Shanghainese Dinner @ Jing An Si

Hmmmm. It seems pretty obvious that I've been living my life around the HSK test these days. Well, this post is also related to the HSK. I've been attending a HSK prep course on top of the language classes I'm taking at ECNU. To cut to the chase, this HSK prep course was literally like a HSK boot camp! (No surprise, it's run by Koreans) They really work you HARD and people end up getting "miracle" results. Well, our HSK teacher promised to treat students to a nice meal if we never missed class. My lovely friend Sun Joo & I were the only 2 students who never missed class for the past 1mth & half. So our teacher took us to a REALLY fancy REALLY yummy Shanghainese restaurant, located neart Jing An Si.

The highlights:

• Stuffed Lotus Roots: Some Asian countries (like Japan, Korea & China) eat lotus roots and if you haven't tried it, it's SO yummy! It has a chewy sweet taste to it, and the one we had was stuffed with glutinous rice, with glazed syrup poured over.

• Green Pea Soup : this was absolutely DELICIOUS!!! it's a little bit different from the 'American' style green pea soup - it's served warm and it's sweet. They garnish the soup with peanut bits. It's SOOOO good! The texture is so smooth and I think they added some special broth or something. I really want to know the receipe!
  
  
  
• L'escargots aka the SNAIL : I don't think this is a traditional Chinese dish, but who knows! At first I thought they were some sort of sea shells with baked cheese stuffing (sounds delicious already), but after my first bite, my HSK teacher told me it was snail. To be honest, this was my first experience eating snails. But like they all say, "it tastes like chicken". HEHE! It was actually really good -

This restaurant is fancy and can be super expensive （some dishes priced at 1388元), but if you order smartly（there are 10元 appetizers too) you can actually have a really nice meal with somewhat of a reasonable price. Highly recommend to make reservations before you go.

Shang Hai Ren Jia 上海人家
(6 locations in Shanghai)
We were at:
1600 Nanjing Rd W. 南京西路1600号 （机场航站楼4F - the bldg next to 久光)

HSK studying @ Wagas

Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi, aka HSK! aka THE Chinese language proficiency test, aka the MONSTER that has been consuming my life for the past 2 months!

Yes, I really hate you HSK! You have caused me so much grief!

But on Thurs, Michi & Ying & Erik & moi made a trip to a coffee shop called Wagas and we had a spendid time sipping iced drinks and studying together! hehe

Thanks HSK for providing us such strong commeraderie among our friends.

Michi tried to hide from the sun by attempting to position himself just under the shadow of a lamp post. He's hillarious.

BTW, Wagas ice coffee is the way to go on a warmer-than-usual spring day! YUM! :D

Wagas (12 locations in Shanghai)

We were at:

Hongqiao Maxdo Building

86 Xianxia Lu. Rm108 (Near Zunyi Lu)

Mika's Bday - Bali Bistro

Last Sunday, it was Mika's birthday & she invited friends to Bali Bistro at Jing An Si to celebrate her early bday!

Indonesian food was soooooo awesome! *droool*

I loved everything! My favorite was their Beef curry and their Jasmine rice! Mmmmm :D

As Mika's bday present, Erik & I gave her a plant! haha:) A herb plant to be exact - we gave her a mint.

I wanted to get her something environmentally friendly or something natural - I was wondering around aimlessly for 2 hours in a mall and I found nothing. On my way home, I found a plant seller on the street selling small plants, and I found the perfect gift! I hope Mika takes good care of it and consume it tooo!!

Bali Bistro

Exit 1 at Jing An Si Staion (line 2)

from the exit, walk straight for 3 mins and you'll see it on your right.

万航渡路75号 (近北京西路)

They're open till 11pm!

Introducing my roommate!

Hi everyone!

This is my current roommate, Erina, from Ishikawa, Japan :D She's a 2nd year in college - studying at East China Normal University. She's the sweetest girl ever! Her mom sent me a small Japanese pouch from Japan :)

The 2nd bubbly girl in the picture is her hometown friend Shiori, when she visited Shanghai for the first time (back in March).

天目湖 Tian Mu Hu Trip : Apr 4th-6th

Day1: it all started on a rainy day...

D1: our extremely addictive bus snack - sunflower seeds!

D1: Bamboo!! Yay!! (we're still unaware of the 2000m hiking at this point)

D1: Bamboo forest - it reminded me of "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon"

D1: the deadly 2000m bamboo forest hiking w/ umbrellas starts.

D1: bamboo boat water wars!

D1: row, row, row the bamboo boat!

Day 2: overlooking the lake

D2: Reads "小心碰头 - Meets Carefully” (while it's supposed to be sth like - watch out for your head)

D2: 莲花，嫁给我把！Will you marry me?!

D2: look ma! i'm engaged :)

D2: the boys!

D2: the ladies!

D2: the couples!

D2: a view of 天目湖

D2: water ball walking thingy?! 水上行步求

D3: THE paintball day! losers do pushups!

D3: the US Army (*grin*)

D3: ready to roll!

Location: Tian Mu Hu at the city of Li Yang (2hr 1/2 from Shanghai, next to Wuxi

The group: all my fav ppl from chch

Day 1 : 2000m hiking at the bamboo forest in the RAIN! it took us 3-4hours to climb up and come down. definitely an achievement to remember! Riding the Bamboo boat on the lake was really memorable too.


Day 2: Tian Mu Hu (lake). A bEAUtiful day. On day 2, Alex proposed to Lian Hua and they got engaged!!!!! <3>


Day 3: Paintball!!! (w/o the paint). It works w/ censors on the jacket and the gun shoots laser beams so you physically do not get hit! They call it the CS (counter strike) game here. It was so FUN! I was dead really quickly though. hehe :)