There's only 8 episodes and a prologue released so far, but this c drama is the best I've watched this year.
https://www.viki.com/videos/1140152v-prologue
Don't miss it.
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With a title like this and an unfamiliar cast, this is a drama that I would not have paid attention to, were it not for Petra Naefcke, a period- drama blogger I follow on Facebook. Her Facebook Page Love and Sword is a treasure trove of information about drama releases, actor resumes and photo images.
Yesterday Petra posted on Facebook that this drama is bloody good, so I went to look for it. 7 episodes out yet, I sat down and caught 5 episodes, oh my, what an amazing production. I am constantly surprised by how fast the C-drama scene is evolving, you can see from year to year how much is invested in the production- the camerawork gets slicker, the cast more and more polished, but even taking all this into account, this drama shows that it is already way ahead in many aspects. The story world is beautifully rendered, the details gorgeous. The opening episode dives straight into the action, you get pulsating sword fights, very cool soundtracks and many dramatic moments. The plot is simple enough. The setting is a turbulent, war-torn period in ancient China, a young girl loses her innocence very quickly, and lands herself in very dangerous territory.
How many episodes? I don't know, and I can't even find any spoilers, or translations of the book, but it is so good I feel moved to share this first impression.
The female lead is young, tough yet vulnerable and she doesn't have to do cute or helpless, just an unpolished gem that you can watch growing into her character, that of a highly accomplished assassin. In episode 2 we are introduced to the male lead, and he is mesmerizing. He eats up the scenery, his gaze intense and nuanced, their scenes together needs to be rewatched again and again for all the things left unsaid. This actor Qu Chuxiao is only 23, and graduated from acting school last year, but his talent shines brightly, reminding me somewhat of a younger version of Zhou Yu Wei who turned in a brilliant performance as Shoufeng Heye in Tribes and Empires (another series I really really loved).
The series is available on Youku if you can access, if not, I think it will appear in Youtube soon. Hope you enjoy this as much as I do!
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(Image taken from Dramafever)
Husband was channel-surfing, not even 10 minutes in, we have swallowed the bait and were reeled into this drama. We don't even care what the plot is, who the actors are, the scenes played out were drool-inducing and absolutely riveting.
The story opens with the main character being evicted from his flat, we see that he is doing poorly as an insurance agent, and his college-going brother drops by to ask him to show him a good place to eat. He takes him to a seemingly humble and regular-looking fish restaurant, what's good about that, his brother asks?
Brother, don't under-estimate the fish. Right now, it's July, the season for croacker. The brain makes a good appetiser, the skin, the liver, every part can be eaten in myriad delicious ways. Why is the flesh being refrigerated? Shouldn't sashimi be eaten as fresh as possible? He expounds on the advantages of aging fish. They eat. The young man metamorphoses from a listless salaryman to the food lover he really is. It's a joy to watch him eat, and we listen as if hyponotized, as he schools his brother in the way of the good eat.
Only 2 episodes available on Dramafever so far, oh well, hope I can find the first 2 series.
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(source image taken from Croton website)
To date, have watched up to 6 episodes. The English-subtitled version is available on DramaFever.
Every week, the China drama-sphere releases at least 3 new dramas, on top of new releases from Korea, Japan, Hong Kong and the western world, it's simply not possible to watch everything. If a drama does not hold my attention within the first 2 episodes, it will never get on my playlist. This sweet little series have charmed its way to my heart since the first episode.
This is not my usual cup of tea. I am more into period dramas and fantasy stories. What caught my eye was finding out that the drama is adapted from a semi-autobiographical work by one of the powerhouse webnovel author Tang Jia San Shao, telling the story of his young adult life at the turn of the 21st century, with a focus on his romantic life.
