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Top Picks for July 2- July 5

beijingkids — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 15:47:35 +0800

Don’t miss this week’s five excellent events that are fun for the whole family. E-mail newsletter@beijing-kids.com to get each issue sent to your inbox.

Thursday July 2 – Peaches are in Season
Stay cool indoors and whip up a refreshing Peach and Sichuan Pepper Granita – the perfect tasty treat on a hot summer’s afternoon. All you need is sugar, water, peaches and Sichuan peppers. See the summer issue of beijingkids for a step-by-step guide, or check it out online
Don’t forget: For this recipe, the riper the better - so use the softest, most fragrant peaches you can find.

Dining Out

beijingkids — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 10:55:47 +0800

Bring the Family: Lau Pa Sak
Was your favorite childhood restaurant impervious to change? If so, Lau Pa Sak may be for you. The clientele is composed of regulars, including cheerful huaqiao clans on weekends. As for the décor, a patron of seven years failed to identify any change after renovations in January; the sepia-toned photos of olde Singapore, the fruit shrine, the statues of deities Guan Gong and Shou Lao were all in their usual places. Also immutable is the menu, featuring well-executed “hawker” cuisine, the Lion City’s street food that fuses Chinese, Indian and Malay influences. A neophyte would be well advised to try the curry puffs (airy dough pockets stuffed with chicken and potato), Hainan chicken (slices of cold poached chicken served with rice and dipping sauces, RMB 40), Beef Rendang (spicy Malay coconut curry, RMB 50), and Nasi Goreng (fried rice with shrimp served with a fried egg and satay skewers, RMB 40). Some kids may feel more comfortable with a ham sandwich or cheeseburger, but one pint-sized regular who recently tried curry puffs and fish ball soup for the first time, exclaimed in reference to her past ordering decisions, “What was I thinking about eating only sandwiches?”

Daily 11am-11pm. Xindong Lu (opposite Canadian Embassy), Chaoyang District (6417 0952). 朝阳区新东路加拿大使馆对面

Fast Food

beijingkids — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 10:55:23 +0800

Michael Emmenegger’s Fruit Pavlova

“This recipe has been tried and tested by me and all my friends back home, and it creates a truly magnificent pavlova. The best part is arranging all the fruit on top and licking the bowl of whipped cream…” – Loo Li Ann, Marketing Communications Manager at Westin Financial Street

Ingredients
4 egg whites
1 cup (220g) caster sugar
1 tablespoon corn flour
1 teaspoon white vinegar
Topping
300ml carton thickened cream
2 teaspoons vanilla essence
1 tablespoon icing sugar mixture
1 punnet raspberries
1 punnet blueberries
1 punnet strawberries, halved
4 kiwi fruit, sliced
1 orange sliced
4 passionfruit, pulp (tinned works as well)

Preheat oven to 150°C/130°C (fan forced). Line a large baking tray with baking paper. Trace a 22cm circle using a cake pan on baking paper – turn paper over so circle faces down.

Freeze Out Summer

beijingkids — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 10:47:37 +0800

When I was in grade school, I didn’t have much respite from the steaming, cicada-filled Beijing summers other than bamboo sleeping mats, my grandmother’s languid afternoon fanning, and her softly repeated mantra: Xinjing ziran liang. “When your heart quiets down,” coolness (apparently) naturally follows. Yeah, I never really got that either, but since air conditioning was still a rarity and the fan was considered a waste of electricity, my options were limited.

Chishui

beijingkids — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 10:47:14 +0800

Flight
China Eastern Airlines operates one daily flight aboard a 50-seat Bombardier CRJ200 to Luzhou (泸州), Sichuan, which despite being in a separate province is just two hours away from Chishui by car. A wider and cheaper range of flights serves Chongqing, five hours away, and Guiyang, the capital of Guizhou - an arduous eight to ten hour drive away.