Indian, Filipino, Vietnam, Thailand… there are too many different kinds of food waiting for us~ I hope I can try all of them at one time. But with my poor wallet, we’d better keep our heads clear. After a careful discussion, we made our order. Yep, a mix style feast~ Vietnam Big Shrimp with Plum Juice, Indian Durian chapatis, Meat slice Coconut Juice(I don’t know it belongs to which country style, but really tasty~), and Chinese broccoli. Make your mouth water, isn’t it?

I think the most attractive of Banana Leaf isn’t only these fascinating food, but also the special Southeast nation ambience. The waiters, waitresses and cooks are very passionate and humorous. Ever the security guard who comes from Philippines often amuse the costumer such as playing a little magic show.

There is a special group of people playing music and dancing from here and there in restaurant. Sometime they would sing their nations’ music and dance, and sometimes the English songs, even Chinese songs Wherever they go, the laugh and applause would come along. Here is a small video clip that shot by my cell phone. Though it isn’t very clear and the point of view is not good, the singers and dancers really gave us a very good impression.

We searched on the web and mark this restaurant called “37℃ 2 ” as tonight target.
Because it’s entrance doesn’t show out at the main street, we almost miss it and spend a few minutes to find it on a lane near to the street. This place is quite nice and pretty for our dinner. From the wall and stair, we can see that this building has a long history and is decorated attentively.

After some drink and appetizers served, our first main food came up. It’s a French style food and my first time to eat French snail!!! Maybe from this picture you can’t find out where they are. but they are really in the mashed potato. If you asked me how it tasted and feel, I have no idea…

Then lots of dishes came up one by one, including spaghetti, salad with goose liver paste, roast pigeon with goose liver inside…

It’s really hard for us to eliminate all of them. We are totally full before the desserts get served…

At last, happy birthday to Galacy~

Dragon Boat Festival this year is at the end of May. Well, as being a traditional Chinese, eat Zongzi at Dragon Boat Festival is very important. And what’s more, how about to wrap Zongzi by ourselves? That sounds cool~ isn’t it?

It seems quite delicious ~ right? Then let’s begin!

Step 1 First of all, prepare the materials we need.

No1:   Of course, we need bamboo leaves and some kind of grass rope (actually I don’t know what is the name of this grass).

No2:   And then we need the main stuffing : glutinous rice (糯米) also called sticky or sweet rice.

I had made the glutinous rice soaked in the water last night and then dry the water and fried them.

→  

I think that is for reducing the expansion after the Zongzi was boiled.

No3: Prepare the other stuffing such likes pork meat, quail eggs, mushrooms, dried shrimps, peanuts,mashed mung bean and so on.

Those are common stuffing and you can add anything you like into it Step 2   Wrap the Zongzi by our hands~~

No1:  Pick up two bamboo leaves with similar size and curve them into a pocket shape.

Then grasp this pocket in one hand and start the filling job~

PS: Be careful with the first angle. For to have a good looking, you must fill it fully without any room. And then, put the other stuff evenly with the rice.

No2 : Close the “pocket ” and adjust the shape

Fix two angle with your thumbs and bend down the rest of the leaves

OK , It’s done. We can grasp the whole Zongzi by one hand now.

Finished? No, no. Still not, the next step is the most important that even can decide the final result.

No3:  Bind the Zongzi with a grass rope.

After Cutting away the odds we finally get a nice Zongzi~

Very impressive~ But it sill can’t put into month now. We Need to boil them.

Step 3 Boil them and ~~~ Eatttttttttttttttt

No1: Take them into the pan or other cooker. You can choose pressure cooker like me to save time.

After about 20 minutes (if you used the pressure cooker), we can take them out. And don’t be so hurry, they are still very hot.

No2:  Yeah, very good smell is flowing out. We are close to the finish line.

Wait for a few minutes, we can take off their clothes now.

No3  Eating …

No need to tell anymore~~~ Thanks for reading.

Additional gift: History

Zongzi (also known as rice dumpling) is traditionally eaten during the Dragon Boat Festival (Mandarin: Duanwu; Cantonese: Tuen Ng) which falls on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese calendar (approximately early to mid-June), commemorating the death of Qu Yuan, a famous Chinese poet from the kingdom of Chu who lived during the Warring States period. Known for his patriotism, Qu Yuan tried unsuccessfully to warn his king and countrymen against the expansionism of their Qin neighbors. When the Qin Dynasty general Bai Qi took Yingdu, the Chu capital, in 278 BC, Qu Yuan’s grief was so intense that he drowned himself in the Miluo river after penning the Lament for Ying. According to legend, packets of rice were thrown into the river to prevent fish from eating the poet’s body.[1] Another version states that zongzi were given to placate a dragon that lived in the river.