Moon Cakes

Hello Gentle Reader and welcome once again to the general insanity of A Scotsman in Guangzhou.

We have now started our first holiday since starting at CBIS and the occasion is the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Fun Facts

A big part of the festival is eating Moon Cakes and as a gift from our school, Lena and I were given a special tin box of Mooncakes. We were also given 10 dragonfruit to share.

Our mooncakes were flavoured with black sesame, tiramisu and red wine and cranberry.

10 Dragonfruit

The Festivities have begun already in our community but the big day is Wednesday. I hope there will be fireworks.

#mooncakes #midautumnfestival

Today in History: September 26th

Hello there Gentle Readers. Its time to once again pull on the leathers of time and head on down the highway of History.

1580: Sir Francis Drake returns to England following his circumnavigation of the globe.

1888: English poet and Nobel laureate T.S. Eliot is born

1969: The Beatles release their last studio album, Abbey Road.

1981: Tennis star Serena Williams is born.

1984: The UK agrees to return Hong Kong to China.

#september26 #todayinhistory #sirfrancisdrake #thebeatles #tseliot #serenawilliams #hongkong

Scooters

Hello Gentle Readers. After a month of going everywhere by bus we finally succumbed to the peer pressure and bought ourselves 2 electric scooters this weekend.

Papa and Bob

We want to thank Summer from CBIS who came and helped us buy them.

Lena

The Scooters are actually really cool and can be quite speedy. I think the man who sold them to us was really happy and he gave us a few freebies and a sizeable discount.

The Scooters cost ¥3300, thats €420 or £370 for both together. We cant go long distances on them, the battery is good for 30km before it needs charging but it will get us to school and back.

Born to be Wild

#scooters #china

Dinner at the Golf Club

Well hello Gentle readers and thanks for once again dropping by.

The family

The 18th green

We live and work very close to a very exclusive golf resort and tonight the staff of CBIS were asked to go along and try their Western style restaurant which is due to open very soon.
The golf club offered us a free meal and Lena, Robert and I along with some of the other teachers from the school went along to try it out.

The golf club is very nice and it seems that when it comes to decor you can see it was expensive to build. It is full of interesting art and lavish decoration.

The meal itself was very tasty and I loved my steak. Lena and Robert had the chicken.

Mushroom Soup

Caeser Salad

Australian Sirloin...yummy

Cheesecake

I would like to thank the golf club and their staff for making us very welcome. At the end of the evening we were also given 8 vouchers so we can get discount the next time we go.

#nicefood #nicepeople

Neil's Vegetable Fried Rice

Hello Gentle Reader another recipe tonight but instead of the old I have something new.

A couple of weeks ago we bought a rice cooker and it has sat sadly in a cupboard waiting to be used. I have to admit I was a little scared because I had never used one before and all the instructions were in Chinese.

But tonight we bit the bullet and with Lena's help we had a lovely dinner.

Our Super Rice cooker

Ingredients (Serves 3)

4 cups of rice
4 cups of water
salt
paprika
carrot
red onion
garlic
Soy Sauce
Hoi sin sauce

Method

Cook 4 cups of rice in a pan or rice cooker.

Chop the veg and gently fry in a wok with the oil and garlic.

When the rice is cooked pour it into the wok adding a nice splash of soy and 2-3 tablespoons of hoi sin.

Stir well and keep frying for a few minutes until all the rice is covered in sauce.

Serve immediately.

Enjoy

#ricecooker #recipes

A little taste of home: Latvian Garlic Bread

Hey Gentle Readers. Today its one of my famous recipes. Having lived in Latvia for 5 years I grew to love the tasty beer snack that is Latvian Garlic Bread.

It seems that the Chinese population are unaware of this delicious tasty treat so I had to make my own.

Heres my recipe; I have never made it before so it might not be perfect but Lena, Robert and I ate it all.

Ingredients

Dark bread (half a loaf)
6 cloves of garlic
oil

Method
Put a large glug of oil in a pan. Use a garlic crusher and crush the garlic into the oil and put on at a high heat.

Chop the bread into squares and carefully pour the pieces into the oil. Fry for a few minutes until the bread is crispy. Ensure that all the bread is covered by the garlic oil.

Now if I had an oven I might have placed the bread in there for a while to go  extra crispy.

Stay tuned to the blog folks I may bring you other Latvian delicacies over the coming weeks.

#latvia #garlicbread #atasteoflatvia

A trip on the bus

Hey Gentle Reader. We went on the bus today and I was sat in the front next to the driver.


We went a different route so I took these pics. Enjoy

#guangzhoushuttle

Hello hello....my name is Robert

Friends Cafe, Canton Tower.and the Guangzhou bus tour

Hello Gentle Readers, on Sunday Robert, Lena and I decided to go all touristy in Guangzhou.

We had heard about the "Friends" TV show themed cafe and wearing our Thomson World Tour t-shirts we ventured off in search of Central Perk, Guangzhou.

We found it quite easily and yes it did look spookily like the cafe from the TV show. We wanted to sit on the big couch but when we got there a lady was hogging it.

We wanted burgers but they didnt have any so we had pizzas. Robert had spaghetti bolognaise.

When we left we made our way to the metro to find Canton Tower. Even on a Sunday afternoon the traffic was really busy.

We boarded the metro and travelled to Canton Tower. For those unaware, Canton tower is currently the 6th tallest building in the world. We did not go up thr 400+ metres this time but we will soon.

We enjoyed looking up from the bottom to the top and we had a nice iced smoothy.

Lena spotted the tour bus and for the remarkably low price of 60 yuan we climbed aboard and enjoyed a trip around the city. We didnt do the full tour just a third so we decided that soon we will return and do the rest.

Below are some highlights.

The bus tour ended with us back at the Canton tower after sunset and as you can see the building is truly spectacular at night.

#guangzhou #cantontower #smellycatcafe #tourists

Today in History: September 11th

Hello Gentle readers. Lets lower our heads in sad remembrance for the victims and their families for those terrible events on this day in 2001.

1297: William Wallace leads the Scots to a famous victory over the English at the Battle of Stirling Bridge.

1609: Henry Hudson becomes the first European to stand on the island of Manhattan.

1997: In Scotland a referendum takes place which eventually leads to the country gaining its own parliament for the first time since 1707.

2001: 4 planes are hijacked in the US. 2 are flown into the World Trade centre in New York, 1 into the Pentagon and the 4th crashes in Pennsylvania after the passengers attempt to retake the plane.

#9/11 #scottishreferendum #manhattan #wallace #september11 #todayinhistory