i don't really have the time for this, but these are my few small pleasures in life.
made cheesy chicken tortilla soup for dinner last night =D
in the interest of saving some monayz, and because it is but two metro stops away from my house, jeffrey suggested taking the metro to the imported goods store. metro fare = 3 rmb per person = 6 rmb for the two of us, as opposed to the 14 rmb starting fare posted by cabs. all right, metro, fare enough. (har har, bet you didn't see what i did there.)
so we take line 2 one stop east from my house, to 娄山关路站.
and then we stop there.
for five minutes.
(normal train frequency for line 2 is about one train every 2 minutes.)
then the conductor's voice comes on over the pa system, "各位乘客，为了调节计划，本车会在本站多听一段时间，请乘客们耐心等待，谢谢配合。“
i had plenty of time to memorize what he was saying, because it came on again at least four more times.
and then another announcement came on, this time announcing that all trains going in the direction we were headed would be delayed, and that people with "urgent issues" should switch to surface transportation.
all of this, just a single metro stop away from our destination.
all told, we waited in the metro at least 15 minutes before we overheard another passenger asking the station attendant whether they would refund tickets.
when the attendant replied in the affirmative, we left the metro to begin our trek back up to the customer service center.
and just as we boarded the escalator heading up, literally seconds after we left the train, we heard the familiar beeping of the door-closing warning.
and then the train started driving.
what. the. eff.
figuring maybe the system was back to normal, we hurried down to catch the next train, thinking it would pull in within a few minutes of the last train leaving.
we waited about 10 minutes before deciding, unequivocally, to "eff that" and just call a cab.
of course the total fare was 14 rmb. pretty much exactly what it would have been, had we taken a taxi from my house.
eff. em. ell.
anyways. i ended up spending 319.20 rmb on supplies. yes, that's right, my tortilla soup cost me 50.24 u.s. dollars, according to the current exchange rate. at 20 rmb, the chicken breast required was actually the second least expensive ingredient that i bought, which is how you know that something is very, very wrong. or perhaps just that you live in china, where the import taxes are crazy. and the breast is the least-valued part of the chicken, because, according to tcm beliefs, only meat next to the bone is considered "living" ("活肉”). (the least expensive item was the 18 rmb salsa, which, compared to the 50+ rmb jars from the u.s., made jeffrey deeply suspicious, until i pointed out that this particular brand was hecho en mexico, which might enjoy better tariff rates than their first-world neighbors.)
a 16-rmb-cab-ride-home later, we discovered that the recipe, which i had selected partly because the entire prep + cooking process was to take no longer than 45 minutes, did not include time for marinating the chicken in fajita spices.
moar. eff. em. ell.
the soup wasn't finished until 11:30 pm.
and i still had/have a work project to complete.
but it was delicious.
and totally worth it.
money spent on supplies: 319.20 rmb
money spent on transportation: 30 rmb
time spent on cooking: 2 hours and 45 minutes
time spent on shopping: 45 minutes
time spent on transportation: 45 minutes
total monetary expenditure: 349.20 rmb
total time expenditure: 4 hours and 15 minutes
delicious, creamy, spicy, cheesy chicken tortilla soup: priceless.
here is the recipe i used (from taste of home).
Ingredients
Directions
+ try melting cheese in GENTLY-HEATED cream (READ: DO NOT BOIL!) to get a homogeneous mixture before adding to soup (???)
+ REDUCE HEAT BEFORE ADDING CREAM/CREAM+CHEESE.
+ use one can of chicken broth and one jar of salsa
+ use two cans of black beans. add early in the cooking process (with the chicken stock), and cook thoroughly to allow thickening. can probably also reduce the amount of flour/starch used as thickening agent, as a result.
+ can probably add more water. this time the soup was pretty salty.
still. so. so. good.
in the interest of saving some monayz, and because it is but two metro stops away from my house, jeffrey suggested taking the metro to the imported goods store. metro fare = 3 rmb per person = 6 rmb for the two of us, as opposed to the 14 rmb starting fare posted by cabs. all right, metro, fare enough. (har har, bet you didn't see what i did there.)
so we take line 2 one stop east from my house, to 娄山关路站.
and then we stop there.
for five minutes.
