Thursday, April 30, 2009

A Casa in Cina

L told me a funny incident yesterday - he was getting out of the lift when the doors opened and a monkey was standing outside on the ground floor. He was in shock and nearly shat himself. Last weekend, mom said everyone was amused by the AVA guys who were trying hard to catch some monkeys on the loose at the wet market. I don't know where they come from but they seem to be settling well in the neighbourhood.

Funnily I didn't see any monkeys at Hainan even though they had a widely publicised Monkey island (i kid you not!) All I remember were thousands of balmy coconut trees and rice paddy fields. The heritage trail was an amusing tale and I'd need more time to write about it (sorry was busy with a preview for a French auction house last week!). Firstly L was supposed to go with us but was rejected at the Budget terminal because he didn't know about the 'letter' from the China Embassy to say he can get a visa upon arrival. We were devastated. I wouldn't have gone if I hadn't booked the hotel at Sanya. Anyway we only had ourselves to blame becos we should have done our research and covered all grounds.

Mom and 2nd aunt (dad's side) were equally disappointed as they were hoping to show off L to the folks. Imagine bringing an angmoh to this remote rural village. He'd be a circus freakshow or hometown celebrity. Either way, it'd be hilarious. Anyway I'm cheating on my blog entry for this trip, and have cut and pasted the story I did for a food and travel magazine below - enjoy!

Hello To Hainan
Nothing quite prepared me for Hainan, even though I’ve heard several accounts of our ancestral village from my family. The travel literature on this ‘Hawaii of the Orient’ is also rather cursory and limited on the internet, so I could only envision this lush tropical island south of China (approximately four times as big as Singapore) by piecing imagery from the many Miss Universe beauty pageants that were paraded against the sunny backdrop of Sanya’s beach resorts.

Understandably this glamour factor, together with its all-year warm weather and many fine beaches of Sanya, are the main reasons why most tourists flock to Hainan. Since this was my first time in my ‘homeland’, I roped in my mother and aunt – both veteran visitors to Hainan. We would travel from Haikou in the north and eat our way to Qiong Hai and the nearby ancestral village Hui Li. Sanya would be the icing on the cake.

To begin with, Haikou is a bustling modern cityscape that is no different from Hong Kong with its maddening traffic and grim concrete terrain. I couldn’t mutter a word of Hainanese but thankfully my Mandarin (or ‘guo yu’) came in useful as we bantered with relatives over a feast of pork ribs and papaya soup, stir-fried beef and tofu, braised pork belly, baby sea cucumber with kalian vegetables, eggplant on sizzling hotplate and the ubiquitous Wen Chang chicken. Food is indeed a great ice breaker.

Apparently the inspiration for Singaporean’s Hainanese chicken, this local breed of Wen Chang chicken is a definite winner with its tender, flavourful and lean meat – simply boiled and served with a chilli dip (other frills like the ginger dip, dark soy sauce and rice cooked with chicken stock are Singapore inventions). At other meals, I got to try the other famous local specialties – Jia Ji duck and Dong Shan lamb – but alas, the He Le crabs were not in season.

At the morning markets of Qiong Hai (similar to those found in Vietnam and Laos), farmers showcased a wide variety of fresh produce, live stocks and rice – essential ingredients that contribute to the uncomplicated Hainanese cooking. Even favourite breakfast choices of Bao lor fun (thick succulent noodles in a meat gravy) and piping hot claypot porridge are unfussy and comforting.
Outside the cities, Hainan is simply green and verdant. Closer to the ancestral village of Hui Li, our taxi ride got bumpier as we passed by rice paddy fields, pineapple groves, guava trees heavy with fruit and troops of ducks wet from the rain. Once we got there, a curious crowd of relatives and villagers came to welcome us. Some of them had chosen to remain in the village and make their living as farmers. Their houses were austere by our standards but they should be proud of their abundant vegetable plots, fruit trees, and animal stocks of plump geese, chickens and ducks.

After paying our respects at the ancestors’ altars, I was quite amazed to learn that all the family records were still being updated and we could trace our roots to our predecessor Lu Duo Xun more than 1,000 years ago. He was a politician, historian, writer, diplomat and philanthropist who fled the warring states in mainland China in that era and had come to settle in the village.

We considered it a huge privilege to be able to trace our heritage and are also grateful for the opportunities that we have now, had it not been for my grandfather who left Hainan at the tender age of 14 to seek a better life. As we sat down to a sumptuous home-cooked lunch washed down with plenty of fresh coconut juice, our two different worlds were united by a common lineage.

I wasn’t prepared for what I had experienced so far on the trip but more surprises awaited at Sanya. For starters, one would think we were in Russia, given the prolific Russian street signs and adverts found there. Apparently Sanya has long been a tropical haven for Russians to get away from the cold, and is also an alluring beach destination for waves of well-heeled mainland Chinese tourists decked in shocking Hawaiian prints.

With the boom in tourism and property market, many international hotel chains, from the likes of The Hilton to The Banyan Tree, are claiming their stakes at Sanya and changing the landscape at an alarming rate. But for now, the public infrastructure and urban planning still have a long way to go, compared to the more matured beach destinations in Asia. Sanya has a lot of potential, especially in the region of eco tourism with its rich natural resources of volcanoes, hot springs and ancient forest reserves.

