Qi xi & Dance Battles

i'm back in the game. dance battles that is. lately i dont find myself in many situations where spontaneously propositioning a seemingly good dancer to lose (and then fall and injure myself). but last night was the perfect foray back into said event. there was a sweat pant, hat dawned taiwanese fella that i basically scared by what must have seemed to be a crazy girl spazzing (aka locking). here we are after the shock wore off...

so im going a little out of order with this post but earlier last night we had a delicious italian birthday meal for EY at salute, the very low key wine 'bar' on fuxing lu. i was trying to take this picture in order to capture the azian girl behind us taking a photo of herself...but didn't quite make it.

other random highlights of life:

-cali burger has recently expanded their enterprise by introducing a take out window. which also happens to serve chinese desserts. confusing. but awesome. after an evening walk, hao and i stumbled upon the mango coconut shaved ice topped with a scoop of ice cream...for 12 kuai! deal! that's hao striking a pose in front of the shiny window.

-new wine bar/eatery in a book store near my place. tucked away on the third floor of a large book store on a random street, this spot, bouquet, is a hidden gem. hodge podge menu and affordable selection of wines by the bottle or glass. quiet and cute areas, good for lowkey dinner or a group drink night. very random location and not sure if itll catch on but hoping it stays long enough to enjoy a few more trips!

 oh yeah and they have a deliciously refreshing beet salad!!! love me some beets!

-this tumblr about living in shanghai: hilarity at its best. really only makes sense if you live here but its seriously so funny i wish i had come up with it. excited about the below one that madison is opening back up in its new location! cant wait to check it out.

-qi xi:
chinese valentine's day was last week, which actually i didnt realize until the day of. of course hao new about it, being the local chinese that he is, so he made delicious dinner reservations at this quaint italian restaurant called sappori. we always seem to sit next to very interesting people at dinners and we were lucky enough to sit next to some older expat men who raved and raved about how this was the best italian place in town.

 beef lasagna comes out in a little casserole dish with a hefty spoon to serve. layers of goodness with loads of ricotta and savory beef sauce.

dual of pizzas - one with parma and arugula and the other with spicy salami. what's not to like.

now apparently qi xi is supposed to be for girls to find their mates by "demonstrate[ing] their domestic skills, especially melon carving, on this day and make wishes for a good husband." 
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qixi_Festival#section_6

hao kindly shared that with me before dinner. my 'domesticity' was proven when i let him have the last bite of lasagna.

upcoming events:
parents arrive this weekend and we're off to xian to see the terra cotta warriors. then leslie gets here for a few days!!! many crazy updates to come.

hk: i heart spring air

me: hi, im going to hong kong?

check in lady at airport: huh?

me: hong kong?

lady: no.

me: 9 o'clock to hong kong

lady: huh?

other customer: wo qu xianggang

lady: haode

me: IM GOING TO XIANGGANG TOO!

oh spring air...

off to hong kong to a. check out the new forever21 store (tough life), go to our newest hk store opening AND jump on a junk boat. 

after a very very long, delayed, bumpy ride on trusty spring air, tuffy and i headed to the forever 21 to do some hefty competitive analysis. then we headed to this fancy establishment called ABC kitchen. in the middle of a humble local food court is this small kitchen boasting bold fare. 

sweetbreads with grapefruit

foie gras with fig sauce

crispy suckling pig with duckfat roasted potatoes

truffle mushroom souffle

yum. throw down a little prosecco sangria and 4 lucious desserts and i'd call it a satisfying surprise of a gem.

the next day we prepped for a huge store opening in causeway bay. the logo tees looked amazing with precision folding skillz and flew right off the shelves when the thousands of people came pouring into the store! 

upstairs in our kids and baby store, we had a treat for all - free haribo candy boxes including the cola ones...so good!

needless to say, the opening was a hit. 

after the opening and some more competitive shopping, we hit up tuffy's fave sushi joint. then aimee had a brilliant idea to hit up her favorite shaved ice spot. though it took us a bit longer than anticipated to find, it was well worth it in the muggy heat of the night. mango milk ice with strawberry sauce and fresh xuegua. yum.

sunday, slightly tired and dehydrated, we made it out in time to enjoy a great day out on a junk boat (thanks to miss fanny tam). the shanghai crew all came out, including tina hsu aka willy wonka, to enjoy a day of boating, sun and seafood! after our seafood feast, we sailed briefly to a nice sunny spot on the harbour for a quick dip. we enjoyed the refreshing water, some beers and some chips and salsa. it was a great end to an eventful weekend. 

after docking, we hit up ifc for some noodle soup and then headed to the airport for some debaucherous snacking on popeyes biscuits. yeah it happened. but then our trusty spring air came through with a 1 1/2 hour delay that resulted in a 3:30 am arrival to my humble abode in shanghai. sigh. but totally worth it!

after a couple weekends back in shanghai, we have a very very busy two months coming up! let me spell it out for you in case i don't get to blogging
-sept week 1: parents come to shanghai, head to xi'an
-sept week 2: leslie arrives (fingers crossed)
-oct week 1: golden week, hao and i head to laos
-oct week 2: free trip to hawaii
-oct week 3: head to ny for work AND for shwe's engagement party!!!!

phew. im tired just thinking about it. off to eat and sleep in preparation :)

taste of home

another week goes on and more adventures arise. this work week was full of early mornings and late nights until wednesday when our presentations were, for the most part, over. good news is, the spring line looks amazing and whenever a big season like this 'ends' i like to 'celebrate' and by 'celebrate' i mean, spend $8 at starbucks each morning and then go out to drinks/dinner every night. i also seem to have this rationale when a season begins...hmmm, interesting. this is allowed because i, a. dont have online banking or any budget tracking system besides a chinese text message telling me i spent something so technically it doesnt count; b. some of my lunches cost less than your subway ride.

