I love cookbooks and have a fairly deep collection. Some I have cooked with extensively, some I have yet to cook from. I have read every one–cover to cover. Reading cookbooks is a sensory experience for me. I enjoy the feeling of the pages and the anticipation of what will appear next as one moves through the volume. I love to imagine the tastes within the recipe, to anticipate combining new foods and to consider the mouthfeel–whether soft and creamy or crunchy–of the first bite or to imagine the smell that will fill the house as the food cooks. It is a happy place for me. I bought a new cookbook today that promises to provide these sensory experiences, but also a bit more, a bit extra. Continue reading
Tag Archives: Daily Post
Redevelopment on top of old: Xintiandi
Xintiandi neighbourhood redevelopment in Shanghai as viewed from an upper floor of the Langham Hotel.
In Shanghai, some distance from the Iconic Bund, is a relatively new tourist district called Xintiandi. Surrounded by skyscrapers, the district is a pedestrian area comprised of upmarket shops, many of which are global brands (e.g., Starbucks, Shanghai Tang, Vidal Sassoon). The site is an example of heritage type preservation whereby buildings are repurposed for commercial use. While building facades remain, the original purpose of the buildings, and often their interiors are stripped away. The Xintiandi area is comprised largely of redeveloped Shikumen houses, which were smaller workers houses. Somewhat ironically, this site of tourism and global commerce was also the site of the First National Congress of the Chinese Communist party.
Spacing juxtapositions
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Jordan road runs along the edge of Mong Kok. As one progresses down the street towering behind is the ICC building, which completed in 2010 is the worlds fifth tallest building and bosts a hotel that has the highest lobby. The street runs through a market district with side streets are impassable in a car becasue of market stalls and street hawkers (leagal and illeagal) physically stand in the way automobiles while the throngs of people make other forms of mobility also as impossible. Continue reading
After work family eating
I was talking with a couple of my work colleagues this week about family eating. Putting aside that a number of us do research on food related topics, even those who do not do this kind of work are pretty food aware. There is a member of staff who works on ice fields, but also raises sheep for wool and food (see the post about his lamb here), another member of staff is involved in bee keeping with his local church (he also sells the honey in the department), many of us have small vegetable plots. I have raised chickens. An even larger number cook. This provides great opportunities for recipe sharing. Continue reading
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