The cast list was not familiar to me. I only knew the lead actress' from Love O2O, and was not impressed by her work there- all bashful saccharine innocence with narrow range of expressions. Luo Jin, the lead actor, I remember vaguely from The Princess Weiyoung, a series that failed to grab my attention, nonetheless he has the steady good looks that suits the roles of a good character e.g. nobleman or scholar. The mostly young cast are all good looking and engaging, one is quickly drawn into their screen lives and the dramatisation is so effective it feels like we are living alongside them as they adjust to the changes of their times - Y2k bug, transition from pager system to mobile phone, and transformation of the economy from state enterprise-driven to private entrepreneurship. Luo Jin is handsome and lights up every scene, but Pang han Cheng, the actor who plays Han Dong is taller and no less endearing. Zhang Yishang, who plays Yao Yao reminds me of a young Gigi Leung.
Chinese dramas can get quite long and drawn-out, especially if the cast contains well-known actors, as having more episodes mean they can attract more eyeballs and advertisement. This drama does not have any unnecessary fillers or flashbacks which typically weighs down the bloated productions. Every scene moves the story forward, sustained with solid dialogue that sounds true, many quirky and cute moments to ooh and aah over. With some dramas, I can get impatient and over-use the fast-forward button, but this drama allows no speed-watching, quite unlike my expectation of a modern, frothy romance.
Don't miss this. Lots of smiles and laughters here, maybe the odd tears too. Happy drama watching!
Bonus information 1: The OST is a Chinese version on Dream It Possible which is a lovely freebie song loaded on my new Huawei P20 Pro phone.
Bonus information 2: the raw videos can be found on Youtube. Love that Croton makes their media content quite easily available.
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For years and years, I have called the rice cooker an indispensable appliance. My favourite cooker was a small National model, it cooks about 4 small cups max, and accompanied me when I was living on my own, and moved into our marital home. All in, it gave us nearly 20 years until we retired it, not because it wasn't working (actually it is still working), but because we decided we didn't want to continue cooking with aluminium pots. Most of the models of rice cooker in the stores are lined with teflon or similar material, I have never liked the idea though I have always been intrigued with the fuzzy logic-ness.
The only non-aluminium, non-coated pot we found in the local market is a Song-cho stainless steel model, but honestly, it didn't work for us. The steel doesn't conduct heat as reliably as aluminium and we ended up with terribly cooked, well, mostly under-cooked rice. I thought I was going to have to lapse back to my student method which was to cook rice on the stove. Not that dificult- basically bring rice and water to the boil, cover for 20 minutes and try not to open the lid to check in the meantime.
One day, a promoter at the Toyomi section at Taka B1 suggested steaming our rice. I was sceptical, but after a couple of tries, was sold on this method. It is quite fool-proof. Equal measure of water to rice. Steam for about 20 minutes. It varies with the quantity of rice, but after a few times one can easily get the hang of it. We use the Toyomi hot pot/ steamer which is essentially a kettle with steamer inserts. When we had no helper, this pot got us through some tough times - I would steam rice on one layer, steam a meat or fish dish on the second, and make a salad. Easy, mess-free dinners. Like this:
This was even more of a cheat, the canned dace is layered on top of the nearly cooked rice at the final stage of cooking. It was what I make for lunch when I was pressed for time and did not feel up to dealing with ubereat/deliveroo/foodpanda either.
Yea, this is a filler post. Haven't eaten anything remarkable these days, but if you curious, I post IG stories nearly every day. It's hard as we have a rather long and rigid list of places to avoid, it runs something like this:
I have been feeling, for a very long time (like 5-8 years), that we have come to a stage of overwhelming mediocrity in our local food scene. Our interests as paying consumers has been neglected at the expense of the greedy landlord, the entitled chef and the bottomline-driven restaurateur. Throw in social media influences hyping and occasional fads to shake the parameters. Now we just survive on medium-cost chains and stressed hawker joints. If I find any thing of joy, I will share here. Otherwise, we will save ourselves more of these rants, and prattle on about C-drama and xianxia instead.
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I did not think that I would get excited about a vegetarian meal in Chengdu, but after a greasy hotpot meal, I actually got pretty excited to have a change to a healthy, zen-type meal. The hotel we were were staying at, also runs a teahouse in the adjoining retail/dining sprawl that is Taikoo Li. The teahouse, in a heritage building with an inner courtyard, was a quietly tranquil escape from the heat and bustle outside. Although not air-conditioned, the staff were helpful enough to seat us at a table near the AC vents on the floorboards.
