Grace's home was on the 32nd floor of the apartment building, almost at the top floor.
Xiao Qi and the others arrived around 3 o'clock, worried that it might be too early and disturb Grace, but also worried that arriving too late would be problematic since Xiao Qi had offered to teach cooking.
When they arrived, there were already several guests present.
Xiao Qi also saw the familiar old man Garen. At the Mid-Autumn Festival party that night, he had sung "A Fire in Winter" and brought down the house. Garen was dancing and singing along, completely immersed in the song.
When Grace saw Xiao Qi arrive, she took off the gloves she was wearing to prepare food for baking and came over to give Xiao Qi a hug. Fortunately, there was no cheek-kissing or anything like that, otherwise Xiao Qi wouldn't have known how to respond.
Foreigners are very enthusiastic.
As soon as Grace opened her mouth, she said, "Sue, I wasn't there in person that night, what a pity! Garen showed us your singing video, you were amazing. Many of the friends who have come today are your fans."
After Garen's explanation, Xiao Qi realized that Garen had recorded a video of her singing that night and often played it at their hangout spot, the book bar. The song Xiao Qi sang was especially popular. Foreigners probably can't tell the difference between Peking opera and other singing styles, so they just thought the way she sang in the long robe with that intonation was particularly cool.
Xiao Qi introduced her roommates to Grace and also brought gifts.
Grace was very happy and hugged each of them in turn. Her expressions were very exaggerated.
When she received the scarf from Honey, and learned it was produced in Honey's family factory, she exclaimed again about how much she loved the silk from this country, calling it too beautiful and a work of art.
When she got the dried mushrooms from Wei Cheng, she smelled it blissfully and was told it was handmade by Wei Cheng's family. She kept saying how awesome it was and that she really needed this ingredient. She also complimented Wei Cheng for being very pretty.
Seeing the flower arrangement Yun Shu had brought that she had put together herself, Grace made an effort to praise her again, saying Yun Shu was a sweet girl with a sweet heart.
Xiao Qi really admired the way these foreigners lavished sincere and unaffected praise without pretense.
It was as if they were just naturally very happy.
She also gave Grace the bamboo gift box she had made. Seeing the bamboo box made Grace even more exaggerated in her reaction. She said it was the most thoughtful gift she had ever received and that it was beautiful. When she learned that Xiao Qi had made it herself, she was even more amazed.
She gave Xiao Qi another hug. Fortunately, Grace was also flat-chested, so there was no stifling feeling from the embrace.
Afterwards, Xiao Qi went to help Grace in the kitchen while Honey and the others played outside.
The foreigners meant business when they talked about cooking. They didn't stand on ceremony but had already prepared an apron for Xiao Qi.
It was a nice white apron with blue trim that matched well with the black dress Xiao Qi was wearing.
Grace's apartment was very nice. Upon entering, there was a bathroom to the left and a kitchen to the right. Directly opposite was an entire wall of floor-to-ceiling windows looking out onto a balcony living room.
It directly overlooked lake and ocean views because this stretch of lake flowed right into the sea, so the lake seemed to extend endlessly and the scenery was beautiful.
However, the party was not held down here but upstairs. Amazingly, her home was a duplex!
Downstairs had the living room, kitchen and bathroom while upstairs had a large rooftop terrace and a bedroom with its own bathroom.
Xiao Qi and Grace prepared ingredients downstairs in the kitchen while the others were either upstairs or in the living room downstairs.
The living room downstairs had one wall that was a bookshelf filled with lots of books.
The wall across from it was a large projection screen playing classic movies.
Xiao Qi asked Grace what ingredients she had prepared. Grace said she had already prepared many beverages. Because there were students present today, she didn't prepare any alcohol. She had baked some desserts and marinated chicken wings and drumsticks that could be roasted once the desserts finished baking. She had also prepared some smoked bacon, vegetable salads and fruit salads.
Basically, it was self-serve buffet-style with cold dishes and roast meat for grilling.
Xiao Qi had originally wanted to make the Warrior Lu meat pies she had talked about last time, but the oven was occupied. After asking about ingredients, she found that Grace had bought a lot of beef and potatoes, so Xiao Qi decided to make braised potato and beef. This dish had a simple method but required a slightly longer stewing time.
