Adventures in Hong Kong

I found out earlier this week that I would have to fly to HK on Sunday evening for a quick meeting on Monday morning. As I started to plan my itinerary Ben decided he would take Thursday and Friday off so we could escape for an early weekend.

We started out the first morning with some delicious dim sum at Hong Kong’s famous Maxim’s Restaurant. Dim sum is not only a variety of food, but a way of life. Locals fill Dim Sum restaurants on weekend mornings, much like the English gather for tea time. It is a social occasion that allows diners to skip the time deliberating over the menu and allow them to focus on their company (something my husband greatly appreciates). Diners order by pointing to their choice of dishes found on ornate guerdons that dance around the dining room. Each cart is filled with a variety of tiny meticulously crafted dishes, steamed dumplings, and various fried small bites.

Dim Sum is the eastern version of Spanish Tapas or Middle Eastern Mezze. It is truly my favorite way of eating, my food philosophy…small bites of everything….I wouldn’t go to an amusement park and spend the entire day on one coaster and I rarely go to a restaurant and order a giant plate of any one thing. We had perfectly crimped dumplings, fluffy pork steamed buns, crispy pickled vegetables, delicate dumplings, crunchy egg rolls, Schezwan spiced pork ribs. Did I mention the dumplings?

For those of you in Denver, there is hope of getting your hands on some wonderful Dim Sum at Super Star Asian (off of Federal and Alameda). And now having tasted what Hong Kong has to offer I can honestly say that it is just as authentic.

After dim sum we made our way on to the famous Mid-levels escalator. This ½ mile long escalator weaves it way through the heart Hong Kong Island allowing 50,000 people to travel to and from the office more effectively.

Ben and I used it as a mode of transportation and a leisure way to see the city, jumping off each and every time we saw something interesting. Several of our jump off points included a few open air markets tucked between large buildings. The markets were incredible, filled with dozens of fish, vegetables and fruits that I had never seen before. We also found a small kitchen store where I bought an old wooden moon cake mold.

We also made our way through a small district filled with handmade shops, second hand stores and a small welding store. This man was welding sheets of metal together with nothing more than a small fire and a few hand tools (Dale this picture is for you).

After wandering through the streets we found ourselves eating at a “Private Kitchen”. I read an article about private kitchens on a plane last month and knew I had to experience this new style of dining. Due to the incredible price of real estate in Hong Kong, local chefs are opening up small restaurants in high rise apartments. It not only allows chefs to cut down on rent, but allows them to focus on a small dining room. We had an 8 course Schezwan style meal that was exquisite. The dining room was quaint, the services impeccable, and the company even better.

The next morning we decided to experience Hong Kong as typical tourists would. We jumped on the Big Bus Tour and made our way to Stanley Island. I don’t know which was more fun shopping in the small stores of Stanley Market; or weaving our way through the narrow streets of Hong Kong on the Double Decker bus through beautiful Hong Kong? It is interesting how much Hong Kong reminds me of San Francisco.

Our private kitchen experience was so great the first night we decided to try it again, but this time we went for dessert. We stopped in at a charming dessert bar called Riquiqui-a must if you are in Hong Kong. The menu was simple, but very good. I had the chocolate ganache cake with caramelized bananas and Ben had the carrot cake with coconut ice cream and candied walnuts. Mmmm.

Our final day in Hong Kong was spent on the beautiful Lantau Island. We boarded the Ngong Ping Cable Car and rode from the base of the island to Ngong Ping Plateau- vibrant green village nestled in the mountains of Lantau.

We walked through the village housed with various shops, restaurants, monastery buildings, and the Tian Tan Buddha-an 85 foot high bronze Buddha statue.

After our tour of the Big Buddha we made our way to a large monastery where we had a delightful vegetarian meal prepared by the monks who inhabit it.

Our next stop was one of my favorite places in all of Hong Kong, Tai O fishing village. It is a small and humble town filled with various modest stilt houses fabricated with rusty scrap metal, old wooden crates, chain linked fences, and basically anything that floats by.

We spent hours walking through the unassuming village, being fascinated with the daily routine of the people. We watched men playing a much louder version of dominos, children tending their family market stalls, fishermen taking a nap (below) and women making local delicacies. Although most of the houses were built on the water (as seen above); we did find a few brick buildings.

Some of the tasty treats we tried included some almond meal cookies-similar to pecan sandies (left), a sweet and crispy handheld cake similar to a waffle (center), and a tuille like pastry dough filled with toasted coconut and folded into small pouches (right).

Our final journey in Hong Kong and in the Tai O fishing village was on a rickety boat ride on the coast of the South China Sea. We were able to ride through the village and get a better view of the meek quarters, see the beautiful coastline and have one of the most dodgy boat rides of my life. (By the way this is not the boat we rode on, just a picture of a commercial fishing boat that I snapped as we cruised by)

Home Sweet Home

After two months of hotel bliss, Ben and I were finally ushered into the real world when we moved out of the Singapore Marriott hotel this week. Sure it was nice having a perfectly made bed, soft poached eggs to order, extra pillows upon request and virtually no messes to clean up…., but I must admit we are excited to be in a place we can call home….

