Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Chinese Food and a Great Oriental Market in Aberdeen, Scotland - Plus a healthy, quick breakfast idea that's good for you on-the-go types!

If you are looking for a great place to get Chinese food, The Manchurian in Aberdeen has got it! Dim sum? Yes, please! I highly recommend this place. We went for lunch on Sunday. Everything was very good, and the staff were so friendly and helpful with the menu. Photos from Jessica Hall. Thanks!


Egg custard tarts! Yum!


After lunch, we headed next door to Matthew's Oriental Supermarket. I needed a wok, some food stuff, and a couple of bamboo steamers. I wanted the bamboo steamers because I've recently become interested in learning how to make steamed buns. I'm starting with Mantou. I bought some frozen mantou at Matthews and got lucky! They were good!

I got all of this for only £37 (about $57). Not bad for a nice wok, a giant bag of jasmine rice, steamers, and other products.
Moving on. I'm always looking for new ideas for eating healthy. I try to avoid boxed products as much as possible. We've really tried to cut down on things with lots of preservatives or processing. I found this blog page on Pinterest for Overnight, No-Cook Refrigerator Oatmeal. I gave it a try, and so far I think it's pretty good. I made the mango-almond type and the chocolate-banana type. Here is the recipe in a nutshell:
  • 1/4 cup rolled oats (not instant)
  • 1/3 cup of milk
  • 1/4 cup of Greek yogurt (low fat if you want)
  • 1.5 teaspoons of Chia seeds (but I used 1 tsp of milled flaxseed) for additional nutrients.
That is the base, and then there are extra ingredients for the different flavors. You mix everything in small mason jars for individual serving sizes and then put them in the refrigerator overnight. I used almond milk instead of cow's milk, but I think I'll test the cow's milk just to see if it makes it a little thicker or gives a slightly different flavor. I also used flaxseed instead of chia seeds because I couldn't find chia seeds. Flaxseed is good for those additional nutrients!

You may have to tweak the recipe depending on the type of oats you buy and possibly even the type of milk (I'm investigating this). It only took me about 10-15 minutes to dice the fruit and mix everything. If you tend to rush to work or don't always have time for a lunch break, I think this would be a great option to make sure you are getting the nutrients you need to get through the day. Now, the pictures on her blog were nice and pretty, so I'm claiming mine as "real life" first time. I couldn't find jars but these snap-lid containers work well. Remember that it's individual serving sizes, which is why they aren't filled to the top.

Before!
After. A little thicker. This is the chocolate-banana flavor.


3 comments:

  1. I never imagined Chinese food would be these so delicious. I always think that they were mushy and weird.

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    1. I like to try all types of food. My mom always told me growing up, "Just try it at least once. If you don't like it, you don't have to finish it." I've pretty much stuck to that.

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  2. Chinese food is one of my all time favorites. Last place I went to had some really interesting take-out containers. I had never seen them used before, and they were great for getting everything I needed back to the house.

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