There were also some yams in the kitchen. Xiao Qi planned to make shredded yam strips since she had heard foreigners especially liked sweet flavors. This was probably a safer bet and both dishes would be easy to teach.
Grace herself greatly enjoyed cooking, evident from the large variety of items she had prepared. She assumed Xiao Qi was also a cooking aficionado, but when she saw Xiao Qi start to peel and cut potatoes into smooth slices, she exclaimed in astonishment. With knife skills like that, Xiao Qi must be more than an amateur and was probably very skilled.
As Xiao Qi walked her through the steps for making braised potato and beef, they chatted casually.
Xiao Qi felt cooking required a good sense of touch and rhythm, and even one's mood, good or bad, could influence the flavor of a dish. But Xiao Qi's current skill level was just slightly above basic and had reached introductory level, while Grace was around basic level. The two were able communicate quite fluidly about cooking techniques.
There was a one level gap between them, which was the best for learning − close enough to grasp what had not yet been achieved. If there was too big of a gap, like a PhD trying to teach a grade schooler, it might not necessarily be better than a college student teaching them.
With one learning earnestly and the other teaching earnestly, both felt very happy.
In between, they also chatted about other things.
Xiao Qi was quite curious what the rent was for this apartment and asked about it.
"The first time I came to Enhua University, I was attracted by the scenery here. And when I saw this apartment, I decided I wanted to live here for the next few years − too beautiful! The rent for the apartment is very affordable, especially for us teachers since there's a discount. It's only a little over 400 pounds a month. When I shared this place with my friends, they all thought it was unbelievable, way too cheap. Plus, things here are so reasonably priced."
Grace pointed at the beef Xiao Qi was kneading and said: "One kilo of beef is only about 6 pounds here. Back home, that's at least 15 pounds."
In her head, Xiao Qi calculated that 1 pound was about 9 RMB, so the monthly rent here was around 4000 RMB, and beef was about 60 RMB per kilo.
A rent of over 5000 RMB was considered extremely affordable. Xiao Qi had just looked around and agreed the place did seem beautiful − floor-to-ceiling windows, large rooftop terrace, nicely renovated, very spacious with the upstairs, downstairs and terrace adding up to around 180 or close to 200 square meters, and an endless ocean view.
Thinking about the hotel she had just stayed at when she first arrived in the Alliance City, it was over 2000 RMB per night. Grace was probably judging it based on that kind of standard. Hotels with ocean views abroad were surely even more expensive.
Xiao Qi wondered if these apartments were available for purchase to the public. If they could be bought, this seemed like it wouldn't be a bad place.
As Xiao Qi taught Grace, she also prepared all the ingredients to braise the potato and beef, then started stewing it in the pot.
The kitchen here had extremely complete cooking ware. Grace said the school staff had prepared everything, and there was much that she didn't even know the use for.
What Xiao Qi needed was a large sandpot, and amazingly there actually was one here.
She had thought a stainless steel pot would have to substitute, but the flavor would be different. Stewing meat in a sandpot made it soft and tender but still chewy, while stainless steel pots often ended up hardening the meat the longer it stewed.
Plus, the beef Grace bought was on the lean side, so the sandpot was perfect.
Xiao Qi first added the beef to the pot. Once the water started boiling, she skimmed off the blood foam layer and stewed for another half hour.
In the meantime, Xiao Qi began teaching Grace how to make shredded yam strips.
Indeed, foreigners liked sweet food. When the first fried piece was done, Grace took a bite and her reaction was simply spectacular as she started bouncing up and down with excitement.
"Sue! I thought potatoes could only be used to make french fries. I didn't expect they could be turned into such a magical dessert." She pointed eagerly at the big pot of oil, waiting for Xiao Qi to fry up the next piece.
Xiao Qi fried several pieces and let Grace try her hand at it too. Grace didn't quite grasp the temperature and ended up slightly scorching it, but she was still extremely thrilled since this was made by her own hand. She kept shouting "Perfect!"
After frying up a batch of shredded yams, Xiao Qi checked on the meat stewing in the sandpot. The aroma was already wafting up in the bubbling pot by now.
Grace also had a wide variety of seasonings and ingredients here. She was very curious about the seasonings and food ingredients from this Eastern country and had even procured things like star anise, cassia bark and wolfberries, as well as what looked to be beautiful bunches of fresh green Sichuan peppercorns.
