Thursday, 21 September 2017

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

Tuesday, 19 September 2017

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

Monday, 18 September 2017

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

Sunday, 17 September 2017

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

Tuesday, 12 September 2017

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

Monday, 11 September 2017

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