NOW I'M COOKING & NEED YOUR VOTE

My entry video is posted!
My entry video is posted!!
For what you ask?

I've entered for a chance to head out to LA and do one episode of
Grilling It! with Bobby Flay!!

My video is posted HERE.

Please go take a peek and if you like it, which I'm sure you will, PLEASE RATE IT!

What's on the menu? Two recipes that I created.

Appetizer:
*Pork Skewers with a Mango Dipping Sauce (the skewers are tastily marinaded before grilling)




Entree:
* Grilled Red Snapper with Coconut Thai Veg (all wrapped up in a banana leaf!)

You will have to sit through a 10-15 second commercial from Food TV (sorry), but I'm sure the video will entertain enough to make it worth your while!!!




Go, Click, Rate and even comment if you have the time! I'd love to hear what you have to say!

Please also pass this along to your friends!

If for some reason the link doesn't take you directly to my video, my video is titled Grilled Pork Skewers & Red Snapper with Coconut Thai Veg and is currently listed under Most Recent.

Thanks everyone!!!

(In the photo with me that's Jim, the videographer, during a break trying some pork... It was all gone in a flash!!)

Welcome Girls!

Fu's daughters (ages 5 and 10) are in town visiting. It's been an exciting adventure already. They got to fly on airplanes for the first time! They've never been to this region, or even out of their own region AND they haven't ever been to visit their mother before.

Traditionally here in China, when you have a child, you often leave the child with your parents to raise while you go to where the jobs are and send money back to your family. This situation is a bit more complicated in that Fu's husband died and his family immediately got rights to her children. She left to find work to show she was capable and has worked here at the hat factory for the past 4 years. This means she was forced to leave her youngest with them before she was even 1 year old.

She spends time knitting them sweaters and making them things in her spare time and goes there to see them whenever she can -- this journey being a 7-day round trip just to get there and back.

THIS is a CELEBRATION! The girls are visiting for the rest of the summer!

The big sister had been in charge of Mom's mobile phone yesterday. She was so proud as she'd never held one before. When Fu got to the office, she borrowed Mag's phone and called her daughters. They were SO EXCITED to get a real phone call on a REAL mobile phone.

I have never seen Fu smile so much and walk so tall as she has this week. It was a treat and honor for me that she brought her girls today, Sunday, for lunch at the factory with Mag and Mossie and I.

The girls made the dish they are holding. Pineapple and small sausages pinned together on toothpicks. (It was Yum too!)

Fu made my NEW FAVORITE DISH (it was my first time having it served to me!)

A delicious spicy and refreshing fish head dish (watch out friends in NYC, I've gotten directions on how to make it and I'll be trying it out myself in NYC!!!)

It is SOOOOOO tasty!!! A steamed fish head with a light sauce of red chili peppers, ginger, scallions, soy sauce and sesame oil on top, finished with chopped fresh mint leaves. It's served over plain white "Lah Mien" noodles. Be sure to pour a little bit of the spicy sauce over the noodles too. Ooooh so good!

YUM YUM YUM!

What? You want to learn how to make it too? OK! I videoed Mag's translation, posted below or you can find it HERE. **UPDATE - video upload keeps crashing the computer...I think the internet connection isn't strong enough. I'll post it later.**

What was it that the girls were most excited to try for the very first time? CHICKEN! They had their first chicken cooked stir-fried with vegetables. Their second chicken was today's lunch time roasted chicken... they liked it cooked this way better than stir-fried. The grandparents are vegetable farmers and are quite poor, so meals are most often all vegetables with rice. Once a year, at Chinese New Year, they buy a whole pig and cook it. They enjoy the pig for as long as it lasts and then no more meat until the next year at CNY.

The little one didn't speak to anyone but her sister, even when addressed directly. She'd look at her big sister who would answer for her. Even to their mother. It will take time for her to get to know her mother. I think when she finally starts talking to everyone, they won't be able to stop her.

I asked the big sister if there were any people in her region that looked like me (fair skin, auburn hair, blue eyes.) She said she'd never seen someone that looked like me. Never seen blue eyes before (both girls kept staring when they thought I wasn't aware.) I told her that very often the little babies cry when they first see me because I look so strange and funny. That I suppose they find it all a little scary.

She replied, "Yeah, you look a little scary. But you are very pretty." This made me laugh.

After lunch I started making silly faces for the little one. She was pouting because she's STILL furious that her grandmother cut off all of her hair! After about 5 minutes she was DYING to smile but held it back. Finally she took her big sister by the hand and began talk-talk-talking her head off half under the lunch table. It was good to see her smile ad hear her laugh.

Time to get back to work. We may head out and shop a little bit late tonight. Time will tell!

Mumbai - Day 3



Part I - Laundry and Getting There

As with any business trip, I'm here to work.

This means it's often the "getting there" where I get to see most of the culture. Is you peer out the window you have to decipher what you see in little bites until you have the full story. This often involves a long continuous list of "what's that" "why does that have a" "is that the norm?" etc. to whomever is sitting near me, local and speaks English. Shown at right here is a view of housing that I saw daily as we left central Mumbai.

One of the things that I saw a lot on these hour+ long drives to the factories, were the families sharing the mopeds/motorbikes. Although I've see it so many times in China, it amazed me to see the women riding side saddle due to the restricted movements in their saris. Often is was four people with a second child seated between the parents. Almost no one uses a helmet either, although the government is desperately trying to enforce this compulsory law. They certainly don't have the man power to stop every bike with non-helmet wearing passengers. Instead, they are using signs, like this one at right, at toll booths that you must pass through when traveling 40 minutes outside the center of Mumbai.
Another option are the Auto-pedicabs (shown left.) They were out in droves this morning. I didn't see them within Mumbai center much, so I'm not sure what their driving restrictions are, but just outside the center -- VOILA! They are about as wide as 2 seats at the cinema, smooshed together and are set-up like a trike with 2 wheels at the back and one front. The driver most often, from what I noticed, is barefoot and sitting on one foot casually as he navigates the traffic and roads. Three people are often seen to have poured themselves into the back, sitting upon one another in order to fit. Yes, it's a less expensive mode of transportation from the taxis that also abound.

A I travel, I find myself trying to imagine what it would be like to live in which ever country I'm visiting. What would I be up against if my finances or class level kept me where I was without much chance of change in my lifetime... A hard thing to think about.

This morning on the way to the knitting factory, we were treated to a stop by a Mumbai landmark.

The Laundry.

Perhaps you're thinking what could be so interesting about a bunch of people doing laundry? How about this:





or this:



Dan and I couldn't help but stare in awe before grabbing our cameras and going for it. I was hoping my camera would work for a few more minutes (it was slowly dieing), and it didn't let me down. Even let me get a few moments of video (see it at the very bottom of this blog entry)!

This is where the hotels, restaurants and many households send their laundry to be done.

It extends nearly as far as the eye can see!! An amazing sight.

To the left of the area where laundry was being done you can see the commuter train, at times bursting with people. Some hanging on as they half hang out the door.

I have so many photos of the laundry...but only space for a few!!!

India...
There are just SO MANY PEOPLE here.

Everywhere you look - people. You can tell this a bit as you watch how they interact with each other and how they walk. Very little personal space is accounted for. Everyone walks very close to one another...something I see in China and Hong Kong too. I suppose when you put this many people into a small space you don't learn what it's like to have personal space. It really makes you appreciate it when you have those few moments where no one is so close to you. I sometime have to remind myself that people aren't being rude and that their culture is different. It can be very overwhelming when walking through crowds.