Muxi in Wuxi: Cooking/Baking Adventures in China

So I wanted to write about the different snafus and experiences that I had while trying to bake or cook here in China. It is often difficult to get ingredients or the right equipment. This post is titled Muxi in Wuxi because when I taught my friends how to make the crust for the cheesecake I told them to put in enough butter until it is mushy and sticks together. We got a kick out of mushing the crust and saying mushy in wuxi. We got a little silly when making the crust and then decided that if we ever hosted a show, wrote a story, or made a comic that we would title it mushy in wuxi, but I changed it to Muxi in Wuxi so that the words both are in a form of Chinese spelling. The xi makes a shi sound so it still sounds the same way as we were saying it.

Cheesecake:
So an Ikea opened up here in Wuxi and it has been a god send. I never really went to an Ikea in the states, but here I go all the time. However that is because I can get things to bake with or cook with that I can't get anywhere else. So a coworker went to Ikea and brought in gingersnap cookies to the office. I had some and instantly thought of all the times I made cheesecake with my mom during the holidays. So I just had to make one using the gingersnaps from Ikea. So I got a toaster oven at Metro with a friend. Metro is similar to Costco and sells a lot of imported stuff. I wanted to split the price of the toaster oven so I was not spending too much money on it. The toaster oven is a decent size that is big enough to bake pies and cakes in. I believe the total cost was 300 RMB or 50$. I got glass brown pans at Ikea for the cheesecake. Then got most of the ingredients for the cheesecake at Metro. Our first trial went poorly because we cooked it too long at too high a temperature. I scoffed it off because we were using small containers and glass. However my friend relayed the story to someone back in the U.S. and they were shocked we had gotten a toaster oven that had Fahrenheit. We both felt stupid. We just assumed everything was degrees Fahrenheit , but the Chinese use Celsius  This tale made a perfect example of temperature scales in my coworkers Physics class the following week. My students made fun of me for not knowing.

So anyways we cut the baking time in the recipe in half since we were cooking at such a high temperature. This made it easy to crank out massive amounts of cheesecake. I made a large batch to share with all of my staff in December for the holiday season. The Chinese staff loved the cheesecake. They licked their plates clean and asked for more. They thought I had bought it some where and were shocked that I made it myself. They said I should open my own bakery, but I told them that this was one of the few things I could make. I was happy that they enjoyed it however and the American staff also really enjoyed it.

This cheesecake recipe is from one of my aunts. Except that the gingersnap crust is a twist that my mother and I discovered. We found it in a diabetic cooking magazine and ended up loving it. One of my other aunt's collected recipes from my grandmother and other family members to combine in a recipe book. She then laminated the recipe book and gave it to each family for Christmas. I made sure I got a copy and my mother got a copy since we both like to cook. I took the recipe book to China with me. It makes my place in China feel homey and I was so happy to share a family tradition with my friends in China. Every major holiday my job was to make dessert with the help of my mom and I would usually make cheesecake. I told the Chinese staff that it was a family recipe, but they didn't really understand. I think that most families just cook the regional dishes that are common and popular. I don't know if the family develops recipes at all. I imagine that they take their own twists on common recipes, but maybe they don't write them down and pass them on to family members. It was interesting.

One of my staff members loved it so much she wanted to learn how to make it for her birthday. So I had her and her close friend come over to my coworkers house to learn how to make it. They were very excited. They insisted on helping and then doing things themselves. We made a lot of Cheesecake so they got really good at making the crust. They got really excited when they got to take the hand mixer and mix up the ingredients. Although if they weren't doing things they were munching on the extra gingersnaps. It was great. I bought all the ingredients as a birthday present to my staff member. It was a lot of fun.

Eggnog:
So it was December and that is when eggnog starts going on sale. When the eggnog comes out in stores is when the holiday season starts for me. I love the stuff and could drink a whole jug. However it isn't sold here in China. So my friends and I decided to make our own. I asked my mother to get my grandmothers recipe for eggnog. So I could make yet another family recipe. Luckily my mom visited my grandmother and got to see the recipe in action before giving it to me. I was super excited. My grandmother makes an alcoholic recipe of eggnog every year at Christmas time. It is strong stuff since she makes it with everclear. However I did not understand how much sugar she puts in the recipe. It filled an entire bowl. It was huge. The bowl of course did not fit in the very tiny Chinese fridge that my friend has, so instead we put the eggnog mixture on the balcony to cool. For you see Chinese apartments are not insulated and are made of concrete.
They hold in the cold very well. My friends house is especially cold so we figured that was the best way to chill it. We used bacardi rum in the eggnog since we could not find everclear. That may have changed the taste a little. The mixture turned out to be really sugary. It may have been that we should have used more rum since we were using a lower proof alcohol. It also could have been that I put in too much sugar. The other problem with baking in China is that they use milliliters and not cups. So the recipe that I used called for cups, but the measuring cups I bought at Ikea were in milliliters. However I have done enough baking and cooking that I have memorized the conversion that one cup is 236 milliliters. However having to multiply that is difficult. So if you want to challenge your kids with some more difficult math problems then trying baking or cooking with them using measuring cups that are in milliliters. So since it turned out so sugary watered it down with some milk and it tasted delicious. However I still missed the regular eggnog without alcohol because it is so good. However it felt right making my grandmothers recipe around Christmas time just after she had made it. Maybe I will prefect it and be able to make it just as good as she does with some practice.

