with Swedes in tow, we head to the snow (Moganshan take 3)

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We spent the past week with our friends Lisa and Rikard from Stockholm. I met Lisa a year ago in Shanghai. We studied Chinese together and became fast friends…you know when you meet someone you are meant to be friends with? It’s even more special when you find these people a half a world away from both of your homes. Lisa brought her love, Rikard, with her this trip and we all had a great time together. Lisa showed Rikard her favorite spots and we introduced them both to some of our favorites too. They came stocked with Swedish food and drink and we ate and drank our way through the generous stockpile throughout the week. Personally crafted muesli and homemade bread were my favorites. Our final weekend together was spent in Moganshan. This was our third trip to this mountain retreat. Best known as a summer retreat to escape Shanghai heat, we ventured back up just after the first big snow of the season. There were six inches on the ground on Wednesday and we arrived Friday, just after the roads were opened again at the very top where we were staying.

While on the subway en route to the train station, we got a call from our friend and travel organizer “Moganshan Dan” who called to report that the house we planned to rent was no longer an option. The water pipes were frozen, and we could not stay there. Thankfully, we had someone helping us plan the trip and Dan arranged for alternate lodging. Dan had warned us that the temperatures were low and we should pack as many warm things as possible. With that in mind, Mark made a last minute trip to the store the night before we left and bought a mini heater. We also packed a bunch of blankets and many clothes. None of us had proper snow boots—we Slavens left ours in Evanston because we didn’t need them in Shanghai last winter. We all had rubber boots, some newly purchased, so we were able to keep our feet dry and fairly warm with extra socks. Mark’s black rubber boots made him look particularly local since the Chinese workmen often wear the same kind of boots.

Because Lisa has serious food allergies, our plan was to rent a house with a kitchen, bring lots of food and cooking supplies and make our own meals. All sorts of kind people helped us keep our plans intact. We cooked our meals at our hotel. We made sure to give the Lodge ample business and drank many a coffee, tea, and beer as well as ordering plenty of home baked treats during our stay. I am not sure how I will choose which cooking details to include. There are so many. But first some exploring.

While Nathan and Emily became addicted to Wii at the family friendly Moganshan Lodge (which rather ironically happened when our Wii-less kids went to the mountains and had access to one!) with Mark’s supervision, Lisa, Rikard and I went on a snowy hike. It was really beautiful—albeit a bit too cold—and once we got walking we warmed right up. Since I have been to Moganshan two other times this year, once in May and once in July, it was fun to explore the same trails and roads but this time with snow. My regular readers know all too well that my navigation skills are not award winning. Add a blanket of snow to the challenge, and it’s even more exciting. We did not get lost, however, thanks to my sharp-enough memory and Lisa’s stronger navigational skills. She had also been to Moganshan once before but this walk was one I’d taken in the summer.

We saw dramatic icicles hanging from the jutting rock where Mark, the kids and I had taken shelter from the heat in July. There were trees with branches bending and covering the road, they were so heavy with snow. It was quite beautiful and we enjoyed the solitude of being the only ones out on our particular path. We walked to the suspension bridge and the glass bottomed sightseeing area, but this time the bridge was covered with snow and barely shook when we walked, jumped and stomped our way across. I sent Mark a text that read “we are about to cross the bridge!” before crossing the bridge…just in case. I recognized all sorts of familiar landmarks that were altered completely by the presence of all the snow. On the way out we saw a few human and animal footprints and on the way back we saw a couple people taking solitary walks.

The kids spent a lot of their time with the newly born puppies at the Lodge. Our friends Emily (Lodge manager) and Dan (travel and Moganshan activity guru) had seven two week old puppies. They were living in a nest of blankets in the Lodge with a space heater to ensure they didn’t catch a chill. I was worried that Lisa or one of the kids would actually try to take one home. They were really cute and super soft.

We returned to Lodge and had a pre-dinner drink of glue wine (glögg). It was served hot and tasted like mulled wine. I really liked it. Apparently the alcohol level is not that high so to remedy that obvious issue, Lisa mixed it with vodka. Genius! Then it was time to prepare our dinner. Lisa and I made her specialty—Swedish meatballs with lingonberries. Let me pause to rave a bit. Lisa brought the mushrooms for her sauce from Sweden. She handpicked these mushrooms, dried them with care, and transported them all the way to Shanghai and then Moganshan so that we could experience the heaven that was her mushroom sauce. She also handpicked the berries and jarred them. Scrumptious seems like too weak a word. It was fantastic and so much fun to help her make.

Since I was the Suze chef (or sous chef depending on your choice of spelling) I got the really good jobs. I peeled and mashed the potatoes, chopped the onions til my eyes burned and teared, and squished and rolled what looked like a hundred or so meatballs with my bare hands. I can tell Lisa entrusted me with these jobs because she recognized my incredible culinary talent. And also because she didn’t want me too focused on her secret sauce recipe. All I can tell you is special mushrooms, wine, onions and spices and more wine, oh and some cream. Lisa runs a tight kitchen. After much effort, we finally plated our pre-warmed dishes for the group. The dinner was a big success and we went to our chilly beds with full tummies. We took advantage of the hotel’s in room water bottles. We blew a fuse trying to boil water with all the heaters on, but after power was restored, we went to bed each embracing a good old-fashioned hot water bottle.

