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.