Hairy crab 大闸蟹 season is here!

I've never been a fan of crabs-- the labor that goes into digging and cracking is usually much more than the satisfaction I get out of chewing on the small chunks and thin threads of crab meat. This year, however, I've finally begun to appreciate what so many Shanghainese and Hongkies have taken for granted, the exquisite taste of hairy crabs.

I began this season of crab eating at my generous friend Jimmy's house. We each had a pair of male and female crabs. You don't really have to get crabs from YangCheng Lake 阳澄湖, since they are more expensive and you can never be sure they're the authentic ones. Crabs from Tai Lake 太湖 and KunShan 昆山 will do just fine, as long as you pick the alive and kicking ones. Fall and early winter are the perfect time to eat crabs, and it's recommended that you eat the male ones earlier on in the season and move on to the female ones as they grow fuller in size and flavor later in the season. The major difference is the yellow/orange stuff under the crab shell 膏黄 - the male ones are more gooey and the female ones are solid (uh, sperm and eggs?? just eat it! these are the best parts of hairy crabs, albeit super-rich in cholesterol...). The simplest way to cook the crabs is to steam or boil them. Before cooking them, you should put the crabs in fresh water for awhile to get any dirty stuff out of them.

Crab eating tests both your skill and patience. Jimmy, whose ex-girlfriend was Shanghainese, taught us some tips on eating the crabs. For example, you should take out the crab heart, a tiny white hexagonal thing from the crab chest because that's the "coldest" part of the crab. Crabs are considered "cold" in Chinese medicine, and you should drink some yellow rice wine like Shaoxing 绍兴酒 or HuaDiao 花雕酒 while eating the crabs. You can also dip crab meat in a vinegar and ginger mixture to both disinfect the meat and counter the meat's "coldness."

A week after the feast at Jimmy's, my local friend Diego took me to a crab restaurant on Julu Rd near Ruijing Rd called JingYuanXieWang 金缘蟹王. We got a table on the curb side because all the tables inside were reserved already. The crabs are from Tai Lake, but tasted just as nice. We had warm coke with ginger after the meal to warm our stomachs.

Now I'm pretty obsessed about eating crabs, so I'm thinking about throwing my own crab cook-out party in the few next week... yum~

   

Frangipani Nail Bar

Frangipani stands out as a nail shop that gives you a feel of being at home.  The interior is decorated with colors are mostly pleasant pastels and whites, and the IKEA-esque furnitures keep things casual and light.  The staff wear cute looking t-shirt/black apron uniforms that change with seasons.  The treatments are not cheap (pedi + mani is over $200RMB something), but the quality is pretty good.  You can get a $1000RMB card for $800RMB.  Earlier this year, there had been an exodus of more experienced staff to a new salon Balsamine nearby.  I've followed my manicurist to the new place but decided that Frangi still upholds a quality standard that gives me a reason to come back.  There's also an iNail spa right downstairs from me, but I've never used their services, because it doesn't quite have that warm, welcoming feel that you'd expect from a spa.  Hopefully, more and more places like Frangi will crop up but at even better prices so we can all afford to go more often ;-)  Frangipani have locations on Fuxing W Rd, XiangYang Rd (next to Awfully Chocolate), and HongMei Rd.

Kevin's Thai Food Station

Tucked deep in a narrow alleyway on ChangLe Rd near Urumuqi Rd across from the Center, you'd miss this restaurant if it isn't for the big light box at the alleyway entrance. I can't help but also notice there's a condom dispenser next to the sign...hmm. The restaurant is in one of the old houses with a nice yard. The food is decent but not remarkable. At night it does make a quiet dinner date place. They also do take out delivery, so if you want some Thai in the area, it's a pretty good choice.

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Diage restaurant/lounge/boutique - hidden Spanish villa with haute design

I stumbled upon this beautiful house last year at night when walking on DongHu Rd. The place is tucked in an alleyway next to the hairsalon, so they lit candles along the cracks in the wall, creating a glowing trail into the house and front garden. Just inside the house, there's a cigar lounge area with comfy black leather sofa. Further in, there 2 dining areas with a bar that's converted from the original fireplace. Upstairs there's a small gallery and a boutique shop with cutting edge designer fashion from Japan and Europe. The Japanese owner took great care to restore the house with period antiques and decorative elements. There never seems to be many people there so I worry about their survival. They have good-value lunch and afternoon set deals, starting at $30 something. The food is delicate but I'd go there just for the ambiance. Behind Diage toward the back of the house, a little shop called Ushigokoro has opened up. This peculiar shop is also Japanese owned (same owner as Diage?) and offer little cubicles for rent to anyone who wants the space for display. Many of the cubicles are occupied already, which a range of handmade jewelry, bags, art pieces, clothing, etc. They have recently held a flea market also.

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Guyi Hunan Restaurant

The first time I went to Guyi was with my American ex-boss and his Chinese girlfriend. Because I have relatively low tolerance for spicy food, they were nice enough to order some non-spicy dishes. I especially liked their pumpkin and baihe cold appetizer, and the steamed frog legs in bamboo casing. Then there's my boss' favorite salt'n pepper ribs, which were tasty but on the salty side. They are also decent on the spicy chicken dry pot. This place is wildly popular with foreigners because the food is pretty good and more importantly they have the menu in English and Japanese with pictures of delicious-looking dishes. If you're planning to go, make sure you call ahead and get your reservation. Otherwise, long line awaits.  A cheaper alternative  to Guyi is DiShuiDong on Maoming Rd near ChangLe Rd.

