Cukoo for Cocoa

Yes, it is time again for chocolate and all the goodness of that dark, rich bean, cocoa.

My last few chocolates in my Moonstruck box consisted of

The Ocumarian: Pure dark chocolate, from the Ocumare valley in Venezuela, with a gentle glow of chili pepper.

This was very nice, with the slow burn coming from the chili pepper included in the mix. Nothing too spicy but with a little bit of a kick


Then came the Easter looking one. Unfortunately I couldn't find the official description for this one but I think it was just bittersweet chocolate. I'm a little annoyed at myself for waiting so long to eat the chocolate as it tasted a touch 'old' but good chocolate is never that bad!



Finally I came to the cutest of them all.


Chocolate Lab : Extra bittersweet ganache wrapped in dark chocolate, with almond ears and puppy-dog eyes.

Again, I had waited too long to eat it but it was still good as only chocolate can be.

(by the way, yes I know these photos suck, I'm still trying to get the hang of it!)

Buffet buffs buff Excelsior

I went to Excelsior the other day with my extended family. We became the distended family afterwards, having to lug that bloated thing we like to call tummy around town.

First of all, the spread. It was excellent.

Chocolate fountain? Check.
Fresh oysters shucked on demand? Check.
Haagen Daaz ice cream? Check.
Tea and coffee included in the buffet? Check.
Whole salmon carved on demand? Check

I started off modestly with a plate of freshly shucked oysters.

They were goooooooooood (plus they didn't give me the runs afterwards, double score!). I believe they had a few types of oysters from around the world. For an oyster lover like me, it was bliss!!


My second plate consisted of sashimi (loads of salmon was available and I love the fact they were not stingy with it and didn't wait until people whimpered by the sashimi platter before refilling it), fluorescent green seaweed salad, tiny mozza balls with pesto tomatoes and some beef carpaccio which was so tender I had to have a second helping to make sure I was tasting it correctly.


See, this plate had a bit of everything. Repeats of the oyster, salmon and seaweed salad with a bit of freshly sliced smoked salmon dolloped with sour cream, a bit of lamb rogan josh and some curried veg.

What you don't see (because I'm messy and splashed the bowl and plate) is the lobster bisque which was, how do you say it? DIVINE!! No matter that it had chucks of shrimp rather than lobster (which caused me no more than a moment's hesitation due to my allergy to shirmp), it was still creamy, rich and utterly delicious. You know when you really, really want to lick the bowl? It was lick the bowl good.

I had a few small bites in between and then came to my last plate. Chocolate covered pineapple and dragon fruit, bits of cheese and a choco tart. The tart was very average, the fruit and chocolate fab as always and blue cheese, brie and swiss went down very well. I'm not ashamed to say I ate about 3 or 4 more of those chocolate covered fruit sticks. I'm just sad I didn't eat more.


Cafe on the First, The Excelsior,
281 Gloucester Road, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong
(852) 2894 8888

Price: HK$338 (I think...I don't quite recall)
But you get the following discounts with HSBC Visa Platinum:
5-12 diners - 30% off
3-4 diners - 25% off
2 diners - 20% off

For loyal readers of the other blog I participate in, I apologize, I have used this post on both blogs

The way the sushi falls

As mentioned in my last post, my family came to town and food was had.....a LOT of food.

One of the highlights was the revolving sushi counter that always has a huge lineup outside its doors. Being my family, i.e. a pack of food-hungry animals, we were there at the opening and began popping bits of sushi in our mouths within 2 minutes of walking in the front door (I say 2 minutes but I think one of my aunts grabbed a plate before she even sat down properly!).

I was too entralled by this arm long fish the sushi chef in front of me .......



Within minutes, it was beheaded cleanly and then quickly sliced down the middle.







Seconds later, we had a clean filet o' fish.

Within minutes, I had a fresh piece of sushi in my mouth!

It was the quickest, cleanest and slickest operation I had ever seen.

Surgeons? Pah, I' rather have a sushi chef!

s'plaining

"Luuuuuuuuuuucy, you got some s'plaining to do!"

"Oh Ricky!"

That's the first thought that popped into my head. I am sorry for my leave of absence.

I've been....well, no need to lie. I've been busy eating. In fact, as I write this, the buttons on my top are threatening to fly across the room to hopefully be met by a kinder fate.

I will first start with a classic.

Yung Kee Roast Goose Restaurant.

Yep the famous roast goose itself.

I rarely go due to the high prices, outrageously bad service but I have to admit, they do roast a good goose.

So, with family from three parts of the world in tow, we traipsed over to Central to partake in goose which my aunt had not tasted in over a decade.

First up, we had a plate of what was a bit like headcheese in the States. Essentially bits of meat which don't really look appealing on its own but stuffed into a jellied casing in tubular form and sliced, it'll do. This particular one contained bits of tongue and other chewy bits. Salty but not too bad.



Then came the prawns. Now I like prawns but unfortunately, cannot eat them due to my stupid allergies. However, I am more than willing to give them up if my body lets me eat lobster, crab and other yummy shellfish.

