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Yesterday Rosemary, Joanne and I went out after class. We walked for quite a long time and just when we were about to go back, we saw those two people selling food on the pavement.
We saw a girl who had just bought something from them and she was eating from a bowl. When we got closer, we saw that the board in front of the ‘tricycle’ had 八宝粥, 水果羹 written on it.

Rosemary and I wanted to try the 八宝粥 (ba bao zhou, Eight Treasures porridge). The woman told us that it’s RMB 1 for a bowl and we didn’t hesitate any longer and took out RMB 1 each. So cheap for such a big portion! We had 八宝粥 before but only the type sold in supermarkets at about RMB 3. This one looked a bit different.

I started eating and remembered that I have my camera in my bag. Joanne took this pic for me.

After that, I took a few pics of my portion of 八宝粥. I don’t know what that orange thing is. It tasted okay.

I pushed the orange thing to the bottom and took another pic.

A closer look. The white thing seems to be made of glutinous rice.

The 八宝粥 was good. Unfortunately, the portion was too big for me and I couldn’t finish it all. I only managed to finish 2/3. The 八宝粥 might not look as nice and colorful as the ones I usually buy at the supermarket but I love the taste. (homemade taste and not as sweet as the ones sold in supermarkets)

It was my first time around that place. I have no idea if the seller is usually there. Still, I took a few pics of the surroundings so as to remember the place. I find it difficult to find certain places sometimes.
Taking pics always help. hehe

I took pics of the middle school found on the opposite side of the road. (Name and address of the middle school: 上海同济初级中学 ,上海市杨浦区政通路260号)

My first pic was too dark and the color of the building looked weird.

I took two more pics.

Now I’m sure (okay maybe 99%) that I can find that place again.

My winter vacation is over already and my new classes have started on the 5th of this month. Everything is going smoothly for the time being and the only thing that I’m unhappy about is the weather.

After a few months of cold weather, the temperature finally went up to 20 degrees at some point during the vacation and slightly more than a week later, the temperature dropped to almost 0 °C and it was very windy. The temperature is on the rise again now and hopefully it won’t drop anymore. I hate cold weather. I hate having to wear so many clothes, falling sick,etc… The worst is that I tend to eat a lot during winter. Lack of self-discipline. *sigh*

*edited on 10th March at 00:36*
Argh! I’m sick now.

After hours of shopping, we felt like having pizza for dinner. Rosemary and I are sick of Pizza hut pizzas and decided to order from Papa John’s. Pizza hut’s pizzas taste o k a y (a very reluctant okay’) in comparison. (our opinion anyway..)
Jean Noel and Jennifer (2 of Rosemary’s siblings) have never eaten Papa John’s pizzas before (unfortunately, no Papa John’s in Mauritius:( ) so this was a good opportunity.

We preferred to eat at home rather than in the restaurant so Rosemary phoned to order the pizzas when we were on our way back home. The big question was : How many to order? When Richard was still in Shanghai, Rosemary,Richard and I used to order a large Papa John’s pizza and the number of slices per person was just right if we weren’t extremely hungry. Taking that into consideration, we were originally planning to order two medium ones but after much thought, we ordered two large ones. *cough cough* Papa John’s large pizza is bigger than Pizza hut’s, 14 inches. Papa John’s medium pizza is 12 inches, same as a large Pizza hut pizza.
2 large pizzas for 4 persons (3 gals and a guy)… 20 slices in all… I didn’t think that we would be able to finish the whole thing..but surprisingly, we were able to.
What can I say?
hmmm… Hours of shopping + walking around= very tired + very hungry.

Photo of the two large pizzas that we had ordered…….. and that’s Jean Noel’s hand reaching for a slice

Half Island Spice , half Texas Heat pizza

Super Papa’s

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I didn’t go travelling this winter hols. Thus, I stayed in Shanghai and celebrated Chinese New Year with some friends; just dinner at a Korean restaurant. We didn’t go to a Chinese restaurant because we didn’t want a noisy atmosphere. I never cease to be amazed at how loud Chinese people can be in restaurants.
At around 7pm, we were the only people in the restaurant. The usual customers were either back to their own country for the hols or dining at Chinese restaurants that day. We got our food really fast. Some Koreans and Europeans came a bit later.

We asked one of the waitresses to take our pic after we finished eating.

I usually wear red when it’s Chinese New Year but this year I settled for pink. The purpose of wearing red is to ward off evil spirits and to bring in good luck. Well, I did wear something red yesterday but it wasn’t visible to other people.

It’s great spending time with friends but I couldn’t help feeling a bit homesick yesterday. Chinese New Year is really a time for family. What I miss the most about Chinese New Year in Mauritius(in no particular order):

Being with my family,
Unrolling the big roll of red firecrackers which we usually hang from the 2nd floor(which is equal to 3rd floor in Chinese) all the way down to the streets,
My dad lighting the firecrackers, the whole family covering the ears and watching the firecrackers explode ,leaving pinkish red remains all over the streets… I love the sound of firecrackers ,
Hong bao time… money money money.. ,
Sitting around a rond table and eating with the whole family ,
Eating the Chinese new year snacks made by mum (yummy!!),
Going to pagodas with the whole family ,
Watching lion dance performances ,
…..etc

What’s good about this year is that it’s PIG YEAR!! I love pig stuffs and now they are on sale everywhere. More pig stuffs to add to my collection…

Happy Chinese New Year to everyone!