My RMB 1,200 week

Sorry it has been so long I have been very busy. Also again sorry if it looks terrible I can not see it. If you are responding to anything I write, please keep it clean and also know that I will not be able to see it till October, unless, China opens things up for the Olympics, but due to things happening in certain areas of Asia this does not look likely. I have however, posted many of my pictures on http://picasaweb.google.com/rfoody, and Facebook, so that you can see them along with my reading my stories.

Linda wanted a guitar, as I have said before. So we ventured over to Xiao Zhai. Xiao Zhai is basically an outdoor market/mall that sells clothes and beads and musical instruments, and DVD’s for RMB 6 or USD 1. She paid about RMB 400 for the acoustic guitar, and digital tuner. The store also had violins, and other instruments for about the same price. This was before Valentines Day. We also ventured south to a store similar to Costco or Sam’s Club. As we walked around we found Betty Crocker brownie mix and butter and cream cheese. We saw Tabasco and tuna. There is even cheese at a reasonable price. We quickly went home and grabbed more money. This is a cash economy few places except credit cards. We were able to have mashed potatoes with real butter that night. On Valentines Day we treated ourselves to steamed brownies (we did not have an oven).

We had a big day in March. We had badminton in the morning with our co-workers. Every Thursday the office plays from 10:30 till about noon. Court rentals costs RMB 20 for an hour. Linda and I went and enjoyed our work out as we had been doing for several weeks at that point. After badminton though we knew we had a lot of work to do. A couple of walls in her room and in mine too were covered literally floor to ceiling with mould. Now mould can add color and texture and I am sure other good things to a wall, but it is actually very lethal- as I have learned by growing up with two people that deal with insurance issues. So our plan was to scrub and bleach the walls and then paint them. We just had to get the bleach and towels and paint. Also for about two weeks at this point I had been in possession of basil seeds. My co-worker had given them to me because basil is not a common ingredient used in China or found in China and I had made comments about how that simply did not jive with my cooking talents. Anyway I had the seeds, but no pot or soil to let them germinate and prosper.

After badminton we began our quest to acquire all of the supplies we needed. My first priority (maybe in error) was to acquisition the pot and soil. At this point it had begun raining a bit and there was no direct bus to where we wanted to go and we are frugal and did not feel like paying for a taxi even though to get across town costs only about RMB 30 or USD $ 5, and we only had to go about a quarter of the way across town (cheap I know). The rain was gradually increasing in size and quantity, as we walked. Linda kept saying we have to find an umbrella (as acid rain is not good for your hair), but we were on the wrong street to do that. We did stop into a pharmacy to get her some medicine for her “tummy”, which was bothering her a bit.

The interesting thing about Chinese medicine is that you should take four of whatever they give you. In general they are herbal medicines that are simply not as concentrated as our own pharmaceuticals. Luckily we still had water left over from badminton.

The rain continued and we walked on a few more blocks. Finally we came to a bus stop for bus number 700. The 700 goes east on a street about 1km south of the city wall. Basically from where I work clear across town. We hopped on the bus, but only for a couple stops. I thought it was the right place to get off and Linda wanted to stop at a Bank of China and take out some money. Turns out we were still about 1.5 km from the plant market. We walked the rest of the way turning down small dark alleys in hopes that they would lead to our desired destination. The majority of the time though, they were simply dead ends or shopping markets. The walk continued with each of us avoiding the huge puddles that were now forming at the street corners and along the potholed alleyways. Unfortunately, I became distracted with all that was around me except of course what was below me.

I stepped into what seemed to be an endless pothole, but I knew it had an end because it had already filled up with water. The small lake was being fed by three rivers which resulted from the streets sloping into this one alleyway. The urban Amazon was forming before my eyes and I was mesmerized by the amount of water that could cascade down one street. Unfortunately, that is why I wound up stepping in the pothole that now competed with Lake Baikal in Russia. Having my shoes sopping wet completed my rain soaked misery. I was happy that it washed off most of the dog poop which I had stepped in earlier in our city trek.

