Taiwanese Pancakes

At least that's what their called in China... I tried googling these babies to find a recipe to share, no luck :( maybe they have a different name. Or origin. That doesn't really matter though. I adore these things. I think I've had one every day since I discovered them a week ago... some days I even go get one for dinner.

 

It starts out as a dough ball. The lady was too quick for me to get a picture of that part.  They throw it on the griddle, and then press it into a circle with that big spatula, and she constantly spins it and flips it over so it gets cooked evenly. She takes the edge of her spatula and makes little holes in the pancake to make it more pliable when she rolls it up. 

They have all sorts of toppings, but I usually get egg and cheese. So she fries the egg, then lays the "pancake" on top of the semi-cooked egg so they stick together.

Then, she flips it over and lets the cheese get all melty and delicious. After that, she rolls it up, breakfast burrito style.

It goes into a little wrapper and a plastic bag for total portability. It doesn't ever last me longer than 2 minutes though. So yummy. I even had one for breakfast today...and dinner. :) 

Hey, I'm leaving Shanghai tomorrow and may not be able to get these in Nanjing. Though it would be a total shame.

Total cost? Depends on the place, but usually 6 kuai (less than a dollar my friends!)

The pancake is 3 kuai, egg is 1, cheese is 2... bacon/meat floss?? whatever that is/ham are 2 kuai... then they have "vegetable" which is either lettuce or cucumber, depending on the day for 1 kuai. You can add a sauce for free, but I just like it with salt and pepper. 

They have ketchup, mayo (haha "salad dressing"), spicy sauce, sweet and spicy sauce, and extra spicy sauce as the other options. Gotta love the translations!

Qibao (aka little Venice)

And that's a stretch. Qibao is one of the metro stops off of line 9. It took us about 30 minutes to get there from the hotel, which is great. The cost? 4 kuai each (let's say 60 cents, each way). We read about this little city (maybe its not a city, I'm not really sure) in a few different travel books. It was mentioned in Lonely Planet's Shanghai book and it is also briefly mentioned in a brochure we picked up called "Touring Shanghai via Metro". It was lightly raining and very overcast yesterday, so we almost decided to stay at the hotel... but then we figured, what's a little rain going to hurt? I'm so glad we went. It was super relaxing and great scenery. The only downside was the boats weren't operating yesterday because the water was too choppy. Boo.

This is the "entrance" to the canal side of town. Very Chinese, right? Let's start with the views. Despite the unfavorable weather, the views were still beautiful. I think my phone did a great job of taking these pictures for your viewing pleasure.

When you first walk in to this little town area, you come to a large open square. Straight ahead is the bridge to cross the main canal. To the left is a lovely little restaurant with this neat rock sculpture.

There's the canal. Kinda murky water, but who cares? Still pretty to look at, just wouldn't want to swim in it. :) 

Here's the boats. Don't they look like something you'd find on a road block for Amazing Race? It only costs 10 quai to ride them. I already want to go back :)

Right after you cross the bridge, you run into several of these stands. In all those little boxes are different stones. They'll either make you a necklace with the stone, or one of those red hanging tassels for good luck.

Now for the food. Ashley and I didn't eat "lunch" here, but of course we ate something. I actually had good ol' McDonalds. However, this place was bursting with food choices. See for yourself.

 Fresh crab, anyone?

Above you'll see all sorts of foods. Wish I could tell you what they were, but that's not the case. I saved the best for last:

You might have to click to enlarge. I think those birds on the stick are duck--head and all. Maybe not... I didn't stay around long enough to find out!

Of course the post isn't complete without pictures of Ashley and me. That's the street Ashley and I went window shopping on :)

A New Way to Do Your Business

 

I know you all have been dying to see this, so I thought I'd end the wait. This, my friends, is the new porcelain  throne. Notice the waste basket. They don't flush here, either. I thought I'd point that out in case you missed it :) Also notice there's no toilet paper. Yup, you have to bring your own. You can get a truckload of those mini-tissue packs for like $1. See the ridges around the toilet? That's where your feet go. And, make sure your bum is facing the door... well, you're lucky if you have a door. Sometimes, it is just an open stall. This is actually a very clean restroom, I've seen way worse. 

Luckily, I haven't had to try the squat pot yet. Usually there is an "accessible" toilet that looks like the ones I'm familiar with. Or, I wait til I find a nice, western hotel and I go inside and pretend like I'm staying there. So far, so good.