What was I thinking when I wrote that!?! I was clearly delusional at that point because after only a week of making my own bed, moping the floors and batting of cockroaches, I realize that there are very few things that could keep me from living in a hotel for the rest of my life. The first is definitely the financial burden that would occur within the first couple of weeks and second that I can’t do much cooking from a hotel room. Sure you can make sandwiches, oatmeal, hot chocolate, etc, but it is the full on cooking that I miss. In fact, Ben and I both missed it so much that the other night Ben and I decided that we were going to try an experiment and cook in our hotel room. Now, I have to tell you that our hotel room was not, before Ben rigged something up, equipped with culinary gadgets, hot plates, or any cooking device, but that didn’t stop us.

Our weapon: standard Mitsubishi Iron.

Our mission: Buttermilk Pancakes
Outcome: a little inconsistency due to minor hot spots, but not bad.
Future missions: Grilled Cheese Sandwiches, Bacon-we may get caught for the smell, steak…ok probably too far there.

So, I wrote that post nearly 3 weeks ago and - at the time - I thought Ben and I were quite possibly the only people who would attempt to “cook” or prepare anything beyond a sandwich from their hotel room. Well, I was proven wrong.

Just the other day I was in the grocery store in Kuala Lumpur and a man in his 50’s approached me and said, “Excuse me Ma’am, do you work here?” My quick reply was, “Nope, but can I help you find something?” (I had been in the dairy section for nearly 30 minutes, trying to understand some of the dynamics of the Malaysian dairy industry and therefore knew just about everything in that case.) “Well I am looking for this whipped cream stuff from back home. It comes in a box and with a few shakes” he motioned with his hand “POOF, it turns into fresh whipped cream just like that!” he asked in his thick British accent. “Umm, I don’t know if I have seen that, but you can try this can of Reddiwhip”, as I proceeded to explain to him how it worked. “No way, that is so cool! Wow that would have saved me 12 minutes and the trouble of having to hand whip the cream for my dessert last night?”, he said. He then proceeded to pull out his phone and show me a picture of what looked like strawberry shortcake. “I’ve lived in a hotel here in Kuala Lumpur for 2 years now and just want you to know how much time this is going to save me when I make my desserts!”….. Turns out I am not the only crazy one

Ok back to the apartment. Sorry I get sidetracked easily. It is a 700 square foot apartment with the following luxurious amenities:
- 2 bedrooms (yay for all of you visitors!)
- A trash shoot….more on that later…trust me it is a good story filled with duct tape and cockroaches
- 3 “aircon” units- a must in Singapore
- 2 toilets equipped with fully functional bidets
- Close to MRT(Mass Rapid Transit), Bus Stop, My Office
- furnished (sometimes I wondering if this is a good thing or not.)
- Horn Man- a guy who walks around our complex honking his horn for hours alerting the people, I am here to gather free stuff! You don’t want it I’ll take it. He doesn’t actually say anything, he just honks his bike horn and people know that he wants anything you’ve got that is free.

Oh and the best part is Ben and I haven’t seen another white person since we moved here. There are some old men that play checkers in the breezeway all day and every time Ben walk by you can almost hear them say, “oh a white guy moved in, here goes the neighborhood.”It is so funny; people are so cautious around us and look at us like we are part of the government or something.
Our Living Room: Notice the stylish saloon girl curtains. Ben made me promise him that I would leave them up until I found some new ones....he loves them.

Our Bedroom: Yes those are bars on the doors, but don't worry Singapore is incredibly safe and the bars are more or less useless. Don't you love the retro tiles.

Our Kitchen: Note the tiny fridge (nearly 1/2 the size of our old fridge in the US) and super small microwave.

Sorry no pictures of our spare bedroom, too many boxes.

Ice Kachang

After a long day of walking through the humid streets of Singapore, Ben and I found ourselves sitting at a communal table in one of Singapore’s finest Hawker centers. We had just shared a spicy plate of one of our favorite local fares…pepper chicken. Although Pepper Chicken has a variety of complex flavors; it can be very spicy and is best followed by a lot of liquid! When water doesn’t seem to kick the heat, it never does, we suggest indulging in this delicious Singaporean treat-Ice kachang.





