I Miss Costco! Kinda...

There are few things that I truly miss from America other than people. One of those things is Costco. If you have never been to Costco, let me tell ya, you are missing out! One giant store with everything from computers to coffee makes life pretty convenient (way better than Wal-Mart); plus who doesn’t love the samples? The reason I miss Costco so very much is convenience. If you shop on Friday night, everything can be purchased for the week in less than 30 minutes, unless you want to browse, which is a must in my books! Shopping is a lot different in Shanghai, and although not as convenient, a whole lot more entertaining! 

Even though going out to eat is super cheap, we try to limit that to once or twice a week. We learned the hard way that a carb-based diet (noodles, rice, etc.) leaves you drained with no energy and makes Tim lose weight like crazy! For this reason, I cook just as much as I did before. One big difference is that produce doesn't last nearly as long, so I have to shop three times per week. I have thrown more chicken away because it has “gone bad” in matter of a couple days! We could shop at big grocery stores, but I prefer the outdoor markets. 

Every Saturday morning, Tim and I go to a market close to our home to buy groceries for the next few days and every week we see some pretty interesting stuff.

Like turtles and frogs (to eat, not for pets):

Or this pork stand with a pig staring at you ... creepy. 

Or how about a live duck? 

So some of the stuff we see at the market is not so awesome, but we have formed relationships with some of the stands like our egg lady. 

Our meat lady

Our vegetable lady. 

You can also buy things like beans, oats, flours, nuts and rice

Different kinds of tofu

and a bunch of seasonings. 

So yes, I do miss the conveniences of Costco, but this is a whole lot more interesting! 

Fun Food Friday: Dunkin' Donuts

Dunkin’ Donuts holds a very special place in our hearts. Not because of their awesome coffee or delicious donuts, but because this was the place where we had our first date. In fact, we had a lot of coffee dates at DD before we said ‘I do’. When we found out DD had stores in Shanghai, we were all over Google like white on rice. According to Google, Shanghai has four locations. The closest store is three miles from our home, so for date night this week, not only did we get a sweet treat, but we also got some exercise.

Tim’s absolute favorite donut is boston cream. We arrived at 7pm and unfortunately, they were sold out.

The flavors available in China are a bit different than that of the USA. For instance, how about dry pork and seaweed or a dried bonito (type of fish) donut – doesn’t that sound delicious???? Thankfully DD also stocks some of the sweet stuff like blueberry with coconut, toffee chocolate and double chocolate. 

Mochi donuts and munchkins were the only types of donuts available when we arrived. Mochi donuts are made of short-grained, glutinous rice and are available in flavors such as glazed, green tea, yogurt, orange, mocha and chocolate. We tried a chocolate one.  They are bit denser and dryer than your typical donut; definitely not as sweet as the donuts available in the States, but it was fun to try something new!

The Chinese munchkin wasn’t anything to write home about either. You will notice the shape is not perfectly round. It was more chunks of very lightly sweetened donut. Again – a fun experience, but I wouldn’t order them again. We tried chocolate and raisin.  

Other food offered included cheese and rye bagels, tuna and ham sandwiches, cumin pork chop sandwiches  and purple rice, to name a few.

Now onto coffee – first the original DD coffee tasted just as good as I remember. I got a black coffee – I am ridiculously cheap and was not willing to pay an extra $.50 just for flavoring. It was hot and black and oh, so good.  To take home a pound would set you back a little more than $16 - a tad more than I remember paying just a few months ago in Greenville, SC! Coffee was available in hazelnut, caramel and vanilla flavorings.

Tim tried an iced caramel swirl latte with whipped cream on top. As much as everything else in the store lacked sugar, the whipped cream definitely satisfied his sweet tooth! He said it tasted exactly the same as the States, except for the temperature - it was lukewarm.  

We didn’t try a coolatta; however, they are available in strawberry, coffee, blueberry, orange, banana, mango and green tea flavors.

Being in China, tea took up a large section of the Dunkin’ Donuts menu with flavors such as pineapple fruit tea, lichi fruit tea, passion fruit and blueberry jasmine tea and banana milk tea.

I am not sure why, but after I paid the cashier, he gave me a free DD mug which I was super pumped about because it was a lot larger than the small cups I have been using. 

Other souvenirs available for purchase included a DD branded mouse pad, paper file and pillow. 