This prawn was interesting as it was wrapped in "fou pei" (which I've talked about previously), a thin sheet of bean curd.




Even though I couldn't eat the prawns, the staff did add a little something for me. A wee friend to keep me company.



The our big main dish came, along with veg, rice and noodles. Yes animal/bird lovers, it is rather grotesque at how it is "splayed" in that manner. I do agree. And yes, I'm sure the staff do it solely to watch westerners recoil in horror at our consuming passion for eating anything and everything but for me, it was a great source of entertainment.


Yes, by the end, we were definitely full. We like our goose and ordered it whole, not leaving much room for anything else.

At the end it was toothpicks and burps all around to ensure not veg or bits of goose were stuck in our teeth.


Yung Kee
32-40 Wellington Street
Central, Hong Kong
Tel: 2522 1624

Best buy: roast duck and char sui (roast pork) lunchbox take out

Up-ended lunch

My Dad made a very, very local Hakka dish of preserved veg stewed with pork ("Mui choi ju yok"). This is an acquired taste, one that I grew up on and which Westerners usually find incredibly smelly and disgusting.

The main reason for this is the method of preservation. The vegetables, usually a leafy sort with stalk, sort of like "bak choi", is marinated and preserved in dark spices and sauces and left to almost "rot" so that it has a real tang to it. Then the vegetables are dried out in the sun and look like black pieces of fungus. It is no longer easy to get the "good, smelly" type of preserved vegetables anymore and my Dad bribed and begged it off a cook. He then cooked it up with some deliciously tender pork until it was pungent, black and night and thoroughly delicious.

So, it was with some excitement and happiness that I went to re-heat my lunch box of precious preserved veg and pork. Three and a half minutes in the micro and I was ready to go. Paper in my left and lunchbox in my right, I was quickly walking to my office when...

I tripped.

And the rice portion (along with a bit of veg) flew out of my hands and into the hall of our open plan office of the Systems department. Much to my dismay, where usually the office is deserted during this time, three people from that department stood watching as my smelly black food lay between their desks.

Scrambled about apologizing profusely, picking up my rice, spraying the area with carpet freshener and generally embarrassing myself.

Following this, I got into my office and sadly looked at my lunchbox.

It was only the saucy preserved pork and veg left, much too salty to eat on its own. So, down I went to the shops to buy a box of plain white rice for the horrific amount of HK$10 and ate my delectable preserved veg and pork.

As a side note, how can they get away with charging so much for plain rice? Absolute highway robbery! Oh no, I'm turning into my auntie!!

The chocolate saga

I've tried, I've tasted and by golly, I've conquered!

Choco-mania indeed.

Following my recovery from "eet hei-ness" (thanks to the 24 Herbs!), I proceeded to demolish, I mean, delicately taste each of the lovely chocolates from my dear boy.

You saw my first foray and here are some of the others in the box:


This one was called French Silk: Dark chocolate mousse covered in dark chocolate. You see that? Twice they have "dark chocolate so you just know it's going to be good.

See the insides? Moooooooooousse-y.



Then, the boy decided enough faffing about. He wanted the Easter egg!

I am not sure what the icing is made of nor the insides. I just know it was good.

I have two or three more interesting chcocolates to go and then I'm done this box of chocolates!

*sniff sniff*

Bitter Herbs and Biccies

Oh dear....my Wai Sikness (yep, it is fast becoming a sickness) is coming to a head.

Due to over consumption of "hot" foods, I am now incredibly "Eet Hei". Basically I have too much heat in my body which manifests itself in lots of ways such as sore throat, propensity to bite ones tongue (I am so not joking, you Westerners reading this. Trust me, a gaggle of Chinese people are now nodding their heads wisely. Yep, we Chinese are wise alright!), and small sores in the mouth.

The remedy? No more "heat" foods, lots of sleep and Chinese soups.

For the desperate (i.e. me), it is to the local Chinese herbal tea shop I go for a cup of hot "24 Herb".

This is a black, slightly mentholated and extremely bitter herbal drink made out of 24 Herbs (like you couldn't work that out for yourself). Very potent stuff, very good for you like all foul tasting stuff are.

So I downed a mug full yesterday and felt loads better upon waking this morning.
____

This morning, I woke up to find that my wunderbar boy bought me a salad for lunch! I unfortunately froze the thing half to death in my mini-bar of death at work.

