Chaozhou Chicken-Feet cuisine and other usual weekday activities

For the past weeks since I have returned from KL I have noticed a strange phenomenon:  a week-day routine has formed. Even with our crazy hours/schedules and haphazard adventures, there is a thread of expected activity of work, shopping, clothes to laundry etc, which in my case is a good thing.  My eyes are noticing the smaller details now during my walk abouts - a new dish on a menu, new dessert restaurant opening, even observing and learning some Chinese characters (I can read opening times- yay!). But even with the repetitiveness there are still interesting finds and delights, and this post is a collection from the past week.

1. Christmas decorations are appearing and Christmas jingles can be heard in the evelators and malls.
So with that are the inevitable Christmas Gift options popping up.
I saw this Marie Antoinette Action Figure in the stores this weekend. I like the originality but I can't see Barbie stepping aside just yet.

2. My favourite food item of the week: Rambutan. They are like a lychee inside, clear sweet juicy insides with a almond size pip. Good to satisfy my South African lychee craving.

3. For the street food sellers catering to Western tastes there are no waffles on offer but rather 'Checkered Cakes'. And eggs soaked in tea.  And egg puffs.  Very logical names I'd say.

4. One of the delights of shopping these days is seeing how many Happy Stamps I will get after paying. Usually one loyalty stamp for 60 HKD spent and when customers collect enough stamps they get the prize indicated at the marker. Each store has a special collection brochure printed for this season and their own incentive prizes and goals... So far I'm collecting Welcome stickers for a Blender and MarketPlace stickers for a Backpack. But with only two in the house to shop for numbers are slow, and the question is will I ever reach the goal in time before the end of the year. Only 10 days left in Hong Kong this year for me... Eeek, probably not going to make it ;-)

5. And on the subject of food shopping... anyone with a craving for pumpkin? These beauties will surely do the trick. I just can't see them fitting into any Hong Kong sized kitchen though.

6. And last week we were treated to dinner out with friends, Chaozhou cuisine style. Pronounced 'ChowChu' to my ear, this cuisine is from a fishing area on the east coast of China directly opposite Taiwan.  Surprisingly I enjoyed all the dishes!

On a side note: I say surprisingly because I will admit I'm not the biggest fan of Chinese food, sad I know considering I'm in Hong Kong.  But my recent diagnosis is that I'm not a fan of Hong Kong style Chinese food.  Eel, Jellyfish and Prawns with the shells on and then deep fried just don't blow me away like they seem to do for other foreigners. 

But with the Chaizhou dishes I ate it all -  Goose, duck, shrimp, even chicken broth with the chicken feet left in. Finally the noodle cake, with vinegar and sugar it was very more-ish.

7. Walking home one evening after sun set, the pink and yellow flowers with the streetlight shining through make a colourful composition. Some nature in the middle of the city.

8. And to end, Sunday's Cocktail treat with J at the Shangri-La hotel TST East. 

I had the Pomegranate Pineapple Martini, sweet and refreshing.

 Cheers!

Wilson's Trail section 1 + 2

Saturday saw an adventure outside of the city to explore some of Hong Kong's great hiking trails.  This is definitely one of the major plus points about Hong Kong, within 45mins you can enter a nature reserve and feel like the city is a million miles away. Ok, maybe not a million miles, but certainly far enough that you can observe it without feeling part of it for some time.

The plan was to hike Wilson's trail section one and two backwards from the Tai Kao MTR to end at Stanley beach for some R&R. Well the good news is we did make it to Stanley beach, but with a lot less time for R&R than originally expected. The hike was 12 km and took us 5 hours with a 30min pause in between to buy some water and snacks. Section 2 that we did first is marked Fairly Difficult and section 1 that we ended with (in the dark) is labeled Very Difficult. They got the ratings spot on.

Section 1, the last part, was tough. I'm no stranger to exercise, but I can say I'm glad I pushed myself on those squats during BodyPump recently. The number of stairs we climbed was more than I have ever encountered on my travels and my gym training paid off. Add to that rain and slippery mud slopes and trails that go up and down over many peaks covering over 1000 stairs.  So yes it was an adventure, many fun memories and the views and surroundings made it totally worth the sweat and effort. 