Apple Pie:
Alright here is where I admit how much of a geek I am. So last year I talked to my coworker that had a toaster oven and baked a lot to help me bake a pie for pi day. I talked with her about baking enough for all of my students, but then later called it off thinking that was way too much pie and was going to take way too much time. She was kind enough to still make a pie though. She brought it in on pi day as a surprise for me. I was super excited. My lesson on pi day last year had an integral problem in it which answer was pi. I got really excited about it and the kids just thought I was weird and crazy. I also made sure to wear my pi shirt I got from thinkgeek on pi day. The kids liked it and I felt like the biggest math geek ever (which is how I
like it).

However this year since I had the toaster oven I decided I would make it this year. I talked with my coworker about where to get the tins and other ingredients. I was able to get to pie tins at Metro. However they were advertising them as pizza pie tins. I saw it and thought that you could only make a Chicago deep dish pizza. However they worked great and fit in the toaster oven. I think they are a 9 in pan and the perfect size for pie. I grabbed an apple slicer at Ikea to make the apple slicing go faster. Plus I grabbed a lemon juicer at Ikea to make the lemon juice to put on the apples. I got the imported flour from the imported section in Metro. I was told by my coworker that using Chinese flour made it taste different and not so good. I had to make my own crust. It was a big first for me. Normally when I make pie I get pre-made crust from the store and then canned cherries. I plop the cherries into the pre-made crust then bake. I was a little worried about how the pies would turn out since I was making everything from scratch  However apparently I make more of a pie then another one of my coworkers. He just buys a frozen Sara Lee pie and sticks it in the oven or just buys a a hot pie from the bakery. So anyways apparently I like doing more of it myself. The pies turned out great. The staff enjoyed it. I saved myself a slice to eat at 3:14 on 3/14. It was awesome. So yes I am a major geek that likes to make pie on pi day. I have started a tradition and gotta keep it going.

Laos

I went to Laos for two weeks during my three week vacation. I had to get out of China for the Chinese new year because I didn't want to be there with the mass amounts of people and the never ending fireworks. I stayed in this area and stayed in Asia. I sometimes felt like I was in China since there were some similarities, but it was very different in so many other ways. I found Laos similar enough that I often found myself wanting to use what little Chinese I knew in restaurants in Laos. I guess that just goes to show how much the Chinese culture or language has seeped into me. 

I was blown away with what I saw in Laos. The most interesting thing I noticed was how people practiced Buddhism. Supposedly most of the Chinese are Buddhists. However I never really saw people practicing it. In Laos everyone had a shrine out front of their home or business that was full of offerings and incense. 

The pictures below are of offerings that were left at a temple, but you saw similar offerings at smaller shrines throughout the city in front of every business and home.

When I went to temples or the Buddha statues there were people praying. I was respectful of their culture and their religion and I did not disturb them. However there were many tourists who seemed not to do that. It just makes sense to me to watch your actions and be respectful at all times. There was not any outright rude people, but there were minor things. Like for example my friend and I woke up at 6 am to watch the monks collect alms. However everyone crowded around them and took pictures. They were all up in their face. It seemed like they were treating these monks lie a tourist sight or just there for entertainment. However that is part of their religion and a part of their daily routine. Some of the older monks did not go much further after this fan fare. There were also people giving alms to the monks. I would have liked the experience, but I felt like I shouldn't since it didn't feel like my place. When I was visiting a temple I read a sign that said that you should give alms only if it is meaningful. So I watched at a distance and the whole thing did not feel like a religious ritual, but a tourist trap. So it was not really enjoyable. I suggest that tourist read about the culture and the do's and dont's of the culture. I was in a good position since I traveled with someone who had visited many times. I stayed with her dad who had been working in Laos for five years so he was able to explain the culture somewhat. I learned how to say hello, thank you, and no problem. I also learned how to greet someone properly. You put your hands together and bow your head.

However the temples were beautiful and here is a selection of pictures.