So lunch went something like this:

1:07 - Yay, lunch time!! Woohoo!
1:09 - Go and nick the paper from the Regional office, get special key from hiding place and open senior management cabinet to nick fork
1:11 - Return to desk, spend precious hungry moments trying to prise plastic lid off stupid salad box
1:15 - Get lid off and shove cherry tomato in mouth while trying to prise stupid plastic lid off stupid tiny dressing tub while thinking that the cherry tomato was so very cold
1:17 - Get lid off and start dipping pieces of veg in
1:18 - Suddenly remember hard boiled egg, go to fridge to get egg, remove shell and place in salad
1:19 - Get the feeling that the boy got cheated as the leaves were very wilted and damp
1:25 - Half way through salad realize that half of salad is frozen solid and cannot be eaten
1:26 - Receive phone call from Thailand about "urgent" matter. Not urgent to me but urgent to them.
1:27 - Start to panic and madly call people up demanding answers
2:07 - Finish task, return to poke dejectedly at frozen salad
2:08 - Go out and buy 24 Herb
2:12 - Drink 24 Herb making obscene faces and grumbling the whole time to all colleagues within earshot
4:32 - Feel incredibly hungry and proceed to demolish 8 mini digestive cookies

'nilla bean cream cone

My piece of chocolate today was the Vanilla Bean Cream Cone.


The Moonstruck Chocolate company market these as miniature works of art and I do have to agree.


However, breaking into the cone itself, the innards were a little disappointing. Not very vanilla-y. I was expecting rich pure vanilla flavaaaaaaaaaah but got mousse-y vaguely vanilla-esque creamy type filling.



Hmmm.... not one of my faves but pretty to look at and it's in my belly so honestly, can't be that bad!


That being said, due to the high amount of "heat" in my body, I just imbibed "24 Herbs", a black intensely bitter drink made with...24 herbs (*mock shock*) said to be good at re-balancing your body.....and that tasted just AWFUL. Unfortunately until my "heat" rebalances, its 24 Herbs for the next few days!

Choco loco

As mentioned yesterday, the boy is back! The boy is back! Yay!

Even more yay was what he bought me back from Chicago:

Yes, that's right people. Chocolate.

Moonstruck chocolates, to be exact, all hand picked by the boy for bittersweet-ness. And to be honest, they are absolutely gorgeous. So gorgeous, I'm tempted to give into my hoarding nature and not eat them ever but take them out for a look and a smell from time to time.

But alas, the boy threatened to eat the chocolates himself if I was not up to it so I had to bear the burden and you will too. I will post all chocolates consumed for your reading and viewing pleasure.

First up was the Raspberry Chambord Truffle. I tried to savor it by nibbling at it until the boy got fed up and took a huge bite before handing it back to me.

Thick coating of dark chocolate with Raspberry Chambord flavored melty chocolate inside.

Mmmmn. It was really good.

Can't wait to try the next one...

loco tacos

The boy (after *finally* coming home) and I, decided to go for this taco buffet. I was quite excited....after all, it was TACOs and a BUFFET. How can you not get excited?

So with stars in my eyes and a hunger in my belly, off we went for an evening of corn tortilla wrapped delights.

To our absolute horror and abject disappointment, the taco "buffet" was in actuality a pathetic display of a total of two hot trays with what looked like dried out "fillings" and a table of half empty dishes of salsa, guacamole and other dips which looked like it had been out for hours. It was only the length of one table.

I returned to our table sorely disappointed and wanting to go comfort myself in spicy Indian food. The boy also took one look and said that he could do a better taco buffet.

As it was late, we decided to order from the menu instead.


We had cheese empanadas, which I hadn't had before. It was quite nice, with a corn-y type "wrapper" and melty, stringy cheese. Actually, ANYthing with melty, stringy cheese is nice. I liked the green dip that came with it too but damned if I know what it was.


(ooooh, look at the melty, stringy cheese!)






The boy had beef enchiladas with rice and refried beans. Upon receiving this enchiladas, the boy announced that it smelled like armpits and lo and behold, it did. But in a nice way. It was good, both tasty and tangy but it was the kind of beef that got stuck in my teeth. Which meant half the meat got washed down the drain when I flossed.



I had the spicy pork burrito. It definitely did NOT have enough cheese and the pork wasn't spicy enough but it was saved by the huge dollop of sour cream and guacamole (which, channeling the magic like melty stringy cheese, makes everything taste better).



I was full and slightly regretful when I left the restaurant. Especially when I looked across the road at the other Mexican restaurant, who had a band playing and people salsa-ing. And whose burritos came covered in melty stringy cheese.

Oink!!!

Another lovely photo. I do apologize to all vegetarians everywhere.

......you'll never guess what the eyes are.....
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.... "ho see" - dried preserved oysters!!!

Fried egg eyes

Trust me, this was a phenomenal salmon. Which just goes to show, looks aren't everything!

Medieval banquet

The boy just had his big 3 - 0 and as a good proper English lad, he decided to throw a big medieval banquet!

Woohoo, I thought to myself, a whole roast boar, Obelix style!!!

Unfortunately no roast boar. A bit disappointing but still, chin up, must soldier on!

So, instead, we imbibed mead and had a good old jolly time.

So, our first "remove" was Cawl y Castell which, in normal words is Castle Chicken and Leek Broth.

It was a little thick and goopy but I'm guessing that in the olden times they needed more hearty stuff. It was served with a huge chunk of wholewheat bread. No spoon was provided so we sipped from the bowl.