Next day, we had breakfast en suite (cereal, fruit, milk and coffee). We were able to keep the dairy items on our balcony (aka “the fridge”). Handy, but a rude cold blast every time we opened the fridge door. Lisa and Rikard were off for their morning hike and the lazy 4 lounged a bit longer. Then Emily and I went on a great, long hike to the waterfall. This waterfall hike is straight down. In the summer, we did it and Emily was so tired and hot that we had to hire these guys with a sedan type chair to carry her back up the mountain stairs. This time, there were no guys to hire, and we took our time, praised our amazing endurance and took some breaks. We made it to the waterfall and back with minimal complaint, absolutely no “carry me” attempts and a lot of fun and giggling. I loved having this girl time with my sweet girl.

Lunch was Swedish pancakes a la Chef Rikard. I’m telling you, we were lucky to have these Swedes with us. Rikard made about 50 or more pancakes and we ate every last one. We had them with fruit, with another Swedish jam they brought from Stockholm and some with sugar. Yum. I spent the afternoon by the fire in the Lodge reading a bit and chatting with all the other visitors who came in for a coffee, tea and a warmup. I met some women from Adidas, one German and one Chinese who worked in Shanghai. It’s very lodge-ish and the ambience encourages you to invite strangers to sit and chat with you by the fire, rather than shoot them looks of “I was here first” and hope they go elsewhere.

For our second dinner, I was the head chef and Mark assisted. I made spaghetti bolognese sauce from scratch and paired it with some whole wheat spaghetti. Because I know my younger customers are so freaking picky, I made them a quick mac n cheese with animal shaped pasta, American cheese slices (pause for gasps from the culinary crowd) and butter. Whatever you might think of me, it was a success and Lisa, my fellow foodie, thought it was fantastic. That amused me. My dinner was great, but the cooking experience deserves its own paragraph or two.

First, the kitchen. It was the hotel kitchen and it was very large. Two rooms in fact. The first room had some sort of stove with a wok attached. I didn’t go near that. I stuck to the two gas burners near a back wall that had switches that I could figure out without much effort. Just as I started to look around for a pot, one of the women from the hotel came in and I was able to ask for that, hot water, and confirm it was ok to use their other utensils and chopping board. Part of the routine when cooking in China, and at a strange place, and for an allergic person that could quite literally be killed if the dish, board or plate had even a trace of peanut, soy or sesame oil on it, I washed EVERYTHING I used with hot water and lots of soap. I went through about six thermoses of hot water. The sinks had cold water, but I was encouraged to use the boiled water for everything. Cooking, washing dishes and food. Everything. So I did just that. I had brought my own sponge too. Because of Lisa and because I’m a freak and didn’t want to use a sponge whose history and usage I did not have access to for washing the dishes.

I was wearing my hat, scarf and coat while cooking. The kitchen was indoors but had a very outdoorsy feel. Mark pointed out that this was likely due to the large holes in the walls. Like windows but no obvious closing mechanism that we could see. I was worried about creatures of the squeaky, cheese loving variety but I was assured that was not a worry since the hotel cat lived in the kitchen. While this would normally not thrill me, I was over the moon with joy to see the cat and his or her dish of cartoon perfect fish bones. I survived the kitchen, cleaned up our mess and then it was back to the Lodge to while away the evening with drinks, games and giggles.

After breakfast, we packed up and said goodbye to Dan and Emily again, our mountain dwelling friends. The weekend was great and we hope to get back to Moganshan again in the spring or early summer. Our trip back to Shanghai was very quick and easy.

Sunday night it was on to pasta at Da Marco, our favorite Shanghai Italian joint. Emily amazed us all by approaching the owner and asking for a donation for our Girl Scouts silent auction. He not only said yes, he gave her a very generous pair of gift certificates and we all cheered at her bravery and success. Her Nina was clearly supervising, since Nina was the queen of persuasive fundraising. Three generations of schmoozing ladies all rolled into Emily.

We said a teary goodbye to Lisa and Rikard on Monday. The visit was so nice and ended rather abruptly when they left, Mark headed off to work out of town for the week and the kids left for school Monday morning. I had a nice lazy Monday followed by a very active Tuesday (today). We have warm weather again in Shanghai. Today was 66! I walked for at least two hours today and I hope to get out and do more of the same tomorrow.

Thanksgiving is being postponed to Saturday for us. Mark is gone, Thursday is a school day…but for those of you having the old school Thursday Thanksgiving USA style, I wish you peace, joy and love as you celebrate the day and recover from the food coma the day after. xoxo

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Comments

[Linda]

Takk fer maten!
Walks in the snowy woods, cooking in jackets, sleeping with hot water bottles...plus Swedish meatballs and pancakes with lingonberries...your blog brought back so many memories, I had to keep reminding myself that you are writing from Shanghai. Thanks, A Regular Reader