Now China doesn’t ‘Run on Dunkin’; in China, Dunkin’ Donuts is ‘Good to you’. The brand is marketed a bit differently over here.

It was a lot of fun trying a China Dunkin’ Donuts and although not as tasty as the States, made for a pretty sweet date night!

A Pretty Perfect November 1st

You know those days that were just so perfect you wish you could relive them over and over for the rest of your life? For some of you it may be the day you were married or when your child was born; for others it may be the day your kids left for college (kidding – I hope!). Well, November 1^st was that kind of perfect day for me. Now don’t get me wrong – our wedding day was WONDERFUL but we had to share it with about 70 other people – November 1^st was just Tim and me.

First of all the weather was great – like you could walk to the metro station without getting a full on sweat. The weather when we first arrived in Shanghai was brutal – high temps combined with high humidity does not make for a very comfortable day. Second the places we visited were beautiful and third, and most important, it didn’t involve homework. Tim has been super busy with classes and projects. He may only have actual class three to four times a week, but with all the studying and group projects he has, school is a seven day a week gig.

We got up and went for our morning jog. We did sleep in a bit so it was more of a walk because the roads were so busy, but we visited a university campus close to our home which was a nice change from the busy streets we normally see.

On our way home we tried a couple new ‘street foods’. The only one we liked was a fried bread ‘pancake’ filled with chives – so bad for you but so good.

We tried this rice wrap – like the wrap was made out of cooked rice, and the inside was meat floss and youtiao (oil stick) – YUCK. We threw that away immediately but we definitely laughed about that all day – who in their right mind likes meat floss (no offense if you do)?

After our walk we got ready and headed to the metro. We took the metro for a 30 minute ride and arrived at YuYuan Garden (literally translated Garden of Happiness).

Walking through the garden was like a maze – we got lost a few times. This garden was conceived in 1559 by Pan Yunduan for his parents as a place to retire (sorry mom and dad – we probably can’t pull this off for you guys). 

It was damaged by the Japanese in the 1940's and was reconstructed and opened to the public in the 1960's.

The entrance fee was $6.56 and half price for Tim since he is a student – not too bad for a three hour stroll.

The area around the garden is a full fledged tourist area – with a lot of interesting shopping. From tea houses and silk shops to handmade crafts, the cultural souvenirs were everywhere! We are trying really hard not to buy any souvenirs just yet – we want to see more of what China has to offer before we make any purchases.

We went to lunch at this Chinese restaurant where we got chicken, green beans and a special kind of baozi (steamed bread with meat and veggies inside). The reason it was special is because it was full of soup which you had to suck out threw a straw – very flavorful but very messy!!!!  

We even found a 'baozi statue'! 

After lunch Tim got an ice cream cone from Dairy Queen which made him very happy (China lacks good ice cream).

We went shopping and I found scarves for about $1.50 each – I got three. It has been cooler but not coat weather just yet so they will come in handy!

We went for another walk along the Bund! By this time our feet were killing us so we headed home. 

We stopped to get Tim a haircut – second one in China was a success! 

It was a pretty perfect November 1^st! 

Fun Food Friday: Soda

Happy Friday folks! For Fun Food Friday we are going to talk about soda. Now I know there are a few of you out there that don’t touch the stuff, which I respect, but to me, there are just sometimes when you NEED a diet coke. Thankfully, those times have become less over the years, but I still do like the stuff. For all of you soda-addicts, China has you covered. 

China has the standard Coca-Cola products. From regular coke to diet coke and coke zero, your options are all available in a 12oz can or a 16oz bottle. The funny thing about China is that regular coke and diet coke are consistently the same price – from store to store they may be different prices but within the store itself are the same. A can will run you about $.34 and a bottle about $.41. Regular coke and diet coke have been available in China for a long time. The first time I visited China in 2006 both were available. Coke zero, however, is the newest addition to the Coca-Cola family, which runs about $.41 for a can and $.48 for a bottle.

Fanta has the same pricing strategy. Apple Fanta sells for about $.43 a bottle and orange Fanta sells for $.48 per bottle whereas the newest flavor, peach, sells for $.53 per bottle.  