Xiao Qi added the spices one by one as Grace took notes. She had even set up a video camera to record it for easy future reference when learning.
Xiao Qi felt great that she had taught Grace some cooking skills, while also getting to practice her English. After all, opportunities to directly interact with foreigners like this didn't come by often. As they chatted, Xiao Qi realized there was still a gap between the English she had studied and actually speaking the language.
Although her vocabulary was extensive, she felt like she was using formal, written language to talk with Grace, while Grace was just conversing in casual, spoken English. In reality, people don't usually speak with formal language in everyday conversation, except maybe politicians.
Xiao Qi figured it was probably because most of her English learning had focused on reading and writing rather than speaking and interacting. By chatting with Grace, she found herself unconsciously picking up many useful expressions.
Grace commented that even English has different accents and she considered the London accent to be the most sophisticated and elegant.
The two taught each other, and time flew by quickly.
Xiao Qi also showed Grace how to make stretched sweet potatoes, bananas, strawberries, and many other foods. Grace gradually got the hang of it and felt these dishes would definitely be the most popular ones at parties.
The two busied themselves in the kitchen while guests gradually arrived, mostly foreign teachers. Far from their home countries, they seemed to form a small, close-knit community that often gathered together.
Xiao Qi also noticed a young man that she originally mistook for a fellow Chinese. But it turned out he was not Chinese but rather a Korean who spoke no Chinese. His English and Korean were very fluent. Xiao Qi later realized the "young man" was actually a Korean woman who simply looked boyish.
As the evening sun shone through the window onto the simmering claypot, Xiao Qi removed the lid. The meat and potatoes continued to bubble away inside, the beef now fall-apart tender and the potatoes slightly crumbling. The broth had reduced to a rich, thick sauce, ready to be served.
By now, the beefy aroma had wafted through the entire house, even drawing those upstairs back down. Grace was astonished, suspecting Su must have used some magic in cooking this dish. She had watched the entire process yet the finished product now seemed totally transformed, utterly perfect.
Grace had originally asked a few people to help carry the heavy claypot to the table as the centerpiece main dish. But Xiao Qi simply wrapped a towel around the pot and carried it over herself...
Grace's home was on the 32nd floor of the apartment building, almost at the top floor.
Xiao Qi and the others arrived around 3 o'clock, worried that it might be too early and disturb Grace, but also worried that arriving too late would be problematic since Xiao Qi had offered to teach cooking.
When they arrived, there were already several guests present.
Xiao Qi also saw the familiar old man Garen. At the Mid-Autumn Festival party that night, he had sung "A Fire in Winter" and brought down the house. Garen was dancing and singing along, completely immersed in the song.
When Grace saw Xiao Qi arrive, she took off the gloves she was wearing to prepare food for baking and came over to give Xiao Qi a hug. Fortunately, there was no cheek-kissing or anything like that, otherwise Xiao Qi wouldn't have known how to respond.
Foreigners are very enthusiastic.
As soon as Grace opened her mouth, she said, "Sue, I wasn't there in person that night, what a pity! Garen showed us your singing video, you were amazing. Many of the friends who have come today are your fans."
After Garen's explanation, Xiao Qi realized that Garen had recorded a video of her singing that night and often played it at their hangout spot, the book bar. The song Xiao Qi sang was especially popular. Foreigners probably can't tell the difference between Peking opera and other singing styles, so they just thought the way she sang in the long robe with that intonation was particularly cool.
Xiao Qi introduced her roommates to Grace and also brought gifts.
Grace was very happy and hugged each of them in turn. Her expressions were very exaggerated.
When she received the scarf from Honey, and learned it was produced in Honey's family factory, she exclaimed again about how much she loved the silk from this country, calling it too beautiful and a work of art.
When she got the dried mushrooms from Wei Cheng, she smelled it blissfully and was told it was handmade by Wei Cheng's family. She kept saying how awesome it was and that she really needed this ingredient. She also complimented Wei Cheng for being very pretty.
Seeing the flower arrangement Yun Shu had brought that she had put together herself, Grace made an effort to praise her again, saying Yun Shu was a sweet girl with a sweet heart.
Xiao Qi really admired the way these foreigners lavished sincere and unaffected praise without pretense.
It was as if they were just naturally very happy.
