DIY

Cooking has presented quite an obstacle for me here in China. I've been living here almost 5 months and although I've found my comfort zone in the grocery store, there are still foods that I crave, miss, and some days seriously long for.
I have figured out how to stove-top cook on count it.. ONE hotplate with no oven. Unless you consider a microwave an oven. Haha.

I still make my own pasta sauces, each and every time. Mushroom, eggplant, sausage, vegetable, and secret sauce. Basil is scarce around here so I took some seeds from home (i suspected well before) and made my own little garden. Now we can enjoy fresh basilico in our salads, calzones, and sauce anytime we please.

We have plenty of ice cream, thankfully. I found my beloved microwave popcorn. Potatoes are no shortage here.. ok we've covered most of the things I love. Half joking.. I could live without them.
Fresh fruit is plenty - and I am lucky to have found a huge fruit and veggie market just 15 minutes walk from home.
Still remembering to wash all very very well. It may be fresh but it's not pesticide free. We are still in China people. And if you're really nervous you could just peel it all, which I mostly do.. but it really doesn't make sense since I don't peel tomatoes and I continue to eat lettuce. I just wash it well.

Yummy watermelon on hot days is more appetizing than I ever thought it would be.

I have introduced many new fruits and veggies to my kitchen, some of which I still don't know the name of. Many leafy green vegetables similar to bok choy.. durian fruit, starfruit, that pink one. All the while never crossed paths with any asparagus or zucchini. I am hoping that the season has yet to arrive. *crosses fingers.

My parsley garden didn't grow but I am thinking to try again. Not to forget that it's on average 35 degrees daily here. Perhaps when the weather cools, it will grow. Never give it direct sunlight either. It'll be dead in a day!

We have a little deli up the street that imports food and drinks. Luck has it so close to where I live.. they import fresh fruit juices that are sugar free, pureed tomatoes in a glass bottle (rather than a can,) Barilla pasta, salamis and deli meats, Chilean wine, cheese, EV olive oil.... so that helps. But I am missing out on a nice selection of breads. Chinese people don't eat bread!! Rather, steamed buns which I can't compare to a nice pita bread, or wheat bagette.
Can't have it all!! At least it's all mostly cheap to eat.

xo

HDR

My newest HDR test images. I need practice.. and more experience with Photoshop. In good time.

Shanghai with a good friend

I can't fully describe the feeling when I learned that Aimee would be in China this year. It included nostalgia, excitement, joy, luck..

There's something about meeting a friend across the world that really sinks in deep for me. The memory remains with me in a different way than other memories and for me, and the friendship strengthens.
Previous to this encounter was about 2 years ago when the lovely JL was in Rome and we climbed the millions of steps of the Duomo for a birds eye view of the city. Thanks JLee for including me in your trip plans :D

Jen and I in front of the Trevi Fountain

My trip to Shanghai to see Aimee ended up being a bittersweet experience. We spent two days together sightseeing, visiting art galleries, eating, drinking and enjoying life. One of the girls in her brigade suggested having a 5 star meal at the top of one of the fine restaurants near the Pearl Tower. What a delicious meal! For 186RMB I should hope so!

My deliciously deadly brunch

Everything was delicious and even though I'm not a huge fan of salmon, I ate the whole thing. Even after my neighbor asked if I was going to finish that... I said, yes... I'm just taking my time, enjoying it, you know. In the end I'm unsure what it was that put off my stomach but I'm guessing it was the salmon.

I spent a sleepless night sweating and making bathroom breaks about twice an hour. Finally the next afternoon, after deciding that the over the counter medicine wasn't working, I went to the hospital. They said I should have come earlier because the infection was serious. They hooked me up to an IV and sent someone for the medicine.

I re-booked my flight home for 2 days later in case they took my temperature in the airport and I still had a bit of a fever. But, the trip was already over. I bounced back so quickly but it was time to go home.

Thanks Aimee for a great time!! Being a wonderul nurse and including me in your travel plans even though I was more of a burdon than a pleasure ;)

I did however get to see the Peking Opera, Farewell to my Concubine, and tour the French Concession while I was there. I'm pretty sure that Shanghai is included in our future plans early in 2010 so I WILL BE BACK!

The Peking Opera

Aimee peeking through after my last meal before I got sick

Thailand adventures coming soon. I will try to update from the road since blogger shouldn't be blocked there.

:D

HDR and digital imaging

Hello hello hello

Everyone knows I like to take photographs .. really..? I do.

I've recently discovered HDR while browsing through stock photography websites. I sat here wondering, how the heck do they make those photos look so vividly amazing and full of detail, contrast and color!?
The answer: High Dynamic Range.

Looking back I wish I had followed through with photography because I'd at least be equipped with the basic tools of digital imaging... aaand since I didn't I've been teaching myself how to make my pics look nicer than straight off the camera. And honestly, a lot of the time there is tons of grey matter and dullness and they don't look pretty at all.

Since I'm not smart as a whip it seems that learning Photoshop has proven to be difficult for me. I still DO NOT understand layers and all the fancy ways to edit out little marks or smudges on the lens. I also don't have youtube. Thanks China for blocking the tools I need to SELF EDUCATE. But I managed to find some video tutorials and step by step guides on how to create an HDR image.

