Christmas in Shanghai

Who'd have thought that Christmas in Shanghai would be so lavishly aglow with Festive lights and every mall awash with the most beautiful trees and decorations. In the five years I've been here I have seen it become more and more Festive, or perhaps I should say more and more commercialised. Everywhere you look there is a shopping opportunity. However it is not a holiday here and business will continue as usual on the 25th. You'll still be able to visit the hairdresser at 10-00pm, buy fruit from the corner until 11-00pm, very handy when you run out of a lime for a G&T! and pick up your laundry until they decide to close up for the night. This truly is a city that hardly sleeps.

Now who wouldn't like to see their parcels coming from under this tree? This was the first tree I saw this year, but it wasn't long before there were many more adorning the streets and occupying the many malls.

Moose were the decoration of choice in this mall but the thing that I was most was excited about was the Dolce & Gabbana window in the same mall. It was a table full of all the excesses of the Season. Fruit and candelabras, china, glasses and so much more. Opulent is really the only way to describe it. I loved it. I felt like a child staring into a sweetie shop window.

The hotels also have wonderful displays and an early December coffee morning at The Waldorf started that Festive feeling that arrives with the sighting of the first decorations of the year. Every hotel does a wonderful job of decorating.

I could go on and on with description and photos, and each one would be my idea of a "perfect" picture of how Christmas should be. I just love the twinkling lights and hanging ornaments, I am not a believer in less is more at this time of the year. If there is one time you can really go wild with decorating then this is the time. 

This year for the first time in 43 years my husband and I will be spending Christmas alone without the family. I'm struggling with it a bit but as we are returning home early in 2018 we thought we'd spend our last Christmas in China, in the sun on an island called Hainan Island. We will be in a hotel in Sanya, alone together. I have no idea how Christmas will be celebrated, not even sure I want it to be celebrated. Without my daughters and grandchildren it will just not be the same, although be assured I will certainly be making it avery traditional family Christmas next year!

Although we won't be here over the holiday I have decorated the house. I have done my annual Christmas dinner party and also hosted my book group so really wanted people to get the Christmas feeling.

 So here is a little glimpse of my Christmas decor.

So wherever you are this Festive Season have Fun, Eat, Drink and be Merry. If you can't let your hair down and indulge at this time of the year then when can you? 

Have a wonderful Christmas and a Very Happy and Prosperous 2018.

Thank you for taking the time to drop in on my blog and I hope it gives you an insight into life here in Shanghai and into my life here. 

STEM GINGER

One of the delights of living in Shanghai is seeing all the fruits and vegetables piled high when they are in season. I love seeing the year unfold through the stalls at the market. One of the things I love is when the new ginger comes into season. I love the smell and the pinky hue of the still very young stem. Of course ginger is a very popular item here in China as it is used in almost every dish and you see people buying huge bags of it. I, on the other hand, buy smaller amounts but I still can find myself with too much.

So apart from cooking with it, Chinese Style, I was wondering what to do with it when a friend was telling me he wasn't happy with his gingerbread, he wanted a bit more of a ginger flavour. I told him I like to put some the syprup from the stem ginger jar into my baked ginger goodies. Now there was where the problem came. No stem ginger in Shanghai. No problem.  I didn't think it could be too difficult to make and it would be a great way to use the abundance of ginger around. A quick google showed many recipes and after reading through them realised they were more or less all the same. A quick play around and I found what I felt was the easiest way, all take a bit of time but little effort.

RECIPE

Equal amounts of peeled chopped fresh ginger and sugar.

Slice ginger into slices about 3cm thick.

Put ginger into a pan which it just fits into and cover with water.

Bring to a boil.

 Turn to simmer and leave until a knife easily pierces the ginger.

Top up water if necessary.

When soft add the sugar and simmer until sugar is dissolved and you have a sticky syrup. 

Put into sterilised jars and seal.

Told you it was easy.

Here are my ginger nut biscuits with added chopped stem ginger to give them that little kick of heat.

Trouble is I can't stop eating them. But I guess that's what they're for! Enjoy 

GOLDEN WEEK

This week is a big holiday not only in Shanghai but China. It is the time to look forward to a good harvest next year and to give thanks for this year's crop. A bit like our own Harvest Festival. It is a time when many millions of people head home for the holiday, a time when I really want to stay at home away from the mayhem and chaos.