We finally passed a supermarket and Linda, soaked to the bone, insisted on stopping to get an umbrella. I decided I did not deserve one or even to share with her as she kept offering since we had not yet arrived at the plant market. We ended up going around the block that the plant market is on and the blocks are about 1/3 of a km long. We kept walking and walking and looped around a bit but finally we began to see furniture stores (the indication that our coworker gave me that we were getting closer.)

We stepped into the greenhouse from the rain, and it was like walking from the movie Judge Dread into The Secret Garden. The smells were of fresh air with little to no dust or pollutants. The aisles were lined with potted plants of all shapes and sizes. Cactuses sat in rows upon a shelf. Ferns were on the floor. Trees stood tall and strong reaching for the translucent roof that shone brightly with the suns light.

Linda and I searched around the garden supply market for some time trying to find a rectangular pot that would fit on my window sill and still be tall enough to let my basil establish a strong and intricate root system so that it would be confident to grow tall and provide many leaves for my culinary needs.

We found a white ovular pot that stands about 4 inches tall and 6 inches long. It was only 4 inches wide so it would fit on the window sill in my room. We made sure that it came with a base to catch any excess water that I may give it in a day. The flowers painted on the one side excited Linda so she was pleased with my purchase too. We got three bags of soil (complete with worms and pill bugs and I am certain at least ten other species), and a spray bottle because I believe it is a good way to water an indoor plant. Such as this one would be.

We proceeded to walk back towards home and along the way stop in the hardware district of town. The hardware district is a street about 1km west of the greenhouse district that we were currently at. The street was lined with plumbing stores, tool stores, electrical stores, carpentry stores, and paint stores. We did have to wind around the massive construction project that was being erected, a massive complex of a shopping mall and about twelve very large apartment buildings, all going up at the same time. The paint store was one of the first stores we came to.

Despite Linda’s language skills we did not know how to say anti-mould paint. We kept looking around the store for something that would have it, but all we could find was a box of grout in English that said “anti mould,” with still no Chinese translation. We decided to just hope for the best and got a 3kg can of white paint and two brushes. We were very tired and wet at this point so we decided to forget about the RMB 1 number 35 bus that would take us from the hardware store and drop us one block from our flat. We hailed a taxi and relished being dropped off in front of our complex. After a quick shower to warm up, we wiped the walls of mould and set off to get some more shopping done. We thought we deserved a treat. French toast and bacon were on our mind so we went to Metro to get the needed supplies of cinnamon and bacon which are not sold in most stores.

Over time you begin to miss an oven. You can survive without it, but the absence of baked goods that you enjoyed throughout your life do create a void in your diet. We finally caved in and bought a toaster oven (mostly because we wanted to try making brownies again). We shopped around pricing several different models at different stores. There were small ones with basically an on and off switch for about RMB 200 or USD $50. There were bigger ones that remind my of the Ronco rotisserie oven like on the infomercials for about RMB 700 USD $ 100. We finally ended up at our favorite store Metro. We went with a purpose- to find a toaster oven that is right for us; and we left absolutely elated. There were several models to choose from, but we did not want all of the bells and whistles. We found the perfect one though. It is white with a clear glass door that opens down. It has top and bottom heating coils and a cooking rack and a concave grease catch that we can use with the rotisserie (actually I do not know when I will ever use it, so I would love some suggestions.)

Here is some of the stuff I have made so far.

Meat loaf

Items needed: ground pork, ground beef (veal if you want or combine turkey and pork for healthier alternative)

Mix meats in bowl with ½ an onion (diced fine) parsley if you have some we don’t so I don’t put it in, 1 egg, Worcestershire sauce (again I don’t have any here) bread crumbs or I prefer oatmeal and some tomato sauce (I didn’t have any so I used ketchup)

Shape so that is looks like a loaf of bread place in high walled pan and bake for an hour drain grease if needed.

Apple Crisp

Apples sliced

Some flour brown sugar, and oatmeal mixed together and put on top of the apples in a deep baking dish

Bake for about ½ an hour or until golden brown

Apple Pie

Crust: Flour, water, butter, sugar (they say shortening and salt too but we don’t have that here)

Apples sliced

Cinnamon and sugar, but they have premade apple pie spice mixes too

Brownies

Follow directions on box:)

Oh but you should use apple sauce rather than oil much better for you and tastes exactly the same.