Our second "remove" was Asen oen Sawrus Mewn Sams (or something like that), which was Savoury Lamb Ribs in Sauce. It was actually quite yummy and baked with honey. Quite tasty but again, we were only given a rather pointy knife so we used our hands. It was fun but burning hot (as you can see from my rather steamy picture).


After that came a whole half a chicken with a huge potato, or, as it was called, Cym Jar Melys, Catms a Salad (Sweet Chicken, Potatotes and Seasonal Accompaniments). The picture looks a bit gross with the sauce being pink but it was actually a light brown mustardy color and tasted a little bit like sweet and sour sauce. and was made with honey. The potato was served with herbed butter and was fluffy and delicious! However, even I couldn't eat much of it after the lamb. So I picked off the juicy dark meat bits and left the dry white bits.

Finally it came to the the last "remove", the Cellmair Cariad or, as they not so amusingly called it, 'The Amusing Side of Love'. It was actually custard with sponge. Not as exciting as they made it out to be but tasted quite nice, especially nice for my custard-loving boy.

The very best part was the Castle cake that the boy's brother made! Grey icing but deliciously moist inside.........mmmmmmmmmmnnnnn, I must have had at least 4 slices!!

Why we get a bad rap...

Actually seen on a menu in Shanghai (not for the faint of heart):







That last one is awful...

Shanghai Uncle

I went to Shanghai for a business trip last week. I had some good food times and some bad food times.

Went to the restaurant, Shanghai Uncle for a bite to eat(ironically I actually do have an uncle who lives in Shanghai...who is Taiwanese!).

Seredipidously it would appear as I found the elusive "tang bao" (soup buns). These, unlike "xiao long bao" are huge buns about the size of a fist that is filled mostly with soup.





You actually use a straw to suck up the soup inside. Being an experience xiao long bao eater *ahem*, I know that the cheap ones usually are filled with oil rather than real soup. So of course, I poured some out to check and it was beautiful, filled with soup, with little oil on top.



Apparently what they do is the buns are actually filled with jellied soup which melts in the heat of the steaming process which turns it into rich stock. The meat that was inside was a bit mushy but the skin was delicate and thin but still sturdy and chewy enough for a good mouthfeel.

I had 2 other dishes as well, smoked fish and spicy dried beancurd roll stuffed with mushrooms but the buns definitely stole the show.

Taiwan fooding

I know, I know, a long time coming.

We arrived in Taipei on Friday night and bypassing the hotel, we went straight to Shilin night market and the first thing we ate was the infamous chicken cutlet.

I definitely feel there was some "mochi" powder in the batter as the chicken was so juicy! The chicken is first marinated and then covered in batter and deep fried to perfection. Very juicy chicken with a light but crispy outer layer that was chewy yet yielding. The chicken sellers refuse to cut the chicken, saying it compromises its juiciness.... I love cooks who refuse to yield to customer demands in favor of the flavaaaaaaaah! We had alongside the chicken, some spicy dumplings and smelly tofu. Mmmmn, once you get hooked on the smelliness, you start craving it!

Anyhow, we moved onto other yumminess including some Tien Bu Lah (sweet not spicy) which were flat cakes of . chewy fishcake that were deep fried and served with a sweetish pink sauce with marinated sliced cucumbers. Yum yum, I could eat buckets of these...unfortunately there IS a difference between the good and the bad these ones were average at best. Along these we had some Oh Wa Szen (fried oysters in literal translation) which was a baby oyster pancake with some gooey stuff inside served with the same kind of sauce

We then moved on to one of my favorites and if you're week of tummy (you wusses), you might want to skip the next paragraph.


It was pig kidney soup in loads of alcohol and ginger. Lovely, spicy and with a kick, one of my faves.






Along with it, my parents ordered a serving of squid soup for the boy. A bit bland with large pieces of squid and bamboo shoots.


I caught my dad mesmerized by the sausages, of which he bought a small baggie full along with chopped large chunks or raw garlic (sweet and smoky tasting but I'm not one for sausage, much to my English boy's dismay). My dad wanted some noodles so left him with a plate of fried noodles (and the luggage) while we went exploring for other things, including Oh Wah Misua which was oyster in thin noodle thick soup. Odd sounding but yummy especially with the toppings of coriander, sprinklings of dark vinegar and sesame oil.

We were starting to slow down by now...and and in case you think we were even MORE gluttonous than we were, we shared everything. Ok, I conceed that that the chicken cutlet was huge but everything else was small appetizer sized portions.

Following that, we had to try to new thing at Shilin, grilled mochi! We tried three kinds. The first one was grilled soy mochi and the second was ?? mochi. The lovely cook gave us also a sample of sesame sweet mochi. They were delicious but I have to admit that the soy mochi was the best.

Finally, we ended with taro and peanut ice. Pressed taro root into ice and pressed peanut ice they were both mouthwateringly good but we couldn't finish. They were each so good that after you swallowed, you could savor the taste in your mouth before drooling for more.