Teahouses are a big thing in Chengdu. They are places of gathering for people of all ages, and usually very casual, set in parks and overlooking some greenery or bodies of water. One can spend the whole day at their favorite bamboo chairs doing nothing much except nurse a pot of tea, chit-chat or read the papers, fanning oneself indolently with a big paper fan. Whiling away time in a tea-house, and playing mahjong are the two most popular activities in the city, the locals are quietly proud of their laid-back culture.
This tea house is different though. Other than the beautiful setting, the menu takes itself more seriously than just a selection of teas and sunflower seeds. The menu features a surprisingly varied range of vegetarian dishes. Nothing 'mock' or that felt too much like a salad, plenty of pickles, preserved vegetables, dressed produces, cooked dishes to choose from, and it is a good idea to order a variety to share.
The food was delicious and beautifully presented, making the most out of the fresh local produce and utilising local techniques so there was a variety of Sichuan flavours. We loved the okra and smoked tofu in a piquant soy dressing. Fresh bamboo shoots with chilli oil was crunchy and sweet. Tofu in a spicy peppercoin oil was still very creamy and beany. The radish were pickled in a plum marinade, and cut to look like a flower, very pretty. The only disappointment was the baby potatoes in a jajiang sauce, in contrast to the other dishes, it was quite bland and heavy.
My favorite dish was a very simple one of noodles tossed with charred scallions and a semi-dry sauce supposedly made of mushrooms, that tasted more like preserved olives to me. Anyway, it was surprisingly delicious, the slightly-chewy noodles picking up on and running with the fleeting nutty, salty meaty notes of the sauce. We couldn't have enough of this, and ordered another to share.
Husband ordered a selection of tea cakes. I didn't have much hope in them, as I have eaten my share of overly sweet and dense paste cakes, but they were delicious, being light and refined, the infused flavours clearly discernible. Just the thing to accompany a pot of hot tea and round up our healthy meal.
No. 81 Bitieshi Street, Jinjiang District, Chengdu, China 610021
T: +86 28 6297 4193
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This is a hole-in-a-corner shop that has a perpetual queue of customers, and is convenient to pop by during sightseeing at the Wen Shu Monastery. It is well-known to tourists but locals love it too. They serve cold mungbean noodles dressed in spicy, garlicky, vinegary sauce, as well as dumplings in chilli oil and dry-tossed mala-slicked noodles. All pretty good stuff.
The main draw though, is "Tian Shui Mian", literally sweet water noodles. high. I know from past experience that any freshly pulled wheat noodles (or for that matter, wheat pancakes) in China will be awesome, but this was a new high. Thick, sweet strands of noodles cooked until there is only a pinhole-sized speck of dough in the very centre that remains uncooked, so it is at peak chewy elasticity. Tossed in an addictive velvety sauce that is mildly spicy, a little tingly, mostly very sweet and beany, with a nutty kick from a shower of finely ground peanuts. This was love at first bite. We were glad to have our own portions instead of sharing. It's like our meehoon-kuih, but thicker, sweeter, more chewy, all the while trying to get as much of the delicious sauce to adhere. The more we chewed, the sweeter it got; as we ate, the spice got us sweating too, shiok!
More information from this page. Just don't miss it if you are ever in Chengdu. We saw variations of this snack at many other little outlets, but this shop is one of the most popular, and the queue is not too crazy, we got a seat within 5 minutes. You can watch the assembly of the noodles through a window, just try not to flinch when you see the guy adding that generous spoonful of MSG into the bowl....
39 Wen Shu Yuan Jie
T: +86 28 8191 0576
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There is more to Chengdu than hotpot restaurants, though one can be forgiven for that impression given how many hotpot places there are in the city. It was very hot and humid when we were visiting, after 2 days of sightseeing we decided to just enjoy our fancy hotel and its nearby amenities. Fortunately we were within walking distance of an excellent local restaurant.
