Tag Archives: Living in England

A Mix of East and West Fitting for a Queen

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We celebrated the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee yesterday with  a mix of oriental and western food.

My friend Annie prepared a feast, fitting for a queen.

Oriental: We had rice, steamed sea bass, steamed vegetable and grilled Chinese BBQ pork

Western: We had roast chicken, roast potatoes and roast duck

The duck was actually from France. Annie’s daughter came back from France with a school trip, and her host family gave her some duck to (smuggle)  take home to England. It was delicious.

One highlight of the meal was Chiu Chow Chilli, by King Asia. Annie’s brother is in the food industry, and he brought us this delicious chilli sauce that his company has just launched in the north of England.

Chiu Chow Chilli — it’s hot and rich

I love proper chilli sauce. I grew up eating chilli for most of my meals. Chiu Chow Chilli is rich, hot with a touch of sweetness. It’s the most delicious chilli I’ve ever tried in England.

Continue reading →

5 changes of a Chinese wife in England: on Language

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English is such a fascinating language. It’s common that people do not always say what they mean, or do not mean what they say. Below is a list of 5 things that I’ve learnt:

1) A Cream Tea is not a cup of tea with cream:

On our honeymoon in Jersey back in 1999, my husband asked if I fancied some Cream Tea. I said yes as I was thirsty after a long walk.

He later gave me a plate with a fat, boring looking bun (I later learnt it was called a scone) with jam and cream next to it. I sat and waited patiently for my tea. “Where’s my tea?”  I asked. Hugh pointed at the fat, boring looking bun and said ‘You said you wanted some Cream Tea.’

Cream Tea means a scone.

2) There’s something called a Tea Towel: 

A Tea Towel is a piece of cloth you use to dry dishes and cutlery. Why is it called a Tea Towel? I’m wondering if ‘tea’ means a drink or a meal?

I’ve also learnt that the tea towel is a minor British Institution.

3) What is lunch, tea and dinner really?  Continue reading →

5 changes of a Chinese wife in England: on Culture

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I’ve slowly picked up some survival tips after living in England since 1996. Here are 5 of them on culture:

1) Always starting your greetings with the weather, not food:

Now I say ‘Isn’t it lovely!’ or ‘What a lovely day!’ to greet people, as ‘hello’, as opposed to saying, ‘Have you eaten?’, which is a Chinese way of asking ‘How’re you’.

And, I’ve learnt to agree with people when they praise or moan about the weather, because English people don’t expect you to disagree with them about the English weather. They just don’t.

2) I remember the names of our neighbours’ pets:

My son told me off for referring to his pet lizard as ‘it’, or our neighbours’ pets as ‘they’. Ben said it’s rude to call a pet ‘it’. So now I know all the names of my neighbours’ pets.

Our opposite neighbour’s cat is Bella, another neighbour’s cats are Mary and Poppy, and there is a corn snake called Pyro, a leopard lizard called Airren and a crested lizard called Cody.

3) I make a big fuss about English people’s birthday: Continue reading →

5 changes of a Chinese wife in England — on Food

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I’ve been living in England since 1996. From being a student, a wife, to a mother, I’ve noticed my habits have changed quite a bit. Here is a list of my 5 changes regarding food:

1) I no longer own a rice cooker:

The 2 British people in my life prefer pasta to rice. When my rice cooker broke a few years ago, I didn’t replace it, because I couldn’t find a good one even from John Lewis. I must be the only Chinese person under the sun without an electrical rice cooker. Now, whenever I need to cook rice, I use a saucepan and control the heat manually.

2) I enjoy drinking tea with cow’s milk:

When I first arrived in England, cow’s milk in tea would irritate my body. I felt sick. I had tummy ache. After a while, my body slowly adapted to cow’s milk, and I’ve become a tea addict now and I drink tea with cow’s milk day and night. I also need a tea break very often.

3) I use fork to eat rice on a plate:

As we don’t eat rice a lot at home, when we have  rice, such as with Chilli Con Carne, we use fork to eat rice on a plate. In my previous life, rice was eaten from a bowl with chopsticks. Continue reading →