Sunday Lunch with Xia Laoshi and Yang Laoshi

Last week, my afternoon teachers Xia Laoshi and Yang Laoshi invited us to have lunch with them this Sunday at Xia Laoshi's apartment.  In fact, they said they wanted to cook for us.  Well, Rachel, Cameron, Javi, and I just got back a little while ago, and I had a great time.

We met both teachers at the University MTR station, and then we took the double-decker bus to Xia Laoshi's apartment complex.  She lives on the 16th floor, and this is the view from her window.

Here's Cameron, Javi, and Rachel sitting on the couch watching a movie about some famous Peking Opera singer.  I didn't pay much attention to it because, frankly, I was more interested in learning how to cook some Chinese food.

Yang Laoshi had done a lot of preparatory work so unfortunately, I didn't get to see how she cooked her gongbao jiding (kung-pao chicken), or her eggplant.

This is Xia Laoshi, who is quite possibly my  favorite person right now.

She played with my camera a little bit, and wanted to snap a picture of me helping in the kitchen.

Well, maybe two pictures...

Not all the food was done yet, but I took a picture to make everyone's mouths water.

And I snapped a picture of Yang Laoshi.

In the end, we ended up with this delicious spread plus some sticky white rice.  In the middle is something I never considered to be Chinese food:  Coca-Cola chicken wings.  They were very good, but also a little hard to eat with chopsticks.  However, I've gotten a lot better at eating bone-in chicken with chopsticks. 

In the top left corner, is the spiciest dish (and my very favorite) mapo doufu (or Ma Po Tofu).  I learned an easy way to make this stuff today.  This is what you need:  1 lb ground pork, 1 large block tofu, 1 packet mapo seasoning mix, canola oil, and hot sauce.  Just fry the pork in the canola oil, and cut the tofu into small bite-size pieces.  Add the tofu to the pork, and add the packet of mapo seasoning mix plus water.  Then season with hot sauce to taste.

On the far left is my little pride and joy, xihongshi chao jidan (pan-fried eggs and tomatoes).  I'm really pleased with myself for cooking this one mostly by myself.  I think this is one to repeat in the dorm because it's so good and so easy to make.  Just scramble two eggs in a skillet, and set aside.  Then cut up four small tomatoes into bite-size pieces.  Saute the tomatoes in some oil until soft and then add the eggs.  Mix really well, and season with salt and sugar to taste.  The taste was really mild but flavorful, and I have to admit I never really thought of eggs and tomatoes as foods that compliment each other, even though they're two of my favorite things.

In the top-right corner is cabbage in vinegar sauce, then on the far-right is the yummy eggplant, and on the very bottom is the gongbao jiding.  Really, I only learned how to make the mapo doufu and the xihongshi chao jidan, but those were my two favorites anyway so YUM!

Eventually, we all got ridiculously full, and there was so much food that it looked like we hardly made a dent in it.  We cleaned up and then took the double-decker bus back home.  This time, I snapped a picture from the inside of the top level.

And then I got one of the harbor.  Hooray for public transportation!