(normal train frequency for line 2 is about one train every 2 minutes.)
then the conductor's voice comes on over the pa system, "各位乘客，为了调节计划，本车会在本站多听一段时间，请乘客们耐心等待，谢谢配合。“
i had plenty of time to memorize what he was saying, because it came on again at least four more times.
and then another announcement came on, this time announcing that all trains going in the direction we were headed would be delayed, and that people with "urgent issues" should switch to surface transportation.
all of this, just a single metro stop away from our destination.
all told, we waited in the metro at least 15 minutes before we overheard another passenger asking the station attendant whether they would refund tickets.
when the attendant replied in the affirmative, we left the metro to begin our trek back up to the customer service center.
and just as we boarded the escalator heading up, literally seconds after we left the train, we heard the familiar beeping of the door-closing warning.
and then the train started driving.
what. the. eff.
figuring maybe the system was back to normal, we hurried down to catch the next train, thinking it would pull in within a few minutes of the last train leaving.
we waited about 10 minutes before deciding, unequivocally, to "eff that" and just call a cab.
of course the total fare was 14 rmb. pretty much exactly what it would have been, had we taken a taxi from my house.
eff. em. ell.
anyways. i ended up spending 319.20 rmb on supplies. yes, that's right, my tortilla soup cost me 50.24 u.s. dollars, according to the current exchange rate. at 20 rmb, the chicken breast required was actually the second least expensive ingredient that i bought, which is how you know that something is very, very wrong. or perhaps just that you live in china, where the import taxes are crazy. and the breast is the least-valued part of the chicken, because, according to tcm beliefs, only meat next to the bone is considered "living" ("活肉”). (the least expensive item was the 18 rmb salsa, which, compared to the 50+ rmb jars from the u.s., made jeffrey deeply suspicious, until i pointed out that this particular brand was hecho en mexico, which might enjoy better tariff rates than their first-world neighbors.)
a 16-rmb-cab-ride-home later, we discovered that the recipe, which i had selected partly because the entire prep + cooking process was to take no longer than 45 minutes, did not include time for marinating the chicken in fajita spices.
moar. eff. em. ell.
the soup wasn't finished until 11:30 pm.
and i still had/have a work project to complete.
but it was delicious.
and totally worth it.
money spent on supplies: 319.20 rmb
money spent on transportation: 30 rmb
time spent on cooking: 2 hours and 45 minutes
time spent on shopping: 45 minutes
time spent on transportation: 45 minutes
total monetary expenditure: 349.20 rmb
total time expenditure: 4 hours and 15 minutes
delicious, creamy, spicy, cheesy chicken tortilla soup: priceless.
here is the recipe i used (from taste of home).
Ingredients
- 1 envelope chicken fajita seasoning mix
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, diced
- 2 tablespoons canola oil (or whatever oil.)
- 1/2 cup chopped onion (i probably used a full cup of onion. i love onion. also it shrinks when cooked.)
- 1/4 cup butter, cubed (probably needed a little butter, given the amount of onion i had to saute in it.)
- 1/3 cup all-purpose flour (the only flour we had in the house was 饺子粉, though i'm not sure how that differs functionally from "all purpose flour".)
- 2 tablespoons of starch*
- 2 cans (14-1/2 ounces each) chicken broth
- 1/3 cup canned diced tomatoes with chilies
- 3/4 can of black beans (with liquid from can)*
- 1 cup cubed process cheese (Velveeta) (i ended up using half of an 8 oz. block of cheddarella)*
- 1-1/2 cups (6 ounces) shredded Monterey Jack cheese, divided (i don't really know what "divided" means.)
- 1-1/2 cups half-and-half cream
- Guacamole (did not want to spend any more money on supplies so didn't even try to procure this)
- 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese (i didn't use this.)
- Tortilla chips
Directions
- Prepare fajita mix according to package directions; add chicken and marinate as directed. In a large skillet, cook chicken in oil until no longer pink; set aside.
- In a large saucepan, saute onion in butter until tender. Stir in flour until blended. Gradually stir in broth. Bring to a boil. Cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened and bubbly.
- Add the tomatoes, process cheese and 1 cup Monterey Jack; cook and stir until cheese is melted.
- Stir in cream and reserved chicken; heat through (do not boil). (woops, definitely didn't notice the "do not boil" part. not sure what that does to cream? edit:: guess i just got really lucky that the cream didn't curdle...or that if it did, it wasn't noticeable)
+ try melting cheese in GENTLY-HEATED cream (READ: DO NOT BOIL!) to get a homogeneous mixture before adding to soup (???)
+ REDUCE HEAT BEFORE ADDING CREAM/CREAM+CHEESE.
+ use one can of chicken broth and one jar of salsa
+ use two cans of black beans. add early in the cooking process (with the chicken stock), and cook thoroughly to allow thickening. can probably also reduce the amount of flour/starch used as thickening agent, as a result.
+ can probably add more water. this time the soup was pretty salty.
still. so. so. good.