Kai Chye Peng!

Right, you think, she has finally lost it, what the heck does her title mean? Doesn't she know she has people who read her blog that can't speak Cantonese? Yes, yes, but I was so excited at finding the above in a Chinese bakery I thought it would do for a title.

I was churning out a post a day but had a rest yesterday, I was wondering if I was starting to bore myself with my inane ramblings! Anyhow, I had gone to the post office yesterday to post some Xmas cards off to the UK and Singapore, and also to post 2 knitted gifts off. Postage is not cheap here, not cheap at all. Will have to be earlier next year, send stuff via surface mail. My total postage bill was over $65. Hope it all arrives before Xmas now.

Next stop, the bank, needed to get some cash out. If you use an ATM that is not attached to your bank, or has your bank details on it, you get charged $1.50 per transaction. This used to be the case in the UK, but this fee was waived a while ago. In fact, some banks will charge you $2.50, they call this a convenience fee. The bank charges here are steep. You pay a fee to have chequeing(current) account. About $12.95 a month and you get unlimited transactions. If you have more than $5000 in your account, this fee is waived. You could go for a no fee account, which would give you a total of 10 transactions a month. A transaction can be withdrawing money from the ATM, using your debit card, cashing a cheque, using a cheque. If you go over your free 10, every consequent transaction is 65 cents. Amazing huh? Things to consider and get used to if you're ever thinking of immigrating to Canada. I have talked about the credit history before, but it can be a bothersome problem if you want to purchase anything large and may need a loan. The credit history has to be Canadian. Any Experian report from other countries mean nothing to the financiers here.

When we applied for a credit card for Dave, we had to open a savings account and have $3000 in it at all times, and then he was approved for the card, which has a $3000 credit limit on it. We could have had a higher limit if we had put more money into the account, but really, $5000 sitting in an account earning 0.25% interest per annum, was not attractive. We are on our way to building our credit limit.... Strangely though, when I went shopping at SEARS(Departmental Store, a bit like Debenhams) a few weeks ago, and was offered a credit card, I said ok, fully expecting to be refused as this happened in Costco not so long ago. Well, what do you know, I was approved and they gave me a $4000 credit limit. Mind boggling, but I got credit! Not about to complain. We were advised to get as many cards as possible, no matter the limit and use it to buy everything, just to build the credit history.

It comes as no surprise that if you have no credit history, you may be risky. The fact that you have never borrowed anything before must mean you are rubbish with money. This is the same everywhere. The fact that you have been given credit and pay every month, whether you clear the balance of not, means you are a good risk. It's all upside down. The fact the Canada does not recognise any Credit history that occurs outside North America is just a pain in the butt!

Let's leave this subject, I was talking about kai chye peng. After the bank, I visited a chinese bakery, it differs from normal bakeries as it has things like buns with red bean paste in, japanese buns, and chinese style pastries, a bit like the things you would get at Dim Sum. I walked in knowing what I was going to get and spotted this pastry squares with a reddish middle. Excitement began to build, I recognised it as Kai Chye Peng, it wasn't labelled so I wasn't sure, but I was willing to take the risk to try it out. I couldn't remember the last time I had any, but I could remember what they tasted like and bought some.

I opened the packet on my walk home, bit into one of the squares and was instantly transported by to my childhood days in Malaysia. My mum  would buy me these for a treat. I was in memory heaven as I consumed 3 more squares on my 10 minute walk back to the condo. What a pig. I remember the way how the bits got stuck in my teeth, and that's exactly what happened LOL. Kai Chye Peng- Little chicken biscuits. It was a strange tasting pastry, crispy and flaky, salty, with a dried bit of chicken mixture that was sweet-ish in the middle. I know, doesn't sound great does it? I would say it's not something the west would like, it's a chinese thing, traditional and weird tasting to the palate of the west. I let the kids try some when they returned from school, they were not impressed, more for me, hehehehehe

After many years of living in the UK, with one or two chinese/asian shops nearby, and certain food you could find in a supermarket but at a price, and the price wasn't right mostly, so I did without. It was like living in a food desert devoid of all the things I grew up eating. I always looked forward to our trips back to Malaysia as it gave me a chance to fill up on my favourites to last me a few years when I got back to the UK. It was ok for me, but I felt my children were missing out on a bit of their Chinese heritage.  Well ok, I know, it's only food, but hey, I love food!

Had I lived in London or Birmingham or Manchester, it would  have been better, larger Chinese communities there. Beeston has a thriving Chinese community due to Notthingham University, and in the last few years, Chinese and Asian shops have opened as well as eateries, so all good, things were getting better. Then, we moved to Trinidad, another desert with even higher prices, LOL.

Highway 7 between Bayview and Leslie though, is a haven for all things oriental. My closest grocers is a Chinese one, It sells, dried, frozern and fresh produce. Fresh meat too. Prices are reasonable and the staff friendly. I love all the Chinese veg- kai lan, choy sum, siew pak choy, bok choy, oong choy, kai choy and many more and it's all within reach, only a walk away!

Thus ends my Chinese food drought...one thing I am delighted about, living here...