I found this write up that gives a good impression of what a hiker experiences along the way... the excitement, the relaxation, the exhaustion:

"The first peak was ok – especially as we could not see behind the first hill, so we did not know what was coming next ... many places along the way to the summit, the views of HK from atop the peak are simply breathtaking. It is like looking at a Hong Kong we’d never seen before. Lush greenery stretches out for miles together, only to be broken by splashes of pink, red and white. Blue waters beckon with lazy abandon near the reservoir.

We walked down the steps of the first hill – knowing that we had to climb them all up again, and many more! The climb started off and after a few minutes, it hit us. The gradient of the second set of steps was really really steep. For most of the climb on the second peak, we had to bend our upper body forward just to maintain balance. And each and every step was an effort. There was no breeze, no respite from the heat and from where we stood, all we could see was a very steep incline with seemingly no end and just flights and flights of steep steps to negotiate. Simply put, the second peak is grueling. "

Finally we arrived at Stanley with relief to have made it just as it turned dark.  The German calorie-packed dinner at the end was a great reward together with the good old feeling of 'WE DID IT'!  Hopefully I'll get to return to Stanley and explore it more in daylight, from the little walk around it appears to be a calm with a well constructed seafront boulevoud.

Some visual impressions of the day:

 The red trail on the island is the route we took.

Starting off with a foot massage done the local way - walking on pebbles.



Funny sign along the way.

Wartime outdoor stoves during the Japanese War 1942, never used though.

Tree taken over old building (toilet?):

Nature at its best.

Nature trail:

Still feeling fresh!

And the steep stairs start

We think we are doing pretty well, but had no idea what section 1 would be like at this point

And the stairs go on..

The views getting more impressive:

My local tour guide:

View of other side of island:

Did I mention  there were stairs? The ones below were still the warm up.

We did get a helpful warning at the start of Section 1:

At this point we thought we were almost there. Not a chance. We still had to conquer both those hills up ahead, the 'Twin Peaks' they call them.

I didn't get my camera out for the real tough sections, my energy was all focused on beating those steps. During the late afternoon the rain started and we found ourselves walking in a cloud. A very special moment to be surrounded by misty mountains and not much else.

Finally reaching Stanley Beach at dusk

Our reward!

The surprise of the meal were the delicious Potato Cakes... we had the Duck Breast, red Cabbage and Apple Sauce, can recommend!

Another wonderful day in Hong Kong :-)

Weekend Indulgence

Another good weekend in Hong Kong, and some more experiences gained and smiled at.

Since this entry is rather food heavy let me start off by saying first up Saturday morning I enjoyed a double boxing class. Nothing quite like having a fitness instructor pull up her shirt half way to reveal a perfect set of abs screaming, 'Hurt me HERE', to target your kicks and punches and evaporate any tension. No need to go into detail but I needed the 2 hours after my Friday.

 Saturday morning's coffee and newspaper proved to be amusing - it highlighted the Dutch are now experiencing 'survival of the fittest' as apparently they are suffering from bicycle overcrowding. While I don't deny The Netherlands is packed with cyclists and bicycles, considering Hong Kong's population and overcrowding problem it seemed the least likely country to crique this problem.

What made it funnier was the same weekend the local social paper called HK featured the need for Hong Kong to use more bicycles and attempt to be a cycling city. Never mind about the lack of space and road etiquette, I'm thinking of the shocking air quality and guessing the health benefits of cycling will quickly diminish once that is taken into account.

And finally, imagine trying to cycle through this sea of people?

Moving along... this weekend I found a new food to try: 

The humble Persimmon or Sharon fruit.

I can't believe I have waited this long to taste it - it was much better than I expected. I somehow was thinking tomato flavour but it is sweeter, more like an apricot. Firm on the inside with three pips, I can see how this could be good in stews and cooking too. Also perhaps as a dessert sauce for ice-cream or brownies.

