Customized Sambal Prawn

Sambal prawn paste and sambal belacan paste is something that is readily available in Shanghai. Something which I can easily purchase from Parkson. But here in Beijing, it's not that foreign friendly. Maybe not many Malaysians over here. Parkson Beijing did not sell these stuffs.

In a desperate attempt to cook sambal prawns, I bought whatever southeast asian paste that I could find in the foreigner section. I bought the Singapore fried meehoon paste instead.


I was working from home today and decided to try out the new paste. I added some cili padi to the taste while stir frying the onions with the paste before adding in the prawns.

It turns out pretty well. The taste is good... not bad at all.


Seems like I can workaround my environment and customized my sambal prawn. I will be in Shanghai in November and I will make sure I stock up some Malaysia cooking paste.

My New Toy

I bought a new toy - Canon EOS 500D with Sigma 18-200mm lens. I was playing with it for the whole day until I forgot it was way past dinner time.

Here are some initial shots taken, testing for the focus mode. You will need to click on these pictures to view them better.










Yay! Am so happy I got this toy!!

Sunscreens

I am currently doing a lot of study about sunscreen / sunblock. I can tell you, that the more I know, the more frustrated I am. I bet if I ask my girlfriends these question, none of them can answer all of it:

1. How much SPF is enough?
2. What is PA, PA+, PA++, PA+++?
3. Is your sunscreen a physical or chemical block?
4. Do you apply your sunscreen before or after moisturizer?
   

The trickiest question is question 4. I have asked ‘N’ number of friends and all of them told me it’s the last thing to apply. WRONG! Whether it’s the first or last thing to apply, it really depends on whether the sunscreen is a physical or chemical sunscreen. And you need to know the ingredients to get the answer.

Physical sunscreen is the one that blocks away the UV rays. It is those sunblock that often leaves a white cast on your face, and it generally does not offer much UVA protection. This is the greatest down side because UVA are the biggest culprit that causes wrinkles!!! Active ingredients are zinc oxide and titanium dioxide.

Chemical sunscreen works by absorbing the sun rays. Active ingredients include Mexoryl SX and XL. But if you happen to use the wrong type of chemical sunscreen containing Avobenzone, it can be dangerous as these substance are unstable and can even absorb more sun rays than protecting your skin from it!!! Chemical filters offer more coverage against UVA and UVB rays than physical sunscreens, but some may irritate skin.

If you are using physical sunscreen, it goes as the last step on your skincare regime. If you are using chemical sunscreen, it has to go first, because it works best when in contact with skin.

I am currently using Shiseido Extra Smooth Sun Protection. It’s a physical sunscreen. I also have a sample of Vichy UV Pro chemical sunscreen containing Mexoryl, but I have yet to try it. Don’t wanna slap my skin with all these chemical all at once. Later breakout then I die!!

So you see, the more I know, I more frustrated I get. Coz I want full protection from UVA and UVB, and physical sunscreen can’t give me that. Will try on chemical sunscreen once I get the chance. Weather is changing now, I don’t dare to be too adventurous with my skin.

Another Weekend in Beijing

This is my 5th weekend in Beijing. Time flies. I met up with Yu-Hsien and William on Saturday for Japanese barbecue at Lucky Street. It was supposed to be Japanese barbecue but I think it's really just Korean BBQ.

Went to stroll around Solana after lunch and took a few pictures. Solana is a nice shopping place and rather happening with some stalls settings in the open air area. But this is definitely not a place to go during winter.


The lake beside Chaoyang Park with some very nice restaurants and cafe. Would love to have brunch at one of these places.


Me and Yu-Hsien.


I had dim sum on Sunday with Su-En, her hubby and her 2 kids at Crystal Jade. Forgot to snap pictures. Her kids are adorable. Will take some pictures and post it next time.

The Rehearsal

Ok, yesterday I went down to kepoh a bit on the rehearsal. Since I was home and I could see many people out there kepoh-ing as well, it was quite happening.

The rehearsal here was mainly for the tankers. Nothing much to see. Many people got bored and went loitering around, chatting with each other. Hubby met a few of his colleagues too.





I decided to walk around and saw many people doing funny stuffs.
There is a woman playing with 2 small dogs; a poodle and a yorkshire terrier. I really think she is torturing the poodle by carrying it up and down like a toy.


Then there is this man holding his son and trying to cross the fountain. I was hoping for them to fall into the water, but they did not.


Father and son playing basketball. The ball nearly hit me.


And the one I found most amusing... this woman was carrying her dog coz she wants to show him the tankers. So many people were taking her photo and laughing at her actions, including me.


It was a cool, breezy day. Everyone was having fun coz those living around affected area are off from work early. It was an early weekend for all. :)

Through my Windows

Many friends asked me why I seldom blog in Beijing. Actually, there's nothing really interesting to blog about and my work has also keep me occupied most of the time. I live just opposite my office, and I cook after work everyday. Thats why... have been busy with these routines.

Since today I am working from home because of the Beijing road closure, I took some pictures out of my apartment window. I live on the 5th floor, so it is quite low and couldn't see much.

