A Banana in China

Last week, my kid and I were coughing, coughing and coughing and gagging on a lot of phlegm that I swear it felt almost as bad as the croup he got last year.

Since I can’t take ANY cough medicine now, I resorted to the good old Nim Jiom Pei Pa Koa, which a trusted paediatrician from Beijing had recommended to me when I had a nasty cough before coming home.

Guess what happened? I got better faster on just Nim Jiom Pei Pa Koa compared to my boy who was taking Rhinathiol (Promethazine)!
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I remember the boiled pearl barley (and sugarcane juice) from childhood days growing up in my Chinese grandmother’s house. Even my Mum would boil it for us sometimes especially when the weather is hot because pearl barley has cooling properties.

Did you know that Koreans drink a barley tea regularly in place of water? If you go to a genuine Korean restaurant (and not those franchised sensations), you’ll be served this barley tea. I actually prefer the Korean barley tea’s light flavour over the Japanese green tea.

Anyway, now that the weather is so hot, my Mum boiled some pearl barley soup for the preschooler but surprisingly, he only drank one bottle and didn’t ask for more. Hehehe, it turns out that he prefers his mummy’s recipe over Grandma’s!

I actually created this recipe during a hot summer because somehow, I thought that pandanus leaves were needed. And since you can’t find pandanus leaves in China, I thought of other ingredients to add flavour to the drink.

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I guess most our friends know by now that we’re back in Malaysia And like most Malaysians who come back from overseas, the first thing we do is indulge in local Malaysian delicacies we have missed!!!

The first thing on Hubby’s mind was: DURIAN. Yup, he had been hankering for the ‘king of the fruits’ for such a long time because he didn’t have any during our last trip back around Chinese New Year.

Since the durian season was tailing off in Penang, he literally slammed on the brakes when we passed by a roadside stall selling local Malaysian durians LOL. The tot and I were getting bored in the car already when he FINALLY walked back toting the delectable durian with the overwhelming stench

WE LOVE YOU, DURIAN, THORNS AND ALL
Hubby is a true durian connoisseur as he likes the durian with a slightly bitter taste while I prefer only the sweet durians. Luckily, he bought one which was just perfect for me: golden yellow, thick and creamy flesh with a mid-sized seed and deliciously sweet!

When we first arrived in China, shopping for fruits was one of my priorities because my tot LOVED bananas then. We could find bananas (imported from Thailand), papaya (the Hawaiian type), oranges, grapes and apples (imported from the United States) watermelon and kiwi fruit (imported from Australia) in the supermarket.

But the real joy is finding the well-stocked fruit stalls at the market. Why? I found that they had more variety, they were fresher and of course, much much cheaper.

For the Chinese, fruits play a huge role in their diet especially where the seasons are concerned. When my tot and I kept falling sick at the turn of the seasons, some kind Chinese friends advised us to “follow the fruits”.
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