cooking class

today alliance took us on a trip to shanghai's largest outdoor wet market, and then to a cooking class! very fun, and i learned exactly why i pay top dollar for the xiaolongbao at din tai fung... they are HARD to make.

just to rewind a bit, this morning we had class as usual from 8:30-11:30. for lunch, i joined my roommate, su wenjun, for a celebratory lunch with her friends. she finished exams today! FINALLY. we went for korean food, which is very popular here. during the summer, the iced noodle soup is the thing to order. so refreshing. on that note, shanghai is really heating up. 100 degrees for the first time today! anyway, it was so interesting to meet her friends and speak chinese with them. if they address me and speak simply, i can hold a conversation. but if they are chatting away among themselves, it's hard for me to follow.

after lunch i hopped on the bus with alliance for the wet market. it was chaotic and unbelievably hot, but still lots of fun.

above, our guide discussing prices and quality with a veggie vendor (who also happened to be stuffing her face with fried noodles). below, the group!

below that, some graphic de-scaling of fresh fish that made the vegetarians in our group quite squeamish. speaking of vegetarians, this week i joined some of the girls for a meal at "the loving hut," a vegan restaurant run by this amazing chinese man who has been a vegetarian for 15 years. i am convinced that it is the cleanest restaurant with the healthiest food in all of china.

from the market, we headed to the cooking class, where we divided into teams and made: cucumbers with vinegar, homestyle tofu, xiaolongbao, fish dumplings, kungpao chicken, beef with green peppers, shanghai fried noodles, and dry sauteed green beans! a regular feast. here is the xiaolongbao lesson:

above, karen wyatt and leo hand-mixing the chaomian. below, big smiles because we even got to take stuff home! and as usual, the day ended with leo (one of the chinese roommates) and i belting britney spears as we walked down the street. seems like there is no better method for learning english.

so that was our day. i can't believe another week has passed! no big news other than our biweekly test and me getting run down by a crazy old lady on a motorcycle (as you have likely seen on my facebook). THAT story is better told in person so i will refrain from narrating it now. this weekend we have plans to go to zhujiajiao, a cute little canal town outside of shanghai. till then!