one night, a group of us went to mr and mrs bund for their late night menu, sim to their business lunch. despite my desire to nap at the table with such a late start, we had our full three course meal and took part in the buy one, get one wine promo, naturally. by the time we finished it was +1am and my eyes were closing before we got the maidan. hopes of partying the night away vanished and i fell asleep in the cab home. highlights of the night were my pink theme lips and matching outfits with gf bernice. my most important recommendation still holds: get the teriyaki short rib for two! why would one deny such succulence? the table had a hard time trusting me with sight of other alluring choices but in the end all agreed, the short rib was the crowd fave. also hao created a new delicacy - the french fry dipped in butter mash. he thinks he's genius. needless to say, this is why we are together.

wednesday was a sad day, though meetings were mostly over, sarah lee, one of the cool chicks here in shang was leaving to start her time at harvard. smart chick probs... so for one of her last nights, we hit up the one and only gubei for a night of japanese and korean fun. first, we stopped at this rando, really really rando, japanese speakeasy. like a real speakeasy. like can only enter if the light is red outside, expertly created cocktails, secret doorways (or what might have been the restroom) and a lot of dim lit whispering. either way it was a cool and thirst-quenching way to start the night

after drinks, we made our way further into the gub to a tucked away korean place, where we grubbed on all kinds of bbq, bibimbap, soon dubu soups, pancakes, soju, etc etc. think we closed down the place with our obnoxious story telling and name calling.

the next day, though thankfully not hungover, i was in for a treat when coworker vanessa brought us all fan tuan. this picture only discloses my awfully novice way of eating said treat...but the sticky purple rice encases some salty pork, youtiao bits and last but certainly not least a hard boiled egg. omg. how do they do it. how do they stay so skinny?! seriously. this mofo weighs about 1 kg all of which went straight to my ass. so worth it.

so after the crazy week's end, my goal for this weekend was to sleep. and sleep. and not have plans and do nothing but sleep. successful i was! of course in between i arose for meals. first stop was tsui wah, recently described as the denny's of hk, hence a new staple in my weekend go-tos. anywhere with english menus AND crowds of chinese people makes my short (read: long) list. we ordered...chashao pork, roasted duck, this deceiving looking thing one (me) might call chicken pot pie which was really pastry crust over weird lobster soup, alongside a few other dishes we ate before remembering to picture (actually, im lazy, but theyre probs on hao's blog). all washed down with a tangy tangerine limeade. tasty as usual...

on saturday afternoon (promptly after above lunch), midst a nap in the middle of men's olympic badminton tournaments, i muttered to hao "i think im going to go on a diet" to which he laughed and rolled his eyes. that evening, we went to mr. willis where we had fresh (aka my idea of diet food) australian inspired fare.

first we started with figs, mascarpone, pomegranate and walnut bruschetta. then a sauteed sea scallop over lentils topped with a tomato chutney.

and lastly...a chocolate souffle with side of salted caramel ice cream. okay okay...the last one was against the diet but salted caramel AND hot chocolate souffles are hard to find...so if it's on the menu, i must order it (ha...sophia)

after that super fresh meal, we were on a health kick...ha! so sunday after my ayi left, headed to baker and spice for a simple sandwich and fresh squeezed juice. next time probably wont bother but their raspberry, banana, apple juice is delightful...for $6. ha. unexpected productivity came when i realized we were right next to city shop where i could load up on vanilla soy milk (the american kind)! wasn't expecting to get so much done in a matter of hours!

came home, did my nails, watched a lot of fencing and ping pong and discus and then closed my eyes for a yoga nap. proceeded to iron my clothes (ayi, no offense but your weakness is ironing) and super preemptively pack for next weekend's work/play trip to hong kong. the last two weeks back in the shang have been loaded with japanese, chinese, korean and western delights, but i was missing a bit of home aka some good ol' chaat. so this evening hao and i trekked to dagu lu for some indian cai. we hit up masala art's small counterpart, masala desi, though much less crowded and seemingly unpopular, was just what i was looking for - casual joint serving up street snacks like papri chaat and kathi rolls and some south indian faves like vada and masala dosa. nom nom nom. we feasted on aloo tikki chaat, onion bhajiyas, simple dal with naan and a masala dosa with coconut chutney. oh how i missed thee coconut chutney. of course, mom, yours is the best...but after a few months of missing it, this came close. we tried the ras malai but ended up just being some of the ras gulas (sp?) dunked in a thick, yogurt like sauce. alas, we finished it, but not a recommend. overall it was a much needed trip to remind me of home and it was a great find for quick indian snacks and a little hindi refresher. also got hao practicing his one handed eating technique. almost there boo!

needless to say the diet thing didnt happen. but the sleep tally was in the high twenties so i'm pretty pleased with myself. this thursday im heading to hk to do some competitive pricing analyses, see our new hk store open and then spend the weekend on a junk boat with some friends! hope the typhoons steer clear.

after hk, i have three weeks of anticipation before my dear parents come to see all china has to offer - aka xiao long bao, shou zhua bing, terra cotta warriors, silk rugs, artistic interpretations of LV and xiao long bao...oh yeaaahh. mom says to send a list of things to bring from meiguo. so far i have: pepto bismol and floss picks...more to come.