She also gave Grace the bamboo gift box she had made. Seeing the bamboo box made Grace even more exaggerated in her reaction. She said it was the most thoughtful gift she had ever received and that it was beautiful. When she learned that Xiao Qi had made it herself, she was even more amazed.
She gave Xiao Qi another hug. Fortunately, Grace was also flat-chested, so there was no stifling feeling from the embrace.
Afterwards, Xiao Qi went to help Grace in the kitchen while Honey and the others played outside.
The foreigners meant business when they talked about cooking. They didn't stand on ceremony but had already prepared an apron for Xiao Qi.
It was a nice white apron with blue trim that matched well with the black dress Xiao Qi was wearing.
Grace's apartment was very nice. Upon entering, there was a bathroom to the left and a kitchen to the right. Directly opposite was an entire wall of floor-to-ceiling windows looking out onto a balcony living room.
It directly overlooked lake and ocean views because this stretch of lake flowed right into the sea, so the lake seemed to extend endlessly and the scenery was beautiful.
However, the party was not held down here but upstairs. Amazingly, her home was a duplex!
Downstairs had the living room, kitchen and bathroom while upstairs had a large rooftop terrace and a bedroom with its own bathroom.
Xiao Qi and Grace prepared ingredients downstairs in the kitchen while the others were either upstairs or in the living room downstairs.
The living room downstairs had one wall that was a bookshelf filled with lots of books.
The wall across from it was a large projection screen playing classic movies.
Xiao Qi asked Grace what ingredients she had prepared. Grace said she had already prepared many beverages. Because there were students present today, she didn't prepare any alcohol. She had baked some desserts and marinated chicken wings and drumsticks that could be roasted once the desserts finished baking. She had also prepared some smoked bacon, vegetable salads and fruit salads.
Basically, it was self-serve buffet-style with cold dishes and roast meat for grilling.
Xiao Qi had originally wanted to make the Warrior Lu meat pies she had talked about last time, but the oven was occupied. After asking about ingredients, she found that Grace had bought a lot of beef and potatoes, so Xiao Qi decided to make braised potato and beef. This dish had a simple method but required a slightly longer stewing time.
There were also some yams in the kitchen. Xiao Qi planned to make shredded yam strips since she had heard foreigners especially liked sweet flavors. This was probably a safer bet and both dishes would be easy to teach.
Grace herself greatly enjoyed cooking, evident from the large variety of items she had prepared. She assumed Xiao Qi was also a cooking aficionado, but when she saw Xiao Qi start to peel and cut potatoes into smooth slices, she exclaimed in astonishment. With knife skills like that, Xiao Qi must be more than an amateur and was probably very skilled.
As Xiao Qi walked her through the steps for making braised potato and beef, they chatted casually.
Xiao Qi felt cooking required a good sense of touch and rhythm, and even one's mood, good or bad, could influence the flavor of a dish. But Xiao Qi's current skill level was just slightly above basic and had reached introductory level, while Grace was around basic level. The two were able communicate quite fluidly about cooking techniques.
There was a one level gap between them, which was the best for learning − close enough to grasp what had not yet been achieved. If there was too big of a gap, like a PhD trying to teach a grade schooler, it might not necessarily be better than a college student teaching them.
With one learning earnestly and the other teaching earnestly, both felt very happy.
In between, they also chatted about other things.
Xiao Qi was quite curious what the rent was for this apartment and asked about it.
"The first time I came to Enhua University, I was attracted by the scenery here. And when I saw this apartment, I decided I wanted to live here for the next few years − too beautiful! The rent for the apartment is very affordable, especially for us teachers since there's a discount. It's only a little over 400 pounds a month. When I shared this place with my friends, they all thought it was unbelievable, way too cheap. Plus, things here are so reasonably priced."
Grace pointed at the beef Xiao Qi was kneading and said: "One kilo of beef is only about 6 pounds here. Back home, that's at least 15 pounds."
In her head, Xiao Qi calculated that 1 pound was about 9 RMB, so the monthly rent here was around 4000 RMB, and beef was about 60 RMB per kilo.
A rent of over 5000 RMB was considered extremely affordable. Xiao Qi had just looked around and agreed the place did seem beautiful − floor-to-ceiling windows, large rooftop terrace, nicely renovated, very spacious with the upstairs, downstairs and terrace adding up to around 180 or close to 200 square meters, and an endless ocean view.