Ma Wang Zi is just diagonally opposite The Temple House, and it occupies what seems like a building still under construction as the facade is mostly taken up with scaffolding and the upper floors are apparently vacant. The building comes to life at meal times, when the entrance is clogged up with queues of people waiting to get in. Sebastien, of the hotel's Experience Team, highly recommended the place to us, and he helped us to secure a booking, at the same time he reminded us not to be late. We went a bit early, and were directed inside, much to the chagrin of some customers who had been waiting outside. The restaurant doesn't seem to take bookings, but they may have made some concessions for their neighbours.
Inside, it's air-conditioned and comfortable, with booth and table seatings, bright and welcoming, with an open kitchen. The menu is quite concise, showcasing about 20 dishes, I guess they have refined their offerings to just their greatest hits and have hit the sweet spot in churning them out to meet the hordes of hungry diners. A perfect model for franchising or expanding, anyone interested?
Most tables ordered pretty much the same dishes. As with many local eating places, there is a good mix of robustly flavoured dishes sprinkled with some sweet items to provide respite and constrasts. I loved the cold jelly with brown sugar syrup, it's like our cendol or ice kacang that we have with our nasi lemak whenever we eat at Madam Kwan's, so much so that I ordered it again at our next visit. Yea, there was a second visit, because husband loved the place so much.
Here we found food that is not greasy and heavy, yet very satisfying and local. Husband really liked the Saliva Chicken, it was not quite in the style we had been used to, being a bit on the dry side instead of sloshing about in an appetising special soy sauce, and very fiery. The double-cooked pork, or Hui Guo Rou, was deemed excellent too, though I have to admit that all the versions I tasted in Chengdu were great, what with their delicious bean pastes and sweet, tender leeks that complements the pork belly so well.
I loved the steamed glutinous rice with local smoky lardon, it was melting-soft and had a little filling of sweet red beans just underneath the lardon. Just poking at the top of the rice made the lardon disintegrate and melt into the sweet rice, the richness alleviated somewhat with the osmanthus syrup glaze. An unassuming but delightful dish, little wonder that it was found on every table. Another sweet wonder was a flat bao filled with brown sugar syrup, the filling half-molten yet still a bit chunky, the sugar deliciously smoky and nutty with a subtle bitter finish.
The standout dish though, had to be the braised duck-blood jelly, the menu says it's their signature. Duck-blood jelly is made by dripping duck blood into water to coagulate. It is not available in Singapore. Prior to Chengdu, I've never had it before, just that I know of fans who mention it with awe and longing. The texture is dreamy, a cross between jello and silky tofu, and the taste is surprisingly mild, and not in the least bloody or ferric. It's just like soft tofu, taking on the and complementing the flavours of what it is cooked with. In this case, we have roughly cut chunks of wobbly soft jelly in a complex spicy-tart soupy sauce. Delicious on its own, but when spooned over steamed rice and showered with crispy fried lard, it is plain amazing. If this is available in Singapore, it will be accompanied with dire health warnings. As husband is not into innards or spare parts, I had the whole portion to myself, it took every ounce of my self-control to eat no more than half. Gosh, now I wish I had been more reckless.
We were back the very next day. It was another stunning meal. Roast duck with a sweet lacquered skin, lovely. Beef with radish in a chilli-spiked broth, fantastic! It was comforting yet surprisingly incendiary, I was literally fanning my tongue. Fortunately I could cool down with that marvelous jelly on the side. (The minced meat fritter thing was quite weird though, we left them at first bite.)
What we were amazed with, was the Gong Bao style aubergines with fresh prawns. It came with a little timer, and we were told that the first 3 minutes was the optimum window of time to eat it. The greenish chunks which I had at first thought were bittergourd, turned out to be aubergines. Aubergines with a crisp coating and interiors as yielding as goreng pisang (fried bananas), coated lightly with a gong bao sauce that is familiarly sweet and spicy, but finishing with a very pleasant tingling sensation on the tongue and palate from the judicious use of Sichuan peppercorn. That fresh pepper hit made all the difference, making it the most terrific gong bao anything we have ever tried. We had to fight (nicely) for the last bite, it was that good.
