Shanghai Street Eats: Crawfish Time at Shouning Lu!

It's crawfish season in Shanghai!... (well at least it was about a month ago, slacker blogger that I am)

Beware all the neon in this post...

Anyways, crawfish street eats are right up our alley, so we were excited to make a night of it and headed to Shouning Lu, aka. the street of everything crawfish. Oddly enough, this little street eats gem is located just a hop away from the luxurious Xintiandi neighborhood, but it's a bit of a different universe.

This one little street is lined with crawfish / crab / unknown seafood delicacies all basking in the neon lights. It's hard to decide where to settle in as they basically all look the same. We opted for #17 and took our spots on the tiny stools at the tiny tables. 

Then it was time to order. There was a picture menu, but this didn't exactly help us to clarify the options, so instead we just pointed around to what we saw that looked tasty at other tables.

Look at these tasty little buggers! We opted for lots of red crawfish. (There are also the white version, but they look like centipedes... we weren't ready for that)

No, thank you.

Can't ever find a decent napkin in China, but you don't need one with plastic gloves!

The aftermath... Yes, I obviously brought Wet Ones.

Health freaks beware. I'd argue that the health code rating isn't quite up to snuff, considering there were some pretty spectacular piles of trash heaping up at every turn. I'd recommend selecting a spot with blinders on and only taking a look at your surroundings AFTER you've enjoyed these tasty treats. 

Yikes!

Next up, hairy crab season!

My Love / Hate Relationship with the Internet

I love the internet. I love that I can access 98.5% of everything I've ever wanted to know or find by typing in a few key words. I especially love the internet in China because it allows me to feel closer to friends & family even when we are far away.

I love the internet, but I HATE HATE HATE when it doesn't work. For the past 3 weeks, our internet has not worked properly, and some days it doesn't work at all. My favorite is when the little icon in the lower right says "Connected" but when you click on it, it says "No Internet Connection." This is the point at which I want to throw my computer across the room and scream, "what is the world is the point of being connected then?!?!"

Why, oh why internet do you torture me so? I know if I could just get connected to you, you have a million little treasures just waiting for me to find! Additionally, it's been a sting to my pride as I've really been trying to be better about posting on a regular basis. If not a full post, at least keeping up with my photo of the day! However, any time I attempt a picture upload, Game Over. So while I've drafted quite a few posts in Word, they won't be seeing the light of day until the internet fixes itself.

Do I NEED the internet to survive? Obviously not. There are many other things, more adventurous things, I could do with my time. But I WANT it. Instead, I spend hours trying to respond to emails, attempting photo uploads, reconnecting dropped Skype calls...

Can anyone else relate?

Anyways, this is a long-winded way of saying... apologies for continued radio silence.

After multiple attempts to schedule an appointment, the internet repair guy comes tonight, fingers crossed! Although I don't have my hopes up...
http://www.cityweekend.com.cn/shanghai/articles/blogs-shanghai/cw-radar/slow-internet-connection-try-china-telecoms-quick-fix/

Shanghai Food Adventures

Yesterday was a day of food experimenting. You may have seen my instagram pic, but I tried stomach for the first time!

Let me explain... I passed a little Mandarin test, so my favorite teacher, Vivian & I headed out for a celebratory lunch. We went to her favorite hotpot spot near school. Did I go into this lunch knowing I'd be eating stomach? No. But when she suggested I try & offered to treat, I felt the need to be polite.

We started our meal with deliciously spicy broth, some traditional chinese medicine mushrooms that grow out of the bodies of insects, I didn't believe Vivian when she told me this, but then I found this: "CORDYCEPS MUSHROOMs is the fungus which attacks insects and then grows from their bodies" also known as “Chinese caterpillar mushroom”. Yep, that's what I ate! Those mushrooms seemed so harmless without the bug bodies attached & delicious! Sometimes it's better not to know...

Next up, the stomach! I was assured it was incredibly clean and this was one of the best spots to try it. After swallowing some significant trepidation, I popped this little guy in my mouth and started chewing. Yes, it was chewy but actually just absorbed the flavor of the tasty broth. I ate about 5 pieces total and was incredibly proud of myself. :)

Well, that was new!

Then for dinner we were joining in the Ramen craze and were headed to Ippudo, actually a global Ramen restaurant chain. We were told to expect an hour wait, but they moved everyone in & out super fast, with incredibly responsive service. Everyone recommended different items to try so of course we tried them all. :)

Lasagna Gyoza: Fried dumplings with Mariana & Cheesy topping (yes, I figured out a way to fit cheese even into this meal :) )

Eel Stone Pot: Eel on top of pork fried rice

2 types of Ramen:  Akamura & Karaka. I'd say the Akamura is traditional & delicious, but once you've had the Karaka, you can't go back. It's incredibly flavorful. Oh I just wanted to put the bowl to my face I couldn't get enough.

This was incredibly delicious & gave us a chance to practice our noodle slurping skills. 
How to Slurp Ramen from Young & Hungry
I think I'm a "seven-sided strike" & Matt's a "Godzilla"  What slurp style are you?

Travels: Singapore Photo-fest

So... Funny story... “there was a miscommunication,” [our agreed upon language, eventhough I assure you it wasn’t my fault] and my flight home from Singapore "was not booked…" We realized this on the way to Singapore, so it was a bit of a scramble to find me a flight home. (One of those situations that was funny, then not funny, then funny again & now it's pretty hilarious).

This means by Sunday morning Matt’s trip was over and he was headed back to Shanghai, as planned, but now I still had 2 more days to explore! The trip continues! :) While a bummer that Matt had to return home to WORK or something silly like that, this meant it was time for me to break out the fancy camera and snap away! 

Here’s just a random sampling of the innumerable garden & cityscape photos...

...you'll also see what happens when a girl has a fancy camera, little editing knowledge and too much time on her hands...

Singapore Botanical Gardens, so pretty

it's like Central Park! kinda, but it's a huge playground. :)

   

 St. Andrew's Cathedral

Details & Example 1 of my "editing" 

Singapore Marina Bay Skylines

Singapore Flyer I LOVE a good Ferris wheel, but it costs $30 for a spin, so I took pics from here. :)

Silly Editing Examples continued...

Wahoowa! inspired

Marina Bay Sands (our view from the roof yesterday)

Gardens by the Bay I didn't go into any of the domes since I'm a cheapskate, as mentioned above, however, the outer areas were still great!

   

  

 Last but certainly not least, I reunited with Chris for a fancy Japanese FEAST at Mikuni!!

  

Sushi & Sake Course

mixed platter of deliciousness

popped this little sucker straight in my mouth & he sure was adorable and crispy!

this is just a last addition from my taxi to the airport... I thought it was important for you all to know that if you wanted to put 6 kids or little people in a taxi in Singapore, you can!

until next time Singapore!... I'll miss your tasty treats & lickable sidewalks. :)