FOOD, Uncategorized ‘MY LOCAL STORE’ COOKING CLASS 16 November 2009

My Local Store is an online grocery store that specialises in fresh produce delivered right to your door. It’s fabulous for lazy people like me, especially when the weather is horrific outside. Last week, it was balmy and warm, and this week we’ve had a nasty drop into freezing winter – complete with gusty cold winds, non-stop rain and all round miserable weather. My Local Store delivers right to your door and best of all, orders of over 100? enjoy FREE delivery! w00t!

They decided to throw a cooking class to introduce people to the art of Chinese cooking, and as a fun event to meet people. My girl friend and I excitedly rocked up because we both love Chinese food πŸ™‚ The class was taught by Chef Kang, who hails from the Shanghai Gang Hong Hotel. Our menu was meat and veggie dumplings and fruit tang yuan dessert.

I loved how we each had our own cooking station – so instead of watching a chef cook (and trying to learn from that), we got the full hands-on experience. Made easy, since everything was pre-prepared for us earlier πŸ˜› It was not as easy as he made it look, boy did we struggle at the start! Amazingly though, the dumplings and tang yuan tasted fantastic. Not being biased or anything πŸ˜‰ It was so good that even the leftovers were delicious when re-cooked! I had no idea it was so straightforward to make dumplings – so I’ll be making them again tomorrow night… πŸ™‚

A BIG THANKS to My Local Store for sponsoring my friend and I. We had a fabulous time!


Because all ~professional chefs~ wear aprons πŸ˜‰

Class begins

Dear GF and I

We each had our own station, so it was totally hands on

Whack the pork filling into the dumpling skin…

… then ‘pinch’ the edges to seal.

It was damn hard!! Hence my sloppy dumplings πŸ˜‰

Freshly cooked

Taste-testing. They were BRILLIANT, if I do say so myself…. πŸ˜›

Nommity. I ate 10 of these.

Then it was time to cook the ‘tang yuan’, with red bean filling inside

What studious students we are *lol*!

All cooked up, with fruit and osmanthus flower syrup (!!)

With our nice chef, and our large glasses of wine (filled to
the brim each time), of which we had 5-7 glasses. Heh.

Afterwards, it was time for…….. FRIES!!!!

And “4 cheese” pizza. It was excellent, not oily, crispy base, so so so tasty.

Merrily tucking into my wine + pizza + fries. I was a happy girl.

Then it was off to Paulaner @ Xintiandi,
for some German food, wine and beers

I had pork knuckle. It was gooooooooood.

Feeling rather…. happy

And then finally, we kicked on to a little dive bar for more drinks.
After drinking for 12 hours, we finally staggered home. What a day!!


Let’s Chat!




Let's Chat!

At least can blame cold weather for the amount of alcohol. Where is that pizza place? Is it that new Italian restaurant on Dagu lu that u mentioned?

Yes that looks nice for Friday. Is it really good food for good price as it’s written in reviews? Cocktails 30 RMB! Hard to believe. We had dinner in DaMarco Xujiahui yesterday. It’s getting worse and worse. Hope original DaMarco is still keeping up.

At least can blame cold weather for the amount of alcohol. Where is that pizza place? Is it that new Italian restaurant on Dagu lu that u mentioned?

Yes that looks nice for Friday. Is it really good food for good price as it’s written in reviews? Cocktails 30 RMB! Hard to believe. We had dinner in DaMarco Xujiahui yesterday. It’s getting worse and worse. Hope original DaMarco is still keeping up.

Ooo but dont you have to boil em first to cook the meat/skin up, then panfry?
I’m making more tonight so might try that πŸ˜›

You can do both at the same time. Pan fry it briefly first, then pour about a cup of water into the pan and cover it. This will steam the dumpling. When the water is almost all gone check if the dumplings are done. If not add more water until they are cooked. You can then pan fry the sides more to make it more crispy.

You can pre-make the dumplings and freeze them in batches as well. That’s what I always do, much nicer than the ones you buy from the shops. πŸ™‚

Ooo but dont you have to boil em first to cook the meat/skin up, then panfry?
I’m making more tonight so might try that πŸ˜›

You can do both at the same time. Pan fry it briefly first, then pour about a cup of water into the pan and cover it. This will steam the dumpling. When the water is almost all gone check if the dumplings are done. If not add more water until they are cooked. You can then pan fry the sides more to make it more crispy.

You can pre-make the dumplings and freeze them in batches as well. That’s what I always do, much nicer than the ones you buy from the shops. πŸ™‚

I’m loving how the photos progress from totally sober to completely plastered πŸ™‚ We should cook dumplings when you come out in Jan! I miss our food parties.

I’m loving how the photos progress from totally sober to completely plastered πŸ™‚ We should cook dumplings when you come out in Jan! I miss our food parties.