The prices are very reasonable. Good food at decent prices, is it any wonder there is a perpetual crowd waiting to get in? Don't miss, if you are ever in Chengdu.
Ma Wang Zi
No.1 East Kangshi Street, Dacisi, Chengdu, China
T: 028-64231923
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Growing up, I was not familiar with Sichuan food.
I did not know about Sichuan peppercorns until I tried mala (hot and numbing) hotpot about 20 years ago. Now we love Sichuan food, which was a good reason to visit Chengdu for a holiday.
We were in Chengdu for 5 days. Giant pandas, misty mountains of Qing Chen, stylistic Daoist temple architecture and bian-lian performance, these were just the highlights. Our hotel, The Temple House was pretty special too. (This is not a sponsored post). Pretty awesome vacation.
As for the food, well, 5 days is barely enough to scratch the surface of what the local cuisine was all about, in fact, we were easily overwhelmed by the abundance of good eats just within walking distance of our hotel in a busy commercial district.
The Chengdu Spice Market is not on most people's itinerary, in fact on a late morning visit there were hardly any locals or tourist, anyway, it's a magical place, very Ali Baba. It's a treasure trove of abundant chillis, herbs and spices. A bewildering range and varieties of spices and peppers that contribute to the many tastes of Sichuan. Rich earth colours of spices, firecracker burst of chillies and peppers, glistening tubs of bean pastes, it was just an endless feast for the senses. At first impression, the market smelled of hotpot, but gradually we were able to study and distinguish the different ingredients. The shopkeepers were very friendly too, dishing out advice and information generously. That deep red paste is to add colour, green peppercorns go well with fish, this mix is good for home use, that is usually preferred by hotpot restaurants, on and on we listen to their replies to our clueless questions.
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Who doesn't like pizza? I don't know anyone who doesn't.
Pizza is a universal favourite food. Unfortunately we are not that well served for pizzas in our city. Sure we have the big chains that are convenient but quite horrid, my chief complain is the rank frozen smell from the dough sitting too long in the freezer. We had some good pizzerias until about six months ago, such as Cicheti and Pizza Fabricca, but quality has declined until we can't justify the prices anymore. We mourn the loss of our neighbourhood Extra Virgin Pizza, and even Crust refuses to deliver to our area these days. I have never liked Mozza and Skinny Pizza, because the crust is more cracker-like than bready. Peperoni? Don't like them either, a bit too much like Hard Rock Cafe, too loud, too theme-park. Atmastel? Only if someone else is paying, pizzas should not be costing $29+++.
Well, it seems like there are positive changes. There are 3 new pizza places in town. Last Saturday, we tried out one of them, mainly because they were open. To our delight, they are still featuring their Grand Opening menu; even though they have been opened since mid-May.
When was the last time you saw squid ink pasta at $18? Year 2000? I can't remember either, I only know my husband loves this dish and whenever we order it (actually, must pre-order, and they then lay your table with black linen instead of the usual white, in order to make the food stains less obvious) at Restaurant da Valentino we always get a small heart attack when the bill is presented.
Anyway, no sadness this time. The squid ink pasta was very delicious, and generously portioned too. The pizzas were very good, topped with lots of ingredients and very satisfying. I especially liked the Marinara with anchovies, it's a clever combination because it maximises the umami factor, and still allows V the option of having her favourite pizza by simply removing the anchovies before she eats. They use wood-fired oven, which helps the dough to rise spectacularly and encourages lots of blisters in the crust. My only complaint is the crust is a little tough, not chewy, but kind of hard, but not so bad that I leave it behind.
I looked through the online menu, it has a wider selection of dishes than what was available last Saturday lunchtime. Definitely a reason to re-visit, better try to do it before the inevitable price hikes.
Luka Italian
18 Tanjong Pagar Road, Singapore 088441
T: +65 6221 3988
closed on Sundays
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