Basically, I took 5 photos all at different levels of exposure and to make a long story short I blended them to take advantage of the full colour scale.

See below my first image.
I don't think HDR is intended for night shots but rather high contrast with dramatic clouds etc etc. But, I will admit that I smiled when I finally finished this project. It's not a fast procedure but now that I've done one, I can build on it.

Click to enlarge

:D

Beijing and Xi'an

After MUCH planning on my part I'm glad to say that the Beijing/Xi'an trip was mostly successful!

The flying part was the easiest part. I have to say that China is pretty organized when it comes to the airlines. Checking in, security and all flights were quick and on time. We were even fed a full meal which is much more than Canada can offer these days without paying huge prices for a coke.

I had plans to book the hotel at Novotel which is the chain that we stay at while in Hong Kong but Nicola said to find something cheaper, so I did. I told him that I was looking in the border price range between clean and reputable hotel and hostel/2 star. Can't say that I didn't warn him and I left the decision up to him when we arrived and found the hotel filthy dirty and an entire assortment of condoms and lube in the bathroom for purchase!
So we left! Checked out and phoned our friend who recommeded a place called the Jade Hotel, which we were happy with.
Honestly, I don't care where we stay as long as it's clean. I stayed in a dorm in Ft Lauderdale last year and yea it was cheap and I slept on an air mattress but at least it was clean!
I'm an avid tripadvisor user so if you want to check out my reviews, my username is TorontoTara.

First impression of Beijing was that it was a very large city. Not large in the sense like it's a big place and easy to get lost.. large like the intersections are 6 lanes across. It takes a full 3 minutes to cross the road! Ti'ananmen Square, The Forbidden City, Summer Palace, Beihai Park.. all gigantic! To walk a few city blocks takes almost an hour.
The rickshaws on the street are all extremely pushy, which got irritating after the 10th guy following us and grabbing our arms for a ride.
The police were everywhere. Parts of the city seemed to close down to darkness at 10pm.
I liked Beijing but I wouldn't go back. Glad I visited and saw what I saw but no plans to ever go back.

Xi'an on the other hand was fantastic.
This city is under heavy construction so on the ride from the airport to the hotel we noticed how.. unfinished it all looked. And under a cloudy day, well, let's just say that we were hoping to be impressed later.
We were.
Xi'an is a city with life. The streets were flooded with locals. Stalls selling everything, tables set up with rows of lotto tickets, water for sale, handicrafts, newspapers, food, clothing off the back of the truck. The Muslim district was a maze of alleys behind the main street selling food food food. All sorts of street food, kebobs, rice dishes, squid on a stick, I can't name it all!
The shopping was incredible. I finally gave in and bought myself an outfit. Since I'm not working I haven't bought myself a single article of clothing but I figured I would be pissed at myself if I didn't buy something at those prices. All the hip clothes that Toronto sells for outrageous prices plus tax I can buy in China for Y50 which = $7. So I did. I bought an outfit that is clearly Chinese :D

Handicrafts sold on the street

We went to the Big Goose Pagoda since there is a bi-hourly fountain show. So we went for the final show of the night at 9pm. Little did we know that half of China would also be there. Arriving 15 minutes before the show did not give enough time to secure a spot within view of the show.
My book read that it is the biggest and most elaborate fountain show in all of Asia..and it was! We ended up catching the final 5 minutes after climbing a huge lightpole structure thing and shared with all the little kids who also climbed up.
My photos revealed that all the people were playing and laughing in the water as it spurt out of the ground as the show was playing! What fun!

We went on a sidetrip to see the Terra Cotta Army which estimates over 8000 soldiers once they are all excavated. I think we saw 2000 of them at the site. Named one of the 8th wonders of the world and a world heritage site, it was quite a sight.

I'll finish this blog entry with a little about the Great Wall hike.

Not knowing which Great Wall site to visit, I left a post in the tripadvisor forum for advice and names of trusted tour guides/drivers who could take us for the day trip.

We ended up meeting two early 20's girls who were traveling as well and wanted to visit Simatai which is the most natural and unrestored part of the wall. The trip was longer and more expensive but apparently worth it in the end to see the real thing and not the restored bricks that the Chinese have been replacing the real thing with.

You can clearly see the difference between the restored part and the natural part of the wall.
Click pic for a closer look.

After a 2.5 hr drive to Jinshaling we were dropped off and the driver would meet us at the other side, Simatai. The hike was 10.6 km.. not that I knew how far that really was....
FAR!
One girl in our group was sick from heat/sun stroke (could have been either) and so we took the walk slow and leisurely.. 5 hours! Great views, tons of crumbling stairs, 37 watchtowers and about 15 bottles of water later we arrived at the end.. only to find another 15 minute walk back to the parking area. So we ziplined down! Glad the option was there cause we were sooo tired and sunburned and hungry.
Looking back, I'm glad I did it. Good thing I have been going to the gym.

Allll those stairs.. What you can see of the wall in this pic, we hiked. Pat on the back ;) Good work.
Click to enlarge for a closer look.

:D