So, in conclusion, come for the chicken and stay for the ice, my two favorites of the Shilin night market. DEFINITELY worth a visit.

PS. I'll post this now in case you want to check out my Flickr account but I'll post with pics later.

BIG food

This Scotch egg cracked me right up!

Bad pun, I know...

and just for my boy, his heart's desire!

Opportunity cost of lunch

I left the house this morning in a rush and upon appearing at work remembered that I had forgotten my lunch.

It was boxed mac and cheese with cauliflower and tuna added.

You can see why I'm gutted!

So I consoled myself with an old childhood comfort food:



Fish fillets with cream of corn on rice. Looks horrid but tasted ok, except for the rice, which was too dry. Good thing it came with lots of sauce.

But I did make chocolate covered apricots yesterday and they are delicious and a breeze to make. Why did I not think of this sooner? So easy and so good.....



and I had a cut up pear to wipe up the remaining chocolate with! Heaven....

Road to hell...

All way back from my lunch buying trip, I had the intention of snapping a pic of one of my favorite (and frequent) lunches, the Spicy Ma noodles.

However, upon returning to the office and opening up the lid of my noodle bowl, it looked like....well, it looked pretty bad. Completely unphotogenic and unappetising. It may have been due to my choice of food items to be included, which included preserved veg, chicken and "Fu Pei", which literally translates into tofu skin. Fu Pei is actually like a thin yellow sheet of dried tofu that is used in some soups and dishes and I am particuarly fond of it in soup and soup noodles. However, it is rather delicate and has the tendency to "melt" into liquids (making it the key of one of my favorite dessert soups). So, it looked, if you excuse the language, like I had eaten a big bowl of chicken, veg and tofu noodles and thrown up in a bowl. So, you can understand why I didn't want to show you all a picture.

In anycase, I asked for Little Spicy 2. It goes from Little Spicy 5 to 1 (1 being the spiciest), Medium Spicy 5 to 1 and Very Spicy 5 to 1. Now, rumor has it that the very spiciest anyone has every seen ANYONE eat is the Medium Spicy 1. And that was unbearable (My boss had it once and he was a crying, sweating, red face and headed mess). The "spice" in this is Ma Lat, which uses Ma peppers and has a numbing effect on your mouth and tongue. Pleasant in small doses and very unpleasant in big ones (at least to me)

The noodles were delicious despite their unappetizing demeanor. And for the record, I only had to blow my nose through about 4 tissues!!

Rice Noodle Snakes

One of my favorite breakfasts which is fast becoming difficult to come by in the old style, is the "Chu Cheong Fun" or rice noodle rolls. Yes, it is still very common at dim sum restaurants where they are stuffed with shrimp or char siu (roast pork) and served simply with sweet soy sauce on top or "fried" with scallions and dried shirmp until they are slightly crispy on the outside but still soft and yielding on the inside.

But the chu cheong fun I remember are the ones sold in carts, with the cart owner, would cut the air with the scissors, making a "snip, snip" sound to attract customers. When you asked for your order, a plastic bowl (usually puke green, pepto bismol pink or shocking orange) would be whipped out and a square of wax paper smacked on top with a smear of oil (which, for ease of use, would be in a paint can and "painted" on with a paint brush).

Then, the scissors would be put to use. Depending on how much you wanted, they were sold according to lengths or snakes as I refer to them. Last time I bought from the cart, it was HK$1 for each snake. The cart owner would pull up the number of snakes you wanted, approximately the length of your forearm, and snip them into bite size pieces into the bowl. Then you decided what sauces you wanted. I want everything which means the sweet sauce (hoisin), sesame sauce (ma jeung), chili sauce and soy sauce. On top of the whole lot, sesame seeds would be sprinkled liberally and you were given a few toothpics to eat there or the lot would be thrown into a small plastic bag to take away.

I am lucky (or unlucky as I often think) to work in an industrial area of the city. Which means I have benefits such as cheap food, polluted air and no Starbucks. However, what we also have, is an abundance of old-school foods such as chu cheong fun. Quality ones as well. What I often buy for my breakfast is the chu cheong fun and "sui mai" combo. However, it is not the sui mai (shrimp dumplings) you get at dim sum, it is the poor man's version in that it looks like a sui mai but is actually a vaguely fishy tasting chewy bit of carbohydrate, kind of like a softer, chewier fishball...sounds strange but is oddly addictive. My set costs HK$7.5 and is good enough to last me until lunch.

And, as when I was a kid, I still unroll the rolls before eating. For some reason, it tastes better that way.

Lucky chocolate

*sigh*

Sometimes I wonder about my obsessive behavior. Since I've stumbled upon David Lebovitz's blog , I have been obsessing about chocolate. He's a chef who's living in Paris (!!) who wrote a book about chocolate (!!!!). Now the exclamations are for those who know me and who will know how incredibly excited I am... my two of my greatest passions combined in one blog!

Anyhow, it recommended the an article on chocolate entitled The Choco Luxe Guide from Departures magazine.

Uh oh.