Here's one. The building in the middle is actually JW Mariott. Ritz Carlton is just beside JW.


This is the other side overlooking to the main road. The Dawang Rd which was closed today for the national day rehearsal.



I zoomed in and captured this. Seems like they are preparing for the rehearsal and many bystanders are there for a first hand show. Maybe I will walk out to have a look too.

Wahlau!! Me need to go home now!

Wah big news... all roads going to close now. My office area is at CBD and I live in CBD! To be specific, the Dawang Lu which is directly affected. Which means, I can't go out today between 1pm to 7.30pm. Crazy!!

Read this STOP PRESS!

I wonder what will happen if people just walk around the streets and open their windows? Will they get shot? Wow... seems like communism in action.

China National Day

For those living in China, we will soon have a long holiday from Oct 1-8 for the Chinese National Day celebration. This year will be extra special, as both Moon Cake Festival and National Day falls on the same week. Moreover, it is China's 60th anniversary celebration and they are really making it big!

I took this picture from my office. There is an empty space there and I can see the tankers and soldiers there rehearsing. There are road closure every week for the practice. Chiu! I can't even go to Hyatt for my favourite lunch buffet over weekends because no taxi drivers are willing to go there. They are afraid to be stuck there due to the traffic because of this.


Yesterday, I receive this email from my office admin:

"From Beijing Capital International Airport :
All morning domestic flights to and from Beijing, China will be canceled on 1 October 2009, from around 9:00am to 12:50pm, mid-day, local time, because of security concerns for the National Day parade. International flights from/to Beijing will be postponed. Flights take off time will be resumed from 12:50pm onwards.

The order was issued to increase safety for the 60th anniversary of the founding of People's Republic of China.

Police have already set up checkpoints and are inspecting all vehicles entering Beijing at nearly 200 major road intersections. "

Wuah... lucky me that I have not booked any air tickets... else really vomit blood!

Super Low Humidity

Beijing, famously known for its low humidity air quality. It has been one month since I officially moved to Beijing and here are some of my experiences on the city’s low humidity.

Washed my jeans and left it indoor. Jeans dried after couple of hours. OMGosh!!

The air is super dry. So dry that it’s sucking away every single drop of moisture out of my skin. My skin became koyak in Beijing. I have to change my sunscreen product. I was previously using Sofina Beaute UV Cut Emulsion SPF24PA+++ and I loved it until I moved to Beijing. This product is really not suitable to be used any longer.

I changed to Shiseido Super Smooth Sun Protection Cream SPF38PA+++. Though it's good, Im still not truly satisfied yet. Every girl out there would know the pains and process of getting the right sunscreen for your face.

I even bought the super expensive Cosme Decorte Moisture Liposome, costing a whopping >USD100 for a 40ml bottle. I must say this is a star product. It helps tremendously! Love this product and it's the best serum I've used in my life in terms of moisturizing power.

I am also using My Beauty Diary face mask everyday. Thank God this brand is so affordable here in China that I can use it on a daily basis.

Can’t say that I’m totally satisfied with my Shiseido sunscreen now as its too early to tell if it’s working for me. But I’m sad that I had to leave my Sofina Beaute sunscreen. Perhaps I will use that in summer when it’s humid in Beijing.

后海 - Houhai

Saturday outing with Hubby - a walk at Houhai area. It started off with a lazy morning at home, breakfast in bed. We went to Houhai area around 2pm, to a place called 南锣鼓巷 (Nanluogu Xiang). This is one of the famous hutongs (back lane / alley) which has been in existence for more than 700 years. It has now turned into a thriving streets of bars, cafes and boutiques of art & crafts.

Here are some pictures taken at Nanluogu Xiang:









We continued our journey through Gulou Dajie, and at the corner of the streets, we saw a lot of foreigners walking out from a lane. We took a turn into the lane to see what's in store. There were 2 tourist attractions there, Drum Tower and Bell Tower. Doesn't look interesting to us so we did not enter.



We continued walking down Di'Anmen Dajie and saw the long queue here... we took a peek at whats selling and it seems like some kinda bread or pastry. Heard it was one of the famous pastry, but could not understand why people queue such a long queue. Maybe it's really good.



Continue walking down Di'Anmen and we saw a lake. This is Qianhai (前海).


There are many people swimming in the lake! This is the first time I see people swimming in a public recreational lake area and I thought it was pretty dangerous as it was deep, dirty and there was no lifeguard.


We continued our journey to the street opposite the lake and arrived at the famous bar street, Houhai. We saw something interesting here; this bird was trained to place RMB1 into the piggy bank. It only choses RMB1. Many passersby tossed 50 and 10 cent coins and it refuses to perform! Cute! Really smart!



Here are some of the bars at Houhai, preparing for a busy Saturday night. It was still early and not really crowded yet. We saw a nice Thai restaurant with tables by the lake, but unfortunately, we were not hungry. Maybe next time. I would really love to have Thai food sitting by the lakeside.



Me and Hubby were really tired after the long walk. We should have taken the rickshaw. Anyway, it was a good walk under the great weather. I shall visit 北海 (Beihai) in my next Beijing by Foot adventure.