Inconsequential Thought of the Day #1

Red apple chewing gum tastes nice (courtesy of Lotte brand) – Green apple chewing gum (courtesy of Wrigley’s) does not.  Although… I like green apples to red apples.

Yanqing's Secret Recipes ( 私房菜 )

Over the Mother's Day weekend, we've discovered yet another restaurant along the Corduroy and Finch stretch (my personal favourite line of shops, being one of the self-confessed "Bukit Timah crowd"...)

Inheriting the space where a Japanese restaurant used to be, Yanqing's Shanghai kitchen retains a peaceful black/white Zen interior, decorated with old photographs of Shanghai. The place is set up by a Shanghainese expatriate couple, Wang Yanqing and her husband, Wang Li, together with restaurant manager, Jenny Zou. When there, we've had the opportunity to meet Jenny and her friendly serving team who impressed us on several levels.

1. When looking at the architecture of finely sliced Japanese cucumber and cubic tofu, we were wondering how these were so delicately sliced to be equivalent to the chef standard in Shanghai (you don't normally find this in Singapore without paying more than $60 per head) - I had casually suggested that to do this at home in quicktime you could use a metal slicer. The waiter who happened to be standing next to me, proud of the work his restaurant produces, proudly acclaimed that the chef hand-sliced each and every one of his creation. I was so impressed by the level of knowledge the waiter had of the kitchen, and of the pride that he took in the food they served.
2. The 小龙包 there (always my standard measure of quality) tasted home-made and melted in your mouth with more than the usual amount of soup in each 包.
3. They had mistakenly delivered a dish to our table that we didn't order. When we pointed out the mistake after we realised what it was (and we had picked a bit off the plate), the waiter apologized and allowed us to keep the dish FOC. To me that's good, generous service that a fine dining restaurant would offer.
4. Best thing is, this fine cuisine standard is available for under $30 per person, which is a steal considering some dishes they served were close to Li Bai standard in preparation.
5. I like the fact that Jenny could explain the translation of certain dishes from Chinese to English, including how some dishes just didn't have a proper English translation.
6. Both the dishes and the people here reek of authenticity. This is one Shanghainese restaurant that is truly Shanghainese, not comprising of non-Shanghainese cuisine copycats. As a result, many of the menu's specialties are home-style, modern inventions not to be found anywhere else.
7. They also do take-aways if you call to pre-order.

Stuff To Order

The menu changes seasonally, however, some mainstays in the 私房菜 section are worth considering:-

• 小龙包 - although standard fare in Shanghainese, but well worth the trouble
• Crab Roe Tofu (served in a terracotta dish shaped like a crab)
• 黄鱼汤 (very family-style and serves plenty!) Note that this dish is better only ordered when you have at least 6 people sharing the soup as it is served in a humungous portion. There were six of us and we had about 2.5 bowls each. Several fishes must have gone in there...
• Dong Bo stewed belly pork (served in a smaller portion than most other places but more than enough flavour for everyone...) This Shanghainese specialty comes with steamed buns to go with the stewed belly pork.
• Fried fish with Long Jing tea - this one's a special, and the fish is crisp to the teeth on the outside, melts in your mouth on the inside.

Head chef Jin Hao is from Ye Shanghai in Xingtiandi - and well worth his weight in salt.

Yanqing's Shanghai Kitchen
791 Bukit Timah Road,
#01-01
Tel: 6463 2989

Budget Brain Out

So much for the sophistication of Finance advice. Today I said the silliest thing (half a joke) to a guy responsible for negotiating vendor prices that I paid to companies who work for me. I said, "Vendor prices should be like the rain - it should only come down and not go up."

My budgeting brain has gone on vacation. There was a self-imposed lock down to modifying budget numbers ad nauseum, and my brain has taking that nice little excuse to take a vacation away from budget monster mode. Read: this is supposed to be a good thing.

I'm leaving work early, getting enough sleep, in a cheery mood, helpful around the house... and generally being a much nicer person to live with during this time. The suggestion was for me next year to take a room in a hotel for the entire budget season. That way, at least i) nobody has to put up with my crap that isn't already paid to do so, and ii) I don't have to help out around the house nor feel guilty for not doing so. Besides, iii) I'll get a nice comfy bed for those few hours of rest that I can squeeze in and manage to weasle some luxury (a good bath and a good bed) out of it. At a price... perhaps this should come into the amount of business related claims I'll take next year. Hmmm....

So welcome back, you. And goodbye budget monster... until next year, hasta la vista.