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Charmant 小城故事 - better Taiwanese restaurant than Bellagio

I just went there 3 times within the same week recently, because one of my friends visiting was vegetarian. Charmant is not a vegetarian place but does a wonderful job cooking up not only leafy veggies, but also tomato-tofu-egg soup, vegetarian 3-cup chicken (which is actually a bean curd variation), and vegetarian vermicelli. They also do a great job on the meat dishes, such as the popular kung pao chicken, hui-guo-rou (bacon with leeks), shi-zi-tou (lion's head). For those who have lived in Taiwan, you can also get your dose of pearl milk iced tea (pearls are thoroughly cooked and chewy), lu-rou-fan (minced pork sauce over rice), bitter mellon with salty egg.  They do leave out the MSG and put in less oil upon request.  For dessert, my favorite is the old fashion black sugar shaved ice, which has a bit of pearls, another type of chewy jello, mung beans, and other yummy toppings.  Their shaved ice beats Bellagio's hands down.

Another pleasant thing about Charmant is that they really spend time on putting in beautiful flowers and plants. Their own staff go out the Caojiadu flower market daily to pick up fresh flowers and arrange them themselves. Their service and staff training is also very good, thanks to the Taiwanese management ;-) Charmant has a 2nd location in Zhang Jiang Hi-Tech park in PuDong.

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Velvet Lounge and Casanova

This stylish, ambient pair of lounge and Italian restaurant is located in a little house on Julu Rd, around the corner from HuaShan Rd.  Unlike the row of seedy bars next door targeting traveling business men, Velvet and Casanova are frequented by local residents.  Velvet is a relaxing hideout with great music and reasonably priced cocktails, perfect for an intimate week-night date.  Upstairs at Casanova,  you can get a nice multi-course Italian meal.  A lot of people like their thin-crust pizzas, which you can also order from Velvet.  I also like their Caesar salad and breads.  This place is definitely not one of those big productions on the Bund, but it's nice to have some place like this in the neighborhood.

Annual QiangTang Tidal Wave Observation Festival in YanGuan/ HaiNing, Zhejiang

Last Thursday (9/27) my new friend Max called and asked me if I wanted to go see the tidal wave of QiangTang River 钱塘江, which is the biggest every year around August 18 of the lunar calendar.  This tidal phenomenon is something so famous that ordinary people and emperors alike from different dynasties have come to watch in the last 200o years.  In the ancient times, the waves can get as tall as 10 meters; these tall waves are created when water rushes into the narrow, shallow QianTang River from the sea during high tide while water from the river is trying to flow out.  There a 2 cycles everyday, so you can see a day tide and a night tide.  In the Song Dynasty, expert swimmers, or "surfers" used to swim in the high tides while carrying bright colored flags, and whoever can keep his flag dry is the winner of the competition.  In the modern days, the tides are smaller at around 1-2 meters, due to the construction along the river.  There are only 2 places in the world where you can see such big tidal waves -- the other one is at the Amazon River. 

Back to our trip -- we took the 4:25pm train, which turned out to be a slow "express" train that took almost 3 hours to get to HaiNing 海宁.  We sat in the hard seat section and chatted with people who live in HaiNing to find out more about the tide.  Max brought his sleeping bag as he was planning to sleep on the river banks, while me and my 2 other guests decided to stay at the hotel in HaiNing because we're too old to hack it.  We stayed at the 3-star hotel (~$200) right next to the train station, only to find out that there's a brand new GreenTree Hotel one block up for only slightly more.  Haining is a well-known area for buying leather and fur, but we had to pass on that given the summer-like weather.  We went around HaiNing looking for a place to eat in tricycles, and ended up eating at a claypot place.  Also bought some famous JiaXing "WuFangZhai" zongzi 五芳斋粽子 (steamed sticky rice wrapped in bamboo leaves with meat or sweet filling).  After dinner, we waited until almost 11pm and headed out to YanGuan 盐官, where you can see/hear the night tide.  The taxi ride was about $60 going but $90 coming back because of the late night trip premium.  The admission for the night tide was $20, while the day tide was $50.  There were some outdoor teashops with tables lining the river bank.  We walked further down to where it's darker and more quiet.  We waited for almost 2 hours, enjoying the moist breeze.  The full moon hung alone in the clear sky.  At around 12:30, the tide finally came.  For a few minutes, all you can hear is the noise that the tide was making.  Then under the moonlight, we saw the thin white line of waves rushing before us.  The waves were nearly lined up but didn't look very tall because the river bank was much higher up.  Still, everyone was very excited and tried to videotape or take pictures.  Right after the waves passed, people started leaving the area.  We lingered a bit, bidded Max goodbye and headed back to HaiNing.  The next day, me and my 2 guests hung out in HaiNing until almost noon before heading back to YanGuan (it was getting really hot).  When we got there, the road to the observation area was blocked further up so we had to walk a bit.  Within 20 minutes of us getting, the waves came.  This time we were able to see the waves more clearly.  It seemed smaller than the night tide.  We all thought that the night tide was way better.  We then took a taxi back to HaiNing where we boarded the real express train that brought us back to Shanghai in less than an hour.  We were gone for almost exactly 24 hours -- what a trip!

Diagram showing the tide track

     

2 studs dancing in tandem while working the Mongolian BBQ grill

Wake of the tides passing by - still pretty strong