While on the topic of food, my Dearest treated me to dinner on Saturday evening at Socialito, Wyndham Street, the hippest new Mexican place in town that everyone seems to be talking about. 

The outside lunch venue we had enjoyed before, it was relaxed, fun with some tasty food, so we entered the evening setting with high expectations. The inside dining area was more formal, had some well balanced deco of lights/wall fittings and friendly service. 

But the menu was trying too hard. The drinks and food all had this intense musky overtone to them, and the options were too expensive for my liking.  The food was good but very rich and the medium sized portions were the maximum that could be enjoyed. Below is the duck breast served on bread textured layer offset with black beans and corn. Oh and some pretty presentation for both meals and drinks.

Afterwards we hopped over to Le Boudoir, a sexy little hideout on Wyndham Street.  The heavenly cocktails matched the swanky lush deco that I wanted to reach out and touch. The music and atmosphere were perfect. You know, music you can hear and still hold a conversation and vibey and enticing enough that I felt like bringing out my feather boa and moving the booty.  And I did, my favourite 10mins of the week. Ooh la la. With cocktail in hand I observed that even the uptight types loosened within a few minutes. 

But the weekend wasn't over....after church on Sunday morning we took a stroll down Queensway Road and I couldn't help but notice the row of car show rooms lined up one after the other. And of course because this is Hong Kong, these are no ordinary car show rooms.

Rolls Royce

Mclaren

Mini

 Mercedes Benz

Sigh. But we did get another little taste of luxury later that day...

As if Le Boudoir on Saturday night wasn't enough indulgence I was introduced to SIFT, the makers of the most perfect cupcakes I have ever tasted. I devoured a Red Velvet with cream cheese topping, 5 mins of pure bliss. The texture was such that it didn't stick to the wrapper, had a little bounce, was melt in the mouth, didn't crumble and fall apart, had a glowing aftertaste. I will admit I was supposed to share the cupcake, but poor J got about a quarter. The price for this little piece of heaven matches the experience but was worth it, in fact I think it even makes up for the plane ticket to get here to experience this. If ever I am on a diet this is what I will break it for.

And finally because this is my blog and I can brag if I want to, I'll share that I have the most perfect boyfriend. Since I arrived back I have received a rose a day. This was Sunday's pick.

Healthy Hong Kong

I'm back! After almost three weeks away on a business trip, I'm back in Hong Kong to start my 7th week exploring this city.

The time away has been good on many levels - connecting with colleagues and working with people in person again has been motivating on a professional level, seeing a close friend again after being away from friends since I arrived in Hong Kong was so refreshing I almost cried, and staying in a hotel surrounded by trees and birds and not hearing a constant drone of city noise was soothing. But no situation is perfect and I was ready to return to normal life on Wednesday evening. Things I missed about Hong Kong was the flexibility of using the MTR to get to work and not relying on taxi's, having access to shops and restaurants 24/7, a kitchen again to prepare my own food, and not living out of a suitcase. So I guess the usual experience for a business trip :-)

I have noticed the weather has got a little cooler, and the days a little shorter. Also with it I see the HK government have put up health awareness posters perhaps as prevention for any upcoming flu season. Fortunately they were also translated in English so I could understand:

Maintain Cough Manners

Washing Hands well

And my favourite - Use Antibiotics Smartly.  

On the topic of health, I have noticed that people smoke more frequently in Hong Kong than in Malaysia. Anyone who has been out with me will know how sensitive I am to smoke and that I will move seats in a restaurant several times to avoid it, even having left half way through my meal in France once because the people next to us were constantly smoking. If there is any topic that will get me fired up, it is the discussion of banning smoking everywhere in public.  So let's see more of these posters to ' Enjoy a smoke free environment'  please because in my humble opinion people smoke too much in Hong Kong.

Lastly, just a quick thought: How long IS the Angry Birds craze going to last? Today I saw this new display for limited edition merchandise. Surely everyone has conquered it and is ready to move on? I'm amazed at how marketing can drag things out, almost as bad as the USA election media coverage.