I guess it doesn't take a genius to find out where most of my lai see money went....

Gym, Smym

I usually post about food. Ingestion of, love of.

However, after putting on a fair bit from Christmas, New Year's and Chinese New Year's, I thought I'd but some effort into losing some (only so I can eat more later..hehehehe).

I had it all planned out. Wake up at 6:20, get to gym at 6:25 (luckily there's a gym downstairs from my boyfriend's place), work out and then get back upstairs for shower and change and out the door by 8. Perfect. Shoes, gym wear and socks all laid out in readiness. I'm so proud.

Gets to the morning. I bound out of bed (ok so bound may be a *tiny* exaggeration) and am more or less on time. This was my morning workout:

6:25 - arrive at the gym, spend 5 mins fiddling with the tv to find a channel I want to watch and trying to see if I can turn down the air conditioning

6:30 - climb on running machine and try to start the damn thing

6:31 - damn thing starts, walk veeeeeeeery sloooooooowly for 5 minutes while trying to program the thing to the fat-busting program.

6:36 - still no joy and still walking like an old man.

6:40 - gym attendant arrives and I start harassing him to make the machine work.

6: 45 - machine works and attendant leaves - I try one programme on the lowest setting

6:50 - old man comes in and starts doing tai -chi routine

6:51 - I keep looking over my shoulder to see if the old man is intending to steal my phone and keys

6:55 - I try another programme and it tell me to strap on a chest band. What the hell is a chest band? Is it like a bra? Where do I get one? Get off machine, try to find one.

7:00 - no joy in finding chest band and try another setting

7:05 - feeling very groovy and walking very quickly now, try to get into it by pumping my arms. Accidentally hit the emergency stop button and everything ends. Old man snickers in the corner while continuing tai chi

7:06 - slink over to the biking machine and try to start at level 6 (goes from level 1 to 25 so I figure I'm safe)

7:08 - I want to die, it's so hard. I try level 3

7:10 - discover cool bars on the side for my hands to measure my hearbeat. I hold on. Oooh, it has little indentations for the thumbs. Think it's very cool.

7:11 - ARGH!!!!! Suddenly bike is so hard, I can't move my legs! I think its stuck and I broke it. I look down at my hands. The "indentations" are NOT for my thumbs but instead are to "increase" the level

7:15 - I give up. The old man has done a good 25 minute exercise and leaves. I look at my clock, realize I had been in the gym for 50 minutes and need a shower (despite obvious lack of sweat) and will be late for work.

50 minutes in the gym and total amount of exercise is less than 15 minutes.

I have burnt a whooping 15 calories, which is like what? A bite of apple?

*sigh*

The Cheetos Conspiracy

Partial account of an actual email I received from my roomate in Uni:

"Did you know that the guards for Saddam said that cheetos were his favorite food in jail? I read it in GQ magazine (accurate news source). they said that he would go crazy if they gave him froot loops cause he only liked crunchy raisin bran cereal and that he was totally addicted to cheetos and would eat a family size bag in one night. hahahaha I'm not saying that there's a personality-cheetos link or anything...I'm just saying!"

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.

I can't BELIEVE the hand-holding slut just tried to link me with Saddam!

Mrs. Puff

*groan*

I don't know if any of you watch Spongebob Squarepants but I feel like Mrs. Puff when she puffs up after Spongebob crashes the boat, failing to get his boating license for the upteenth time.

Yep, it's been a boatcrash of meals this Chinese New Year season! Unfortunately since I had sold my camera yet again, I have no pics to show. Never fear, I plan to buy a new camera with generous lai see money given to me! Hehehe!

First of all, Kung Hei Fat Choi to everyone and for those of you that are married, you know what to do!

The boatcrash started with the big meal on the eve of the New Year at my Dad's second eldest aunt's house. Food included wasabi marinated cucumbers, jelly fish, fried porky-bits (I have no idea what this is even though I've had it many a time), a huge bowl of shark's fin (yes, for all of you bleeding hearts, I know, I know, I'm evil but trust me, it's not worth arguing with the family about but I don't eat it if I am out), two huge chickens (one salted and one "plain" with ginger/green onion sauce), fish, abalone and mushrooms, three types of veg, kobe beef with mango, fish (of course, "neen neen yow yu"), fat choi (no, not a rotund vegetable but that black fungus that looks like thin noodles) and a whole bunch of other dishes I don't remember too well. Suffice it to say that it was more than enough.

This continued on New Year's day where we went yet again to that same aunt's house for a vegetarian meal of "lo hon jai" which consisted of fat choi, wood ear, mushrooms, dried oysters (this is considered vegetarian since it was at the foot of the buddha), fat choi (rhymes with hitting the jackpot in Chinese and is traditional for this time of year), and maybe some other stuff I'm not familiar with. Also on the table was stewed lotus roots, huge shitake mushrooms, dried grilled oysters, stewed chestnuts and of course, "neen goh" (type of dessert also traditional at this time of year, it's hard to explain but it's like a chewy, carmalized pudding that is sliced and pan fried briefly to yield a slightly crispy edge with a chewy inside). It was all delicious and we rolled away from the table feeling quite full. Of course that night it was at my parent's house for a "light" dinner of my Dad's famous chicken in rice wine, radish "cake" or pudding, and of course some more "neen goh"

Yesterday the fooding continued with dim sum lunch, noodles for a snack and a family dinner at my parents after the fireworks.

