Yesterday I was doing a bit of grocery shopping at the local Carrefour and found myself wandering around in the kitchen tools department. Carrefour is just like Walmart, 2 huge floors, one dedicated to food and the other to housewares, clothing, and other sundry things.
I have been toying with the idea of buying a steamer pot with 2 or 3 tiers. Currently I use this small steamer basket to steam veggies.
Which has been a faithful servant to me for 21 years, yes I bought that little steamer in 1990 when I moved into my first apartment in Danbury, CT! But I think I have graduated to something more substantial, something that has "power". Yes, could it be.... a power'ful' steamer! So I came across this lovely 3 tiered steamer for the low sale price of 119RMB or $18.30.
But wait there is a story behind this shopping experience, isn't there always? As I was perusing the steamers I noticed a large sign hanging in the aisle of the store indicated that one of the steamers cost 119 RMB. I found said steamer but noticed the shelf tag indicated it was 139 RMB. I double checked the bar code on the hanging sign and selected the box with the matching code on the shelf. It was exactly the model I wanted! And on sale! Woo hoo!
After doing a bit more shopping, getting laundry detergent, imported milk at $13.00 a gallon thank you very much. And other stuffs, I headed toward check out. I intended to keep a sharp eye on the clerk as she rang up my items so that she entered the correct sale price. Naturally, I loaded the steamer first on to the check out belt, huh? And she scanned it without me seeing what the price as I had been loading all my other goods on the belt. Fortunately, after I paid, I stood at the end of the lane reading my receipt and what a surprise, she charged me the 139 RMB. No problem, as one of the managers had been standing at the check out counter, staring at me, the foreigner with the blond hair and strange round eyes. So I told her in my poor Chinese and my excellent sign language, that the receipt was incorrect and that the steamer should be 119 RMB not 139 RMB. She pulled out her walkie talkie and SCREAMED into it for a price check. That my friends is understood in any language! After about 3 minutes she received a call back saying the shelf tag reads 139RMB. So I indicated by waving my hands and then taking her hand in mine that we should go downstairs and have a look. I didn't know how to say - the hanging sign in the aisle says 119 RMB - in Chinese.
We went together and I pointed out the sign to her, told her that the bar code matches, and showed her on the receipt and she said - ok, lets get a refund. Then she said something so fast that all I understood was that I would be getting 5 RMB back. Which made no sense to me as the difference should be 20 RMB. So I looked at her strangely and repeated back to her what I thought she said, "only 5 RMB"? And she said no, no 100 RMB. What?? WOW!! Apparently if you catch them in a mistake you get 100 RMB as a compensation. So after some paper work - 2 different sets, I was handed 100RMB or $15.00.
100 RMB sounds so much better doesn't it?
So this new lovely steamer now cost me 19 RMB or $2.92! Check it out!
Nice, huh!? As I was excited to try out my new steamer I bought a load of steamed stuffed bread. I have been eyeing this bread for about 2 1/2 years and have been sort of afraid to buy it and give it a try. The mystery stuffing always made me uneasy whenever I was considering to buy it, so I never did. But with new steamer in hand and thoughts of using it immediately what better way then with some new and potentially interesting foods.
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Five packages of steamed buns, each with a different filling. How do I know they have different fillings? Each bun is shaped differently. In the back of the picture you will notice the buns are shaped like large leaves, to the left, a closed bun, to the right a bun with a hole on the top and something brown poking out. Forward left, what looks like a half moon and in the front, again, a bun with a hole but it had an orange carrot slice peeking out. Each package cost 3 RMB or .46 cents. The buns are about 6 to 8 inches in diameter, quite large. One would be plenty for lunch. So, an investment of $2.30 for 10 buns.
I arrived home, totally excited to try the new foods and my new steamer. After putting away the groceries I opened the box with the steamer and promptly dropped the lid on the floor breaking, yes, breaking part of the plastic handle. I was just too excited and not careful. Geez. I did manage to screw the remaining piece of the handle back on, a little loose but still functioning. I know exactly where to buy a new top and I bet you that it will cost 100 RMB! I'll keep you posted.
I washed the steamer, loaded it with water and then loaded in the buns.
Unfortunately, the buns were a bit tall for the center part of the steamer, but the top part was deeper so I crowded them all in.
Steam gently for 15 minutes and then unload, cut open and discover the surprise inside.
In the back of the picture, the round bun with the open hole that had something brown peeking out was a sweet bean paste. If you like sweet bean paste then it's pretty good. I don't.
Left side was the closed top bun and was my favorite, can you guess, yup, pork bun. Not enough pork, but yummy. It's a bit hard to see, but next to the pork bun, right side, the one that was shaped like a leaf, was a slightly spicy pickled vegetable and a type of collard green. First bite was unusual but then I took second bite and thought, not bad. I like the bit of heat and the bit of pickling or vinegar flavor. I would not pick it again, but if I were hungry and someone handed me one I would eat it. As you can see in the front left of the photo, it is a carrot and cabbage bun, a little greasy but a nice flavor. After I bit into that one, I thought, this may be my favorite. And last, to the front right, half moon shaped, was a green veg, tiny chopped fried bean curd(that has no flavor, it's fried protein) and a teeny tiny amount of pork. I dislike the green veg that they put inside, it is quite strong in flavor. Missable.
And so the story ends. I probably would not buy any of them again as it was too much bread to being with and truly none were delicious, it was just an interesting experiment.
