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East is East
Hello lovely readers and a big thank you for the warmth of your response to me finally getting to meet my lovely grandson Dermot. I’m going to try and keep you up to date on #Shananigansontour with...
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The Art of Pulling Noodles – Hutong Cuisine Cookery School
Two days in Beijing and my clothes already smell of a heady concoction of unusual spices. That’s what comes of spending a good chunk of those two days in the kitchen. Yesterday it was the turn of...
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Visit to a wet food market in Beijing
I’m writing this post in the back garden of my daughter Claire’s new home in Clovelly in the suburbs of Sydney. It’s 28 degrees C and I’ve just come back from a walk with her to Bronte beach where a...
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I got it – I think I got it: making jiaozi dumplings from scratch
I wasn’t even sure I wanted to do another dumpling and noodle class. After all I’d seen a demo by Chef Ricky of China Sichuan at our Taste of China event in Cooks Academy. And then I’d spent Wednesday...
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The patient art of Chinese cooking – Shananigans Chez Bloor
When we were in Beijing last week we attended two stir-fry/ wok classes at Hutong Cuisine, apart from the noodle and dumpling classes I wrote about recently. While the format of these standard morning...
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Food fit for an Emperor at Black Sesame Kitchen
Many years ago I used to be involved in leadership training and we talked about the four stages of learning a new skill and how you progress from “unconscious incompetence” to “conscious incompetence”...
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On learning, goodbyes and Chao Bing
When I talk to women about leadership I quote Dee Hock who said, sometime late in the last century, that the problem is never how to get new, innovative thoughts into your mind but how to get the old...
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Sichuan Spicy Chicken Salad with Home Made Chilli Oil
I figure I’d better give you my lovely readers a few new recipes soon or you will begin to think that this is less of a food blog and more “The Ramblings of a Besotted Nai Nai”. So to start with here...
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Peking Duck at XiHeYaYuan by East Beijing
“Nine times boiling will make nine kinds of changes, that depends on the fire controlling. Sometimes use high heat in cooking, sometimes use gentle. Clearing the fishy, foul and smell of mutton, the...
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100 days of Dermot
It is this simple. Without Baby Shananigans there would have been no Shananigans blog. I was already smitten by Chinese food and culture when we visited Beijing last July but it was the news that a...
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Food Fit for an Emperor – Pine Nut and Beef Stir-fry
My grandson is 7 months old today and I’ve found a good reason to visit Beijing in late October. Not that I need much of an excuse with him growing bigger by the day and a yearning to be with him that...
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Yesterday we moved apartment
This is a guest post from my son Shane. He wrote it a few weeks ago on the day he, Shan, Dermot and MaMa moved apartment. I hope you enjoy it. Yesterday we moved apartment. It is a normal, everyday...
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Happy reunions and three more ways with Pizza on the Big Green Egg
Moments don’t come much sweeter. Throughout the 18 hour journey from Dublin I quelled my nervous anticipation about meeting Dermot again. I practised my “happy face” to mask my disappointment when he...
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Gong Bao Chicken
One of the many things I love about a trip to Beijing is the chance to attend a few cookery classes, pick up new recipes and tips and improve techniques under the watchful eye of a professional Chinese...
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It’s hard to say goodbye
Shane, Shan and Dermot What can I tell you about my grandson who was 9 months old this week … That he has the most infectious giggle and finds the adults around him hilarious. That he loves to play nai...
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Making Chinese Dumplings (jiaozi) from Scratch – an unlikely cure for jet-lag
It was a gloomy November Sunday afternoon, less than 24 hours after I had arrived back from Beijing. Winter had sneaked up on Ireland while I was away, the evenings were closing in and there was a...
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Japanese style dinner at Taikiku Beijing
Day 2 of #NaiNaiVisit and I’m fighting off jet-lag, falling asleep at odd moments in the middle of the day, drifting off on the sofa as soon as we get back from dinner and awake writing blog posts at...
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Beijing Zoo
I remember my own first trip to Dublin Zoo, petting the donkey at the Children’s Corner and posing at the Wishing Seat in a little pink coat to have my photo taken. I can’t have been more than four...
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Hunan dinner at Pindian Cuisine, Wangjing
I have to hand it to my daughter-in-law Shan. She keeps pushing out the boundaries when it comes to our dining experiences in Beijing – both geographically and in terms of the food. She has been...
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Shan’s Home-style Chinese Dinner
This is how the blog began – with Shan teaching me how to cook authentic Chinese dishes at home. Looking back at my very first post in July 2012, it all seems such a long time ago. At first it was a...
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