It’s a shame we didn’t have time to explore these natural treasures but we did enjoy our last days in Hainan lapping up the fine powdery beaches, dining on the wonderful live seafood and relaxing to traditional Chinese massages. We also lugged back exquisite dried seafood, Chinese herbs, preserved fruits, coconut candy and coconut-laced coffee so we could share a taste of Hainan with our loved ones at home.

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Buona Pasqua

Buona pasqua tutti! Easter doesn't mean anything special to me, but it's an important occasion for L and his catholic famiglia. They'd be stuffing their faces on all kinds of traditional dishes including goat, Easter cakes and sweets. Sfortunatamente L had to work throughout the long weekend, although we are also thankful for the work. The contract has not been discussed but we'll see what's been offered. I told him if the terms are not favourable, just screw it and wait for something better to come along. Another amico met someone from the IR and asked for his CV to be sent. At this rate, his resume is well circulated there! Bene, bene.

Last week's headlines that caught our attention was of couse the terremoto (earthquake) in L'Aquila area. Unknown to many, Italy is an earthquake prone country. In history books, there had been many well documented earthquake incidents, specialmente the big one that shook Umbria decades ago that destroyed many great monuments. Gang wrote to say he felt the tremours twice at Perugia and ran out terrified. I could imagine his fear. In Italy, most of the old towns' palazzi are ancient and might not hold up.

Amid the earthquake concerns, L's mamma, papa and zia called on numerous occasions to chat with him. It has been almost 3 months since he left home and they must miss him a lot. Perhaps we will have some italian visitors this summer lol. I don't think we'd be going back to Italia this year, as much as we'd love to be at Nonna's gran 80th birthday festa in July. For now, we are looking forward to the upcoming vacanza at Hainan in China - la nostra prima volta li! We're already curious about my ancestral village and forsee a group of bemused relatives who'd be surprised to see a chao angmoh eating with chopsticks in their ulu kampong.

Saturday, April 04, 2009

La Cucina Italiana


L has lost more than 10kg since he arrived; he could have lost more if not for the lovely local temptations that I've introduced him to - from curries and chilli crabs to durian cakes and char kway tiao. Fortunatamente his first love is popiah (but having said that, he could eat 10 of these in a sitting). The 2 things he missed most - which are also his pitfalls - are good crusty salty bread and all the milky fatty cheese like mozzarella and latte di fiori. He confessed luckily my dad brings back lots of fish and seafood so we can always whip up some seafood spaghetti.

I also surprise him with a loaf occasionally from Cedele and just last weekend, brought him to Quattro Stagioni italian gourmet store at Liang Court, and splurged on a ball of fresh mozzarella, mortadella ham, organic arugula and pomodori so he could make his preferito panino. Last month we also cooked up a storm at Giovanni and tag-teamed to create an italian feast of panzarotti (ham croquettes), parmiggiana (baked fried eggplant), a big tray of baked tagliatelle with meat and funghi, and tiramisu was courtesy of F, whom I must say has blossomed into a capable cook.

Cooking is easy; it's just how good or bad you want it to be. Now I leave you with the recipe of the week:

Carla's pasta con arugula, capperini & pomodori

Ingredients:
Pasta (of your preference, I like angel hair)
3 cloves of garlic (finely chopped)
10 capers (finely chopped)
10 cherry tomatoes (halved)
Organic arugula (rocket leaves)
Salt & pepper to taste

Method:
1. Boil pasta for 6mins or until al dente.
2. While pasta is boiling, fry garlic and capers till fragrant.
3. Add tomatoes and cook for 2mins. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
4. Toss in cooked pasta and stir well. Add arugula last and dig in! (The hot pasta will just slightly wilt the arugula... mmm, can add chilli flakes too.)

Wednesday, April 01, 2009

La Connezione Italiana

Sometimes when I tried to hook L up with some italian contacts, he'd say 'I didn't come to S'pore to meet other italians'. Hey, you never know. From what I observed, italians love to help their counterparts, specialmente when they are many thousands miles away from home. We Singaporeans would shun our fellow beings at the hint of a 'lah' or 'lor'. Anyway I'd always say - never rule out any contacts. I sent his CV to every possible remote friend/associate/family who's a step away from the relevant hospitality/F&B/casino industries he has experience in. He was also very diligent in networking at career fairs and posting his CV to every hotel.

We kept positive amid these 'recession times' and I made him read 'The Secret' which helped to attract the right energies to turn our beliefs into reality. Il secreto finally worked last Friday when on a whim, I emailed his cv to this italian guy who ran 3 ristoranti siciliani. He called L in for an interview almost immediately and asked him to start training 2 days later! Woa-hoo. We'll see how it'll unfold but we're grateful things are looking up. If this doesn't pan out, he can try his hand at making the coffee buns from the uncle at the Elias Mall 'dino-pao' dim sum shop. We can just imagine us in a steamy small shop rolling out buns after buns and selling them for 1 euro each outside the stadio in Napoli.