These tasty refreshing treats are a “knock off” of the classic Western Snow Cone, or was it the Westerners’ who plagiarized this scrumptious concoction? We may never know. Another thing we may never know is what specific ingredients make up this refreshing treat. At first glance, one might believe this is a traditional snow cone made by drizzling strawberry, lime, grape or "tigers blood" syrup over freshly shaved ice…think again. This Singapore and Malay classic begins with a shaved ice and is followed by sweet syrups, delicious accoutrements, and last minute garnishes. Since the variety of ingredients, and combinations, are endless, I have included a list of common ingredients I have seen over the past few weeks:
syrup flavors:
· Aloe vera (apparently it soothes sunburns and hungry tummies)
· Durian (more on this “aromatic” fruit later)
· Coconut milk-(goes perfectly with Palm Sugar Syrup)

· Palm Sugar syrup (This delicious syrup is one of our favorites. It is similar to brown sugar but has a richer caramel-e flavor, mmm.)
·Mango
· Strawberry
· Green Tea
Accoutrements:
· Aloe Vera Jelly
· Grass Jelly-exactly as it sounds, jelly made from grass:)
· Cubes of agar agar (think jell-o jigglers made with 1 part water instead of 4 parts water, very gelatinous)
· Attap Seeds (Palm seeds)- I must admit that for such a small ingredient these seeds intrigue me quite a bit. The transparent seeds are the immature fruit of the Attap Palm tree, found in Southeast Asia. They are small in size, about the size of a small marble, and have a very gummy/gelatinous texture. The initial flavor is sweet and starchy, which is followed by an interesting aftertaste. I don’t quite know how to explain the aftertaste of this fruit without turning people off from trying it, but here I go… The first time I bit into this interesting fruit it brought me back to some of my first experiences making pastry cream in a commercial kitchen. One particular kitchen had a very touchy gas range. I would adjust the knobs ever so lightly back and forth until I could get the heat just right. Occasionally a draft would come across the line and blow out my flickering flame. I noticed immediately when I could smell the faint aroma of propane. I don’t know why, but the pesky stove would always loose its flame when I was making pastry cream. Anyway, I started to associate the smell of pastry cream with its aromatic vanilla, egg, and starch notes; with the slightest hint propane. This combination of flavors/scents is exactly what I experienced when I first ate an attap seed. It is sweet and starchy in flavor, but has a delicate hint of....well propane... I hope this doesn’t discourage you from tasting it, because after all haven’t we all grown to love a delicious goat cheese, which can often be described as having “rustic barney”, or “grassy,” notes.
Last minute garnishes:
· Sweetened condensed milk
· Coconut milk
· Toasted peanuts
To the locals, and my husband, the best part of this dessert is not the toppings, but rather the surprise(s) found at the bottom. Although Ben didn’t know what the ingredients were at the bottom of his kachang when her first encountered them; after a minute of chewing he immediately turned to me and said, “it tastes like a quesadilla!” So what are those mystery ingredients, drumroll please......
· Red Adzuki Beans
· Sweet Corn kernals

Apartment #1

Pictures are worth a thousand words, so I decided to add a couple of pictures so you can see what we are looking at. This particular apartment was roughly 400 square feet, which must include the duct work, pipes and drains.

Here is the "kitchen", the small appliance you see on the left side is a tiny portable induction burner- hey they already fulfilled criteria #1: kitchen must have cooking capabilities. You can see the refrigerator in the corner is about 1/2 the width and 3/4 the height of refrigerators you would find in the US.

The realitor lost us when she said, "this kitchen would be perfect for a couple and is excellent for lite cooking". By light cooking, I think she meant cereal....if you can find a place to store it.

This next photo showcases the spacious restroom. Hey at least there is a toilet with a toilet seat.The part you don't see is towards the left, which is basically a shower head attached to the wall...and the best part is that the toilet doubles as a shower bench.

This photo also shows the spacious hall, which is pretty much the majority of the apartment. Behind the restroom is where you will find the "kitchen".

I love that the realitor described this as the master bedroom. I would have taken pictures from other angles, but there simply weren't any. That small waist height rack in the bottom right of the room is where we can store all of our clothes.

Oh, I forgot to mention that the apartment does have a laundry room as shown in this picture. This may look familiar, but look you can see the washing machine under the counter.

Well I guess we may just need to use the space wisely like this architect in Hong Kong: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lg9qnWg9kak&feature=player_embedded

Apartment Hunting

Interestingly enough Ben and I were in the same boat exactly 2 years ago. The only difference this time around is what we are looking for. In Colorado it was a 2 car garage-for Ben of course, 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, and a relatively big backyard. Well, now that we are 10,000 miles away our expectations have changed quite a bit. This time, we hope to find an apartment that has at least 1 bedroom, a “kitchen”-and by kitchen I mean an area with at least 1 burner and running water, a bathroom with a “western” toilet, and most importantly air conditioning. Sounds fabulous right? Well, the best part is, that all of these exquisite accommodations fit so neatly in roughly 500 square feet.Can you believe how wonderful that is? It's only 4 times the price of our mortgage in Denver and ¼ the size- I love Singapore!

Finally, A Productive Member of Society

After endless peer pressure, I have decided to jump on the social bandwagon and create my very own blog. I have come to accept that my social networking responsibilities of Facebook, simply are not enough. I need to stay competitive and not only post pictures, poke friends, and write on others walls; but now I must dialogue my daily activities, whether they be horribly mundane or fabulously extravagant.

And finally, after I begin this blog I will finally be able to graduate and truly become a productive member of my generation. So to all of you readers, mom that would be you in this case, here it is-my very own Blog.