For all you people who think that Pepsi is WAY better than Coca-Cola, you will find your beverage of choice as well. Pepsi offers regular, diet and Pepsi MAX with prices about the same as Coca-Cola. China also offers 7-Up, Sprite and Mountain Dew (gross!). We have tried diet coke, diet pepsi, coke zero and pepsi MAX, so I couldn’t tell you if the other sodas taste the same as they do in America, but the artificial sugar stuff tastes slightly different (they all have a spicy aftertaste), so I am assuming the other stuff does as well. 

There are no flavor variations available in the typical Chinese store – I am talking cherry coke, vanilla coke, etc.; however, the international market has these variations available for about $1.31 per can. The only way I would pay that much for a can would be for a diet Dr. Pepper – which I have yet to find.

To be honest, my drink of choice is coffee. Since today is November 1st, I finally let myself open this bad boy – which made this Friday that much better! Enjoy your weekend!

Fun Food Friday: McDonald's

I have been a bit MIA for the past week or so. It’s because of computers – totally not my fault. We brought two laptops with us to China, one of which was broken – well, until we called Tim’s brother for help. Since the whole reason we made such a drastic move was for Tim’s education, he got the computer – which makes perfect sense. 

Anyway, onto Fun Food Friday: McDonald’s.

Now, I know what you are thinking: Horrible wife for feeding her husband sodium and preservative laden food. Well, in my defense, we ate at McDonald’s on day three in China, when jet-lag had peaked, dinner time had arrived and the choices presented were the Golden Arches or fried noodles. Because I knew we would be hungry within the hour if we chose noodles, fast-food it was. 

The menu had the normal burgers, chicken sandwiches, chicken nuggets, French fries and ice cream treats…

Along with some new-to-us items including egg and mushroom soup, chicken McMuffins

and beef and rice dishes.

Tim ordered chicken nuggets.

He said they tasted normal, but he was a bit disappointed BBQ sauce and honey mustard were not available. Instead his options were sweet and sour sauce or garlic chili sauce. The garlic chili sauce was thrown away as soon as he tried it, but he loved the sweet and sour sauce – well, not as much as honey mustard.

I don’t eat beef so my options were cut in half. I ordered a wrap. It looked like there were chicken strips and veggies in it so I thought, given the circumstance, it was a pretty good choice. Inside the wrap were about two ounces of chicken, a rice cake, lettuce, tomato and some kind of sauce. To my surprise it was pretty tasty – even though I know it doesn't look too appetizing!

To the right of the main ordering counter was a McCafé  Here, you could order coffee, teas and other hot beverages. I had never seen one of these before, so I had to take some pictures. 

There was also a counter where you could order desserts. From cheesecakes to muffins, the dessert case looked YUMMY but we didn’t get anything.

Honestly, the food tasted better than expected, although I know we won’t be visiting again anytime soon. 

One of the more interesting points about eating at McDonald’s is that it doesn't carry the same cheap meal reputation as it does in the States. As I mentioned before, Tim and I can go out to eat for less than $5 USD and have more than enough. For our two meals at McDonald’s, the cost was about $10 USD – quite pricey in comparison!  

Fun Food Friday: Youzi

Tim and I aren’t big dessert people. We are HUGE dessert people, but being the responsible adults that we are, we don’t indulge often. I would like to say it’s because I am super concerned with my health, but honestly, it is because I don’t want to buy bigger pants. Thankfully there are no chocolate cake temptations here. China’s desserts leave much to be desired. Avoiding the sweet stuff has never been easier! Except Oreos…but not often- PROMISE!

We tried to cultivate the habit of eating fruit as dessert in the States which worked out pretty well. I know sugar before bed time isn’t the best thing in the world, but being moody isn’t a good thing either! We brought this habit to China with us which has led us to discovering some new fruit to tackle nighttime sugar carvings.

Today I want to introduce pomelo or 柚子(youzi). It is the largest of the citrus family and, according to my taste buds, is a cross between an orange and a grapefruit.

These things appear massive. Below is a medium sized apple compared to a youzi. 

However, looks can be deceiving. The peel is super thick and contains white pith that tastes super bitter. Once you get to the meat of the youzi, it is the size of a large grapefruit.

The fruit itself is mildly sweet and isn’t super juicy. I think one of the best things about this fruit is peeling it. It’s a lot of fun – trust me! 

Also, it is high in vitamin C and Tim has been battling a cold. I think this is a pretty good replacement for the vitamins I forgot to pack!