Thinking about the hotel she had just stayed at when she first arrived in the Alliance City, it was over 2000 RMB per night. Grace was probably judging it based on that kind of standard. Hotels with ocean views abroad were surely even more expensive.
Xiao Qi wondered if these apartments were available for purchase to the public. If they could be bought, this seemed like it wouldn't be a bad place.
As Xiao Qi taught Grace, she also prepared all the ingredients to braise the potato and beef, then started stewing it in the pot.
The kitchen here had extremely complete cooking ware. Grace said the school staff had prepared everything, and there was much that she didn't even know the use for.
What Xiao Qi needed was a large sandpot, and amazingly there actually was one here.
She had thought a stainless steel pot would have to substitute, but the flavor would be different. Stewing meat in a sandpot made it soft and tender but still chewy, while stainless steel pots often ended up hardening the meat the longer it stewed.
Plus, the beef Grace bought was on the lean side, so the sandpot was perfect.
Xiao Qi first added the beef to the pot. Once the water started boiling, she skimmed off the blood foam layer and stewed for another half hour.
In the meantime, Xiao Qi began teaching Grace how to make shredded yam strips.
Indeed, foreigners liked sweet food. When the first fried piece was done, Grace took a bite and her reaction was simply spectacular as she started bouncing up and down with excitement.
"Sue! I thought potatoes could only be used to make french fries. I didn't expect they could be turned into such a magical dessert." She pointed eagerly at the big pot of oil, waiting for Xiao Qi to fry up the next piece.
Xiao Qi fried several pieces and let Grace try her hand at it too. Grace didn't quite grasp the temperature and ended up slightly scorching it, but she was still extremely thrilled since this was made by her own hand. She kept shouting "Perfect!"
After frying up a batch of shredded yams, Xiao Qi checked on the meat stewing in the sandpot. The aroma was already wafting up in the bubbling pot by now.
Grace also had a wide variety of seasonings and ingredients here. She was very curious about the seasonings and food ingredients from this Eastern country and had even procured things like star anise, cassia bark and wolfberries, as well as what looked to be beautiful bunches of fresh green Sichuan peppercorns.
Xiao Qi added the spices one by one as Grace took notes. She had even set up a video camera to record it for easy future reference when learning.
Xiao Qi felt great that she had taught Grace some cooking skills, while also getting to practice her English. After all, opportunities to directly interact with foreigners like this didn't come by often. As they chatted, Xiao Qi realized there was still a gap between the English she had studied and actually speaking the language.
Although her vocabulary was extensive, she felt like she was using formal, written language to talk with Grace, while Grace was just conversing in casual, spoken English. In reality, people don't usually speak with formal language in everyday conversation, except maybe politicians.
Xiao Qi figured it was probably because most of her English learning had focused on reading and writing rather than speaking and interacting. By chatting with Grace, she found herself unconsciously picking up many useful expressions.
Grace commented that even English has different accents and she considered the London accent to be the most sophisticated and elegant.
The two taught each other, and time flew by quickly.
Xiao Qi also showed Grace how to make stretched sweet potatoes, bananas, strawberries, and many other foods. Grace gradually got the hang of it and felt these dishes would definitely be the most popular ones at parties.
The two busied themselves in the kitchen while guests gradually arrived, mostly foreign teachers. Far from their home countries, they seemed to form a small, close-knit community that often gathered together.
Xiao Qi also noticed a young man that she originally mistook for a fellow Chinese. But it turned out he was not Chinese but rather a Korean who spoke no Chinese. His English and Korean were very fluent. Xiao Qi later realized the "young man" was actually a Korean woman who simply looked boyish.
As the evening sun shone through the window onto the simmering claypot, Xiao Qi removed the lid. The meat and potatoes continued to bubble away inside, the beef now fall-apart tender and the potatoes slightly crumbling. The broth had reduced to a rich, thick sauce, ready to be served.
By now, the beefy aroma had wafted through the entire house, even drawing those upstairs back down. Grace was astonished, suspecting Su must have used some magic in cooking this dish. She had watched the entire process yet the finished product now seemed totally transformed, utterly perfect.
Grace had originally asked a few people to help carry the heavy claypot to the table as the centerpiece main dish. But Xiao Qi simply wrapped a towel around the pot and carried it over herself...