I was awed at all of the historical and old monuments that had been preserved. For example this black stupa, seen below,is in the middle of the capitol city which was built in 1827.

An interesting difference I found was when I flew from the capitol city to another major city. We bought our tickets the day of  and only about an hour before the plane took off. The computer they used to book the tickets was the oldest thing I had ever seen in my life. When we went through security the guard asked me where and when I got the tickets. I pointed behind me at the ticket office and said I got them just thirty minutes ago. He then had to write down my name on the passenger manifest. It was not a high tech system with computers that were linked together sharing information. Then the plane was late. However that was no big deal. Eventually it came and they got everyone on the plane and in the air in no time. Apparently the flights are often late, but they always come eventually. After having dealt with the TSA and many different airports I couldn't believe this.

However this sort of laid back it will work out eventually mentality is common in Laos. Many of the people like to sit along the Mekong river and drink Beer Lao. Beer Lao is made in Laos and their is a lot of national pride for it. Tiger beer and Heinikein are trying to gain popularity in the region, but Beer Lao is winning.  I drank a lot of it while I was there and enjoyed it. 

Here is a few pictures of enjoying cold drinks along the rivers of Laos.

I also enjoyed drinking while relaxing along the river. I liked this because it was a nice break in the very busy sight seeing schedule. We also usually stopped for beer along the river in the afternoon when it started getting really hot. I was in Laos during the cold season and it was very hot and humid. I can't imagine it during the hot season. I could survive in the heat but it got to a point wear it was just barely bearable. So we took breaks in the shade along the river or in air conditioned cafe's with iced coffee. On the really hot days we took several breaks in the shade or air conditioning.

Also apparently this low end technology is common. A lot of the country does not have access to internet or any very advanced technology. The education system is not teaching ed tech tools either. However these local people are often hired on at international companies or businesses and they expect them to use technology as a part of their job. I think that those companies have to be aware of the culture and compensate for it. If they are going to expect their workers to use technology as an integral part of their job then they must train them how to use it. I wonder how the travel agent learned to use the very old computer at her work or if this computer model is common in the country. I have blogged about how these type of ed tech skills are important on my ed tech blog. It was interesting to see the differences in cultural expectations and education.

The greatest experience was when I got to eat homemade traditional food at a local persons home. We were traveling by car to a more rural city in the southern part of the country. We were invited to share a meal with a local family. It was a village holiday and the way it was described to me was like a version of thanksgiving that is celebrated in this village. The food was amazing and the family was so nice. They kept feeding us and bringing more food. It was an endless stream of food and Beer Lao. However we were later invited to another local persons home and were told that after stuffing our face with all that food we were going to have another meal. So I ended up having two lunches that day. I had to make room to eat because it would have been rude not to eat at this persons home. I drank even more Beer Lao until I got the munchies and made room for more food. It reminded me a lot of formal dinners in China. The hosts always giving you more food and alcohol. I always feel bad not eating it. There was a formal lunch the Chinese principal threw for us. He scooped up a lot of shrimp and put it on my plate. I am not a big fan of shrimp espcially since in China you have to peel and rip off their legs. However I felt like I had to eat some of them since it would have been rude. I enjoyed the exchange of culture, food, drinks, friendship, and music. They played ganam style since we were talking about it and singing it. I told them I really enjoyed music and would love to hear traditional Lao music. They seemed awed or surprised that I was so interested. I spoke no Lao and they spoke very little English, but through food, drinks, and music we were able to connect. I mean there were people at the lunch who spoke both Lao and English to bridge the gap. However for those of us who didn't I think we were able to connect because of the music and food. It was amazing. I always knew that genuine interest and respect for culture helped communication. I always knew that music was a universal language that could transcend language. I learned this early on long before I ever traveled to any country. I was able to understand culture and people through music. I traveled to many countries through music. I learned all of this during my time in Heart of the Valley Childrens Choir. I wish I had been able to travel to Laos through music. However I did get the chance now. It was amazing.

I really enjoyed seeing another part of Asia and knew it was time well spent. I wanted to stay in China to see more of the area that had interested me. I won't get a chance to explore this area later. I have take advantage of my location now. I considered going home for my three week vacation to see family and friends. However that would have been more expensive if you consider the flight, the cost of food, drinks, and travel around the states to see friends. I may have spent a large amount of money on flights, but I saved money on everything else. Food, lodging, souvenirs, and everything else was very cheap. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity so I took it. I was really excited to visit a country I spent a long time studying in an Asian societies class in college. I hope to go somewhere interesting next year for my three week vacation especially since the company will be paying for my flight.

To see all my photos click the links below:

Laos Part One
Laos Part Two