World Expo - Shanghai, China

one of the reasons we choose shanghai for our family trip was because it was the host city for the 2010 world expo. it was quite the experience. in terms of crowd control, there were a lot of things shanghai could have done better. waiting time for lines were anywhere between 2-4 hours. because of these wait times, we only saw the inside of 2 buildings. one thing is for sure: the work countries put into the architecture of their buildings was amazing.

one saving grace for our experience was the food the world expo provided. each country's pavilion showcased their food. one country highlighted their food more than others, spain. spain brought in highly rated spanish chefs and created a tapas bar in their pavilion. it wasn't hard to choose where to eat since spanish food (due to it being part of our heritage) is one of my family's favorite cuisines. everything we had was delicious and good quality.

sangria

paella

stuffed peppers

croquetas

gambas

jamon serrano

Din Tai Fung- Shanghai, China

for my parents' 25th wedding anniversary/my 25th birthday/my sisters' 21st and 16th birthdays, we decided to take a family trip to somewhere new. after much debate we chose Shanghai, China. thanks to foodicles' suggestions, it turned out to be a great food trip. our first stop after checking into our hotel was din tai fung. all the food we had there was outstanding especially the xiaolongbao (soup dumplings).

"draft" tsing tao

hot and sour soup

dumplings in spicy sauce

xiaolongbao - pork

siopao (bbq pork buns)

mushroom dumplings

xiaolongbao- pork and crab

sauteed green pea shoots