China and Taiwan

     Ni hao, viewers.
    
     Last night, I started out with China, and then detoured to Taiwan.  Yesterday morning, my mum and I went to the market together and selected some Chinese foods.

     For dinner, my mum made Chinese noodles with broccoli, beef, bamboo shoots, and a gourmet assortment of fresh mushrooms, and on the side, vegetable/shrimp shumai (bite-sized dumplings), with an ever-so-slightly spicy dipping sauce.

     Luie did not join me on this "trip", but Misa did for a little while.  Here he is, with a scarf that my great-grandmother's friend once brought back for her from Singapore. 

I wore it too, as a hat.  I doubt this is how it's worn traditionally, but no matter.  I like hats. : )

     My first film tonight, was Mao's Last Dancer (2009), a biographic film based on the ballet Li Cunxin.  Though not all of the movie is set in China, a fair part of it is; some in Shandong Province, and some in Beijing.  His story is quite an interesting one, and it ends nicely.  Furthermore, this film boasts some spectacular dancing. 

     As I watched this, I drank several cups of oolong tea, of which I am quite fond.

     Here's a "slightly" smaller Chinese tea set.  When I was a little girl, I had many of these tiny tea sets.  I parted with them years ago, but I kept this one for nostalgia's sake, and because it matches my decor.

     Then I watched a film called Smile (2005), which begins with a pampered teenage girl named Katie, who volunteers to assist in a charity program called "Dr.'s Gift".  In China, she begins to gain a new outlook, and a new appreciation for life.  She becomes interested in the story of a girl exactly her age named Lin, who was born with a facial deformity, and was therefore abandoned, later to be found by a kind man named Daniel, who, despite opposition and abandonment from his wife and son, raised her as his own.  While in China, Katie takes it upon herself to find them.  The half of this movie that take place in China is set in an unspecified rural village, and then later in Beijing.  It was filmed in Shanghai and Jingxi.

    
     While I watched this, I had some Chinese rice crackers, with a hot and sour dipping sauce.

     Then I had a glass of tamarind juice.  In my opinion, it tasted like what I imagine apples would taste like if apples were a tropical fruit.  It also has a slight plum-like essence.  I enjoyed it.

     Then, I did some Chinese brush painting with coloured inks.

     I considered using one of the tutorials in my Art of Chinese Brush Painting book, but instead, I decided to paint the poster for Puccini's Turandot on my chocolate tin.  That picture of the story's Chinese princess looks rather formidable, I like it for some reason.  To paint her, I used 5 coloured inks, black ink, and 1 Chinese paint brush.  I reached for brown to shade and outline her face, but I accidentally grabbed dark red.  At first I thought "Oh no!" but I decided to just go with it.  As Bob Ross used to say "There are no mistakes in art; just happy accidents."

     After that, I crossed over to Taiwan. 

     Watching Taiwanese dramas has made me want to try a popular dessert made from shaved ice, called baobing, tsua-bing, or chhoah-peng.  Basically, it consists of a pile of shaved ice, drizzled with condensed milk, and/or syrup, and topped with your choice of fruit, nuts, or what have you.  sometimes it's served with a scoop of ice cream or sorbet. Inasmuch as I knew I'd be eating this in the small hours of the morning, I pre-shaved my ice, and put it in the freezer, poking at it now and then to make sure it didn't freeze into a solid lump.  However, by the time I got to it, it had frozen back into ice cubes.  I went ahead and made my baobing anyways; it was just rather more...crunchy than was intended.  I drizzled sweetened condensed milk, and omitted the syrup, and added thawed strawberries, and a small scoop of strawberry ice cream.

     While I ate it, I went on youtube.com, and watched one of my favourite Taiwanese films, Love You Ten Thousand Years (2010).  This film is about a Japanese girl who goes to spend 3 months in Taiwan, and a Taiwanese fellow who can't make a relationship work longer than 3 months.  Inevitably they meet, and agree to date seriously, with the intention of breaking up at the end of 3 months.  Although they grow to genuinely love each other, disagreements arise, and after a misunderstanding, they break up just before the end of the 3 months, and she goes on to China.  Neither of them are happy with this, and each has obviously made a big impact on the other's life.

This movie always makes me want boba milk tea, alternatively called bubble tea, or pearl milk tea, named for the large, chewy tapioca pearls it contains.  The main character's favourite drink is "boba milk tea, no ice, less sugar."  Unfortunately, I was unable to procure the tapioca pearls, so I settled for plain milk tea, "no ice, less sugar."  I used lotus-infused green tea.

     After that, I listened to my favourite Vic Chou songs, and that was the end my adventures in China and Taiwan.

     Zai jian, viewers; I hope you all have a lovely day.