Icing on the Cake, June Holiday 锦上添花六月假期

It feels so good to take a break from the routine life, especially when you don't travel to tourist spots but your own hometown.

During the two-week holiday in China, there have been no phone calls, no surfing of the Internet (don't get me wrong, my hometown is not a village. I purposly kept my hands off the gadgets during the 2 weeks.  You will be surprised to know that some people still think most China people live in the villages without electricity ^o^). I waked up naturally every morning, enjoying my favorite hometown food，catching up with relatives and old friends. Never realized that the local accent is so pleasant to the ear. It's a total relax to my body and soul!

My hometown situates near the mouth of the Yalu River, which is part of the Yellow Sea. Seafood is abundant in my hometown, and the most famous ones are Corbicula aurea Heude (黄蚬），Yellow Croaker (黄花鱼), Conch (海螺）and Sea Crab. Besides gorging ourselves with these sumptuous local seafoods, we've also got the chance to see and taste the fresh abalone for the first time!  To my surprise, fresh abalones are sold everywhere in the market at RMB5.5 (S$1.5) each.
We bought some and get my brother-in-law cook for us. He is a chef working in a hotel.  We were privileged to enjoy the abalone at home with restaurant service.

June is also the season for strawberries! A friend  brought us to his own farm in the suburb of the city. We happily picked fresh strawberries from his farm. Unlike those sold in the supermarket here in Singapore, which are red on the outside, but sour and hard on the inside, these fresh strawberries are so beautiful and sweet! We ate these strawberries on the spot until full, and brought the rest home, made a big jar of strawberry jam (see recipe below). By the way, the strawberries are sold in the market there for RMB10 (S$2)/kg.   

On the way back from the strawberry farm, we dropped by a cucumber farm. The cucumbers are of small size, crispy with light sweet taste. After the heavy strawberries "meal", we still can't help eating these lovely cucumbers.

To add icing on the cake,  our two-week trip happened to make us avoid the period when haze hit Singapore at record high levels (Pollutant Standard Index of over 300).   Singapore welcomed us back with a long-waited heavy downpour, and we waked up to a clearer sky the next day we touched down. What a blessed June holiday!

 

Now let me share you this simple strawberry jam recipe, which my sister uses every year during strawberry season. Though I don't have the luxury of making strawberry jam here in Singapore,  hope you guys have. Enjoy!

 

 

HOMEMADE STRAWBERRY JAM

 

Ingredients

 

- 1000g small fresh strawberries, hulled and washed

- 150g sugar ( adjust to suit your taste) 

- Juice of 1/2 lemon

 

Direction

1. Put strawberries in a deep saucepan,  add sugar and mix gently. Leave for 30 minutes until water seeps. 
2. Under medium-high heat,  boil the mixture rapidly for 10 minutes.
3. Turn to low heat, add the lemon juice.  Simmer gently and stir occasionally until the mixture thickens.
4. Remove the saucepan from the heat and let it cool for 10 minutes .
5. Pour jam into a glass jar, and let it cool completely before sealing.