Steamed River Fish with Ginger (清蒸鲈鱼) & The Hutong Review

It's been a long while, I'm sorry.  It's been a mixture of laziness and stress and apathy, perhaps not the best way to start the year. 

So let's talk about January.  January was mostly spent in Beijing, where it was cold, sunny and "foggy".
 
I went to a cooking class over at The Hutong, which is a Chinese cultural center for foreigners.  I learned to cook Chinese New Year specialties, and this is one of the recipes that was taught: steamed river fish with ginger.  We like to eat whole fish. Fish is like the lucky mascot of Chinese culture.  It's often eaten on New Year's because the word "yu", fish in Chinese, sounds the same as the word for "surplus".  So we'd say may every year have surplus.

Zucchini Ribbons with Tomatoes, Tofu & Tahini

In Berlin, everything's organic.  These organic "Bio" signs are seen at restaurants, McDonalds, and street food stalls.  In this residential area that I live in, all the little grocery stores sell only organic stuff.  Now, at first I was super excited, but then.... It's all so expensive! I agree that some things should be organic.  Eggs, meat, milk, some fruits and veg like strawberries, nectarines, celery, apples.  Yes, but some things, like cabbage and onions, you can just remove the outer pesticided layer.  Bananas - the skin's so thick, the pesticide won't go through.  I personally don't want to spend twice as much on organic bananas.

3 Ingredient Banana Pancakes

It is Day 5 of my Paleo Challenge.  I'm hungry and lethargic. Today I was asked why I was doing this to myself -- it obviously has no health benefits, and it is costing me a bomb.  Meat, fish, vegetables and all that is natural and good just costs a fortune in this country.  I don't really know why I'm doing this to myself -- self-discipline, pride... I don't know.  It's only day 5 and I'm already tempted to stop.  Maybe I'll end it early...

Throughout this challenge, I haven't been eating anything too interesting, the only meal where I make an effort is breakfast, hence it being the only one I tweet about (follow me on Twitter if you want to know all the other interesting things I eat! #shamelessselfpromotion).

So while they may look like normal pancakes, they tasted........ well, they weren't bad.  But i had these while watching my friends have normal sour cream pancakes that looked a lot better.  It's the texture that was a bit off-putting. Not off-putting, but just..not cakey.  Duh, no flour.

One Week Paleo Challenge

First of all, HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR! it's the year of the snake.  If you can read Mandarin, you'll be able to appreciate this.

"朋友您好，為了你好，
請您坐好，用心聽好。
錢多錢小，夠吃就好。
人醜人美，順眼就好。
人老人少，健康就好。
家窮家富，和氣就好。
老公晚歸，有回就好。
老婆嘮叨，顧家就好。
父母健在，福報最好。
翁姑兩老，有了是寶。
孩子從小，就要教好。
博士也好，賣菜也好，
長大以後，乖乖就好。
房屋大小，能住就好。
名不名牌，能穿就好。
兩輪四輪，能駕就好。
老闆不好，要忍就好。
是是非非，不理最好。
一切煩惱，能解就好。
堅持執著，放下最好。
人的一生，平安就好。
不是有錢，一定會好。
心好行好，命能改好。
孝善二行，原來最好。
誰是誰非，天知就好。
修福修慧，來世更好。
說這麼多，明白就好。
天地萬物，隨緣就好。
很多事情，看開就好。
人人都好，日日都好。
你好我好，世界更好。
今天立春，蛇年啟動！"