It is also the time when people give mooncakes (yue bing) as gifts. These come in amazing boxes, from simple to the most elaborate. Hotels, shops and restaurants all have their own, with their logos on them. I love the boxes, what's in them not so much! They look to an untrained eye a bit like a pork pie, so far so good, and then you bite into them, at least if you are new to them, anyone in the know will first of all cut into them to establish the filling. Generally it will be a bean paste, red or green, or some kind of preserved fruit,  perhaps a pork mixture bringing it back into the pork pie category but this is all random. I'm sure somewhere it is indicated but so far I have not been able to tell. So I have to admit that my course of action is complete avoidance of the offending offering. I really do not care for the flavour or the texture of the fillings, and the texture is such an important factor for me. Anything I don't like will usually because of texture not flavour.
However, I love the boxes and use them for storing my craft items. Some come with drawers which is perfect for what  I use them for. The mooncakes? generally re-gifted. Sorry!

You can buy beautiful mooncake moulds to fashion the top of your own homemade cakes and these I love. They will be perfect for biscuits and shortbread when I return home. The moulds are wooden and come in many different designs. I am sure they all have some significance but sadly I have not established just what they all mean. Something to get on to.

This will be my last Moon Festival here. Perhaps on my return home I can start a tradition in the family of making shortbread with the moulds at this time of the year, something which will always remind me of my time here in China and something that hopefully can be passed on to future generations. In theory This sounds a wonderful idea, in reality? Well who can tell. I'll get the grandchildren onto it next October.

                                            HAPPY MOON FESTIVAL EVERYONE

FRIENDS to STAY in SHANGHAI

I have had visitors staying with me for the last two weeks and as usual when they leave the place seems so quiet. With my husband being out of town it's even quieter. It was a wonderful two weeks and I really enjoyed not only showing them around Shanghai, but also going along on their trip to Beijing. It's amazing how showing people around opens up your eyes again to the city. I guess having been here for over five years now the sights and sounds which were all so exciting in the beginning have become normal to me. I'd forgotten how scary it is crossing the roads with traffic coming in all directions, and of course now the weird and wonderful stuff on sale in the supermarkets don't even register with me any more. But with friends seeing it for the first time it brought those early days all back.

A trip to the supermarket opened their eyes. Not everyday you see snakes, turtles and frogs, all alive, on sale. Something tells me they don't particularly want to see it again.

Having the second tallest building in the world right outside the window took their breath away and they were soon loving wandering through "my Shanghai",  getting a glimpse of my life.

Strolling along the river on what was a beautiful sunny day soon I was feeling as if I was on holiday too. Shanghai is a really amazing city to visit, and to have been fortunate enough to have been able to live here is quite unbelievable. I have been so lucky and so happy to have been able to share it with family and friends who have visited. It always good to see people from home.

The food of course is a huge part of life here and after initial fears about using chopsticks (kuaizi) they soon got the hang of it and tried all that was on offer. We ate all kinds of foods, not only Chinese and they enjoyed it all I'm glad to say.

Empty plates testifying to the fact that the Chinese cuisine was embraced.

Our trip to Beijing started off at a very busy and mesmerising train station. We were catching the Bullet train which would whisk us all the way to Beijing in five hours at speeds of 310km per hour!. It left on time and arrived on time. Soon we were enjoying all Beijing had to offer. The Great Wall was first on the agenda. It's about 3 hours outside of the city but well worth the trip. It didn't fail to impress. A cablecar ride up and down made it not quite a strenuous as it might have been. I cannot in my wildest imagination think about how they built it.

Of course The Forbidden City and Tian'anmen are other attractions you can't miss when in Beijing and we were certainly not going to miss them.

A trip to the night market and a search for a Peking Duck restaurant was next on our agenda. Turned out it was just around the corner from the hotel! We wandered along the market and decided against eating anything that looked remotely like an insect, and certainly nothing that was still wriggling around. We enjoyed all the sights and smells of this bustling street.

Finally we arrived at the restaurant and were able tho enjoy delicious duck, carved at the table, and managed it all with chopsticks. 

It was a great trip and I was so happy to have gone along.

I think I can say that my friends enjoyed their China trip and they certainly embraced all that was on offer. I certainly enjoyed sharing a little part of my life with them. 

However started to think they were getting a bit too comfortable and feeling to much at home LOL!

My time in Shanghai is now beginning to run out. I'll be home next year, so in the months I have left I must make the best of it. It is a wonderful life here, although most certainly not a normal life. I  always knew it was temporary but that only made me embrace it even more. I'm sure there more fun and strange adventures still to come. I wait with baited breath.