I'm Back in Elementary School

What was the best thing about elementary school? Some may say recess, some may say field trips, either way, you're out of class, and that's what mattered, right? We don't get recess here, but we do have field trips. Last week we had two, and today we had another one. This time, we went to a cooking school!

Every person made two dishes, chosen from a set list of dishes. We didn't do absolutely everything, such as mix up the sauces, but we did a lot of the preparation. The two dishes I made were Lemon Chicken and Sweet & Sour Pork.

The Veggie Floor

The Fruit and Meats Floor

Before we did the cooking, we made a trip to a local wet market, called so because the floors are wet. They have pretty much anything you could imagine dealing with food. The lower floor was full of all sorts of meats, from sausages to steaks to whole chickens to fish to eels to many other things. There was also a good selection of fruit down there. The upper floor was almost completely vegetable. There was one or two places with fruit, many different kinds of eggs, and then an area with spices, oils, and such things that are used in cooking.

We were warned by our professor not to take too many pictures or stand around too much, as the stand owners get mad when people do that and don't buy anything. They've even been kicked out before.

 



So I thought, "Hey, I'll just buy something then." I walked around everywhere first to see it all before I did my purchasing. Back in that area where all the cooking stuff was, I found cheese! I was udderly delighted! (Sorry, but I'm not sorry for that one.) Of course I bought some, and of course I chose the Gouda. I've always said that it's the best of the cheap cheeses. This one, as you can see, is from Holland, and cost me 34 yuan (~$5). Then I went back downstairs and bought some oranges and strawberries with Jordan M. We got 5 American oranges and 5 Chinese oranges.

 



Our professor also warned us not to try things offered to us, because then you're kind of expected to make a purchase. We were planning on buying some strawberries, so we decided we'd each try one and use that to figure out how many we wanted.

Oh. My. Word. That had to be the best tasting strawberry I've ever eaten! Jordan agreed that they were absolutely delicious. We decided to buy 30 of them.

The Lemon Chicken

This is actually the pork, but it was cut the same way

There were four of us that opted the lemon chicken. We were given a chunk of chicken breast and told to slice it, the thinner the better. We added a marinade consisting of a half teaspoon of salt and sugar, two shakes of pepper, and a bit of rice wine. Next came the breading. We breaded each thin piece and then made our way in to the deep fryers. We placed the chicken in the oil and waited probably less than a minute. It came out golden brown and then we drizzled a lemon glaze over it. That was all it was, and it tasted absolutely amazing!

Taking my chicken out of the oil

Shaadwal taking his chicken out

The Four who made Lemon Chicken: Shaadwal, Jordan M, Will P, Me

The Final Result

The Sweet & Sour Pork

As I said earlier, the pork was cut the same way. For the pork, if we cut it too thick. we flipped the knife over and massaged the meat with the blunt edge. We then added the same marinade as for the chicken. A few of us accidentally grabbed the wrong bottle, and added sesame oil instead of rice wine. Once we realized our mistake, we added the wine, too. Then we put the meat in flour and squeezed each piece into a little meatball. Before we had cut any meat, we cut up some peppers and pineapple and set them aside. We took the meat, peppers, and pineapple in to the fryers, where the pork balls were cooked. Then it was to another station where the peppers and pineapple were cooked in a red-orange sauce. I stirred that for a bit and then one of the cooks there added a spoonful of a white colored sauce and then we added the pork. Again, I stirred for a short while, and then it was done. It was quite delicious, and our professor said it is almost always the favorite of her students. I however, preferred the Lemon Chicken, but part of that could be due to the sesame oil added? I think that even had I correctly prepared the pork, I still would have enjoyed the chicken more. Jordan and Shaadwal both enjoyed the Lemon chicken most (although Shaadwal had Kung Pao Chicken instead of the Sweet & Sour Pork).

 

Even the head was prepared to add to the presentation

One of the other dishes prepared by the others was fish. Cai, Theo, Scott, and Marshall decided to be adventurous and try an eyeball. None of them liked it. We asked head chef if he likes fish eyes and he exclaimed, "We don't eat those!" We all burst into laughter at the four who had eaten the eyes. He then explained that some people do and some people don't, and he was someone who didn't. 

The head chef who instructed us on how to prepare our dishes

The whole experience was entirely amazing! I enjoyed it even more than the Kung Fu trip last week. I mean Kung Fu was incredible, but I'm always going to be up for cooking. I'm looking forward to returning home armed with multiple Chinese dishes in my arsenal of meals to cook.
 
We have one more field trip next week called "Shanghai Rush" where we have to go all over the city and complete certain tasks. I'm looking forward to that as it sounds like a really fun adventure.

Also, be on the lookout for another blog post by this weekend. I'll finally get around to showing you pictures of where I live and what I do on a day-to-day basis. I really should have done that right away, but better late than never, right?

Have a Splendiferous Day!