Yep, I not only feel like Mrs. Puff but I look like Mrs. Puff.

And in two week's time my parents, the boy and I are off on another fooding adventure, this time in Taiwan!!

Stay tuned......

I scream, You scream

After paying taxes and much overdue bills, I was, in one word, broke.

Subsequently, depressed. And feeling sorry for myself.

So, the boy decided to cheer me up by buying me ice cream.

YAY! If anything can cheer me up, it's food.

So, declining his offers of Italian gelato, the classy Haagen Daaz and the always droolworthy Extasy (the drug pales in comparison....PALES!), I decide the only way to make me feel better was the fat gooey stuff, so off to Ben and Jerry's we go.

Now, I'm going to go off on a tangent here but I lurve Ben and Jerry's. They remind me of days in Montreal and of course, my brother. He worked at the Ben and Jerry's one summer (as I never cease to repeat to the boy everytime we pass by). Free ice cream cones after breakfast, pints in my freezer, it was awful! How, you say? You try gaining five pounds during bikini season. And before you say it, NO. I couldn't just NOT eat it. Hello, free Ben and Jerry's????

Anyhow, when we got there, the boy said I could have whatever I wanted.... hehehe.

Cue greedy rubbing of hands.

"I'll have a mixed pint of Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cooke and Chocolate Fudge Brownie, please"

The boy looked a bit aprehensive but I gave him a reassuring smile.

Ran home and opened the carton. It tastes better out of the carton than the bowl, I told hime so I gave him a bowl while I kept the carton.

Cue one hour later.

Sugar high and a tummy ache, i.e. loud "OW-y" noises and hyper conversation

Cue boyfriend vowing never again to buy me ice cream and definitely NOT letting me eat out of the carton again, mumbling something about self control.

Guess what I'm having for dinner tonight??

Fish, fish, fish, fish, fish!

Last night's convo:

Boy: So, did you want to go to the Franz Ferdinand concert with me?

Me: Um, okaaaay.....what famous song did he sing?

Boy: *dead silence*

Me: Um, well do I know their music?

(Note: I am very, very musically challenged. Remember food, remember books, no problem. Remember anything that I've heard or any singer/group/band and I blank entirely. I have no memory of these things and am not really a connoisseur. Blasphemy, I know, especially in this age where everyone appreciates music. Shockingly almost ALL of the boyfriends I have had were in a band or were really into their music. Their attempts to "educate" me amuse me.)

Boy: Ok so clearly you don't know who THEY are. Let me get my iPod.

Me: Is it sleepy music? (It was past midnight and I was tired)

Boy: NO! *heavy sigh* I just thought you might enjoy going to a rock concert, especially since you haven't been to an English concert before.

Me: Yes I have!!

Boy: Paula Abdul doesn't count......and neither does Elton John

(Explanation time: Paula Abdul was when I was 15 and had that cartoon cat thingy. I was thrilled to get the tickets at the time. Elton John was a first (disastrous) date with a previous boyfriend....we walked out halfway through. The only other concerts I have been to are Canto pop music concerts when my aunt gets free tickets through her friends.)

Me: What about the Real McCoy? I saw them once

Boy: I don't even know who they are!!! What did they sing?

Me: You know, that one song they are famous for!

Boy: I have no idea what you are talking about.

Ok, so he plays the Franz Ferdinand track and (thankfully) I actually do recognize it. The boy also tries to oblige me by playing a "sleepy" song.

Boy: You should think of trout when hearing this song.

Me: Why?

Boy: It's called the "Trout Quintet"

Me: Ah. *listens to the music*

Me: I like trout. I like salmon better though. Like smoked salmon. I saw a program the other night where they traveled to Norway were making Norwegian smoked salmon, it looked good. Lots of dill. Mmmmmnnnn, I want smoked salmon.....I don't mind baked trout either. I want to open a restaurant named "Fish, fish, fish, fish, fish!" and play all fish music. That would be cool. We could have sushi chefs in one area and then a place for baked fish in another area. Oh and lots of smoked salmon, trout and mackerel. Hmmmmm, let's go for sushi tomorrow.

The boy rolls his eyes and plays Mr. Scruff's "Fish" track. The only one I remember and the one I fall asleep to.

Cheesy dough sticks

In a city where food thrives and there are movies named "God of Eating", I often crave the salty, processed and over dyed food of my youth....cheese puffs. Unfortunately, I adore cheese and not only the fancy stuff (Brie de Meaux...drool, drool) but also the cheap gross cheese "flavored" stuff... i.e. Cheezels, Cheetos, Smartfood (white cheaddar popcorn), kraft dinner cheese and mac, and on and on. It's the irresistable, sticky, stinky cheese powder that gets me.

