasion will be celebrity central fengling -- oh goody! Fengling --just what I always wanted! and celebrity central fengling at that!

Fengling get 800 acres near childrens park -- well this doesn't look anything like the park across the road but there will be Fengling so...

Oh, by the way, if anyone could please let me know what Fengling actually is, I will promise you up to half my kingdom and a frog that will turn into a prince. But the sign says there is a Fengling so there must be a Fengling...

Rachel -- 2nd of Sept. '09