So last night, after having downed a big bowl of octopus ball noodles, some veg and a dumpling quite early in the evening, I knew that I'd want a *little* something later on. Preferably trashy food since I was going to be watching trashy TV (America's next top model in case you're curious). And of course, msn-ing with my food twin, convinced me that yes, I do really NEED to go into one of the BUSIEST 2 block radius in Hong Kong, push through the crowds wearing sweatpants and a fleece, run to the nearest grocery store, queue up for 15 minutes with a mouldy old man breathing down my neck and trying to skip in front of me, pay HK$17.50 and run back through the crowds, trying to avoid street beggards and people handing me leaflets and wanting me to buy broadband, get home, change again into "home" clothes (i.e. even MORE comfortable sweatpants and t-shrit), wash hands, sit in front of the TV and finally tear the bag open, jump up because I forgot a drink, get some water, sit my lardy ass down again and then finally, as the theme song starts to play, and finally, stuff my mouth with curly Cheetos (these are so good!)

The whole ordeal took a full 28 minutes and it took me that same amount of time to tire of stuffing my face.

Like a true addict, I hid the bag away before the boy got home.

Oh boy, Cheetos for dinner tonight!

Puds

Yup, that's what English desserts are called. Puds.

Why oh why do they make yummy foods sound 'orrible?

Moving on then, while in the cold of England, we went out for a pub lunch. Twas a lovely cold day but the sun was shining brightly and the pub was cozy and warm.

Tried to have mince and dumplings (I have no clue what it is but sounded "English") but was told there was no more mince left (which, I was later told is basically ground beef) but I could have dumplings in the steak and ale pie instead of pastry. Bril. So my dish came:



Looks good, huh? Actually, to me, it just looks like a dried bit of cornbread stuck on top of beef stew. Which, is *exactly* how it tasted. Not bad but not great. I thought dumpling would be different. In my Chinese head, dumplings come wrapped around yummy bits of pork and veg and although I knew it would be different, for some reason I thought they would be kind of like rolled bits of noodle type thing which were chewy and soft. Anyhow,I was told these weren't "good" dumplings but I have yet to taste them.

I was so worried about the desserts, I made everyone at the table (the boy, boy's parents, aunt, grandparents, sister and her fiance) order before our mains arrived so that we would get what we wanted (yes, I know I'm pushy but we're talking dessert here, come ON!). And I had sticky toffee pudding and the boy had rubarb crumble. Who am I kidding, the boy's lucky if he gets a taste of dessert let alone choose. He gets what I don't like/won't eat. Isn't he great?

It looked scrumptious...



Tasted lovely...*insert sticky lip smacking noises here*

Haggis, Nips and Titties

Well, although I am doing this in a somewhat backward fashion, I am going to share with you my fooding experiences in the UK and Scotland. I will get pictures to share soon....I promise but as I have yet again just sold my digi cam, it'll have to wait (hey, a girl's got to pay taxes!).

Haggis, neeps and tatties. Neeps and Tatties...that just cracks me up every time! I ALWAYS think of nipples and titties and I have to giggle.

Moving on...After finding out there was such a food approximately 6-7 years ago, I was determined to taste and where better than its place of birth, good old Scotland? So, the whole ride to Scotland with the boy and his parents consisted of me repeating repeatedly "I'm going to have haggis!". Fun for all.

Well after finding our way to a lovely old fashioned Scottish pub (yes, I made the boy and his family walk on the cold icy streets until we found a place and suited what I read in my trashy Scottish romance novels), I ordered Haggis (I couldn't bring myself to say neeps and tatties to the waiter in case I got it wrong...which is very probable since the day before I pointed at the gameboy in my boyfriend's lap and said very loudly in front of his grandparents, "Oh, you brought your playboy along?").

And the verdict? It was good. Very yummy, all chewy oatmeal and blackish stuff and lots of black pepper. I thought it was very good although I can see why it wouldn't be to some people's taste. My only disappointment? It didn't come in a sheep's stomach that I can slit open and have the contents spill out. It is like mash so it was a mash of black, mash of white (the "tatties" i.e. potatoes) and a mash of orange (the "neeps" which are turnips). It looked (and I'm sorry for those of a delicate constitution) like very neatly defined vomit. So basically baby food for adults with no teeth.

I didn't take a picture as it didn't look tasty but I did take this one:



Can you believe it? Haggis to go. What really killed me was they had tiny, smaller than an egg, sized COCKTAIL Haggis! Can you imagine, swishing around the room in your little black cocktail dress with posh people with English accents and a waiter in tails approaches you...."Cocktail haggis, miss?"

How tempting....

Note: The boy took a quick look at the title of this and commented: "You spell Neeps with two E's."

How do you eat your Weetabix?

Yes, I know, long time no blog.

Well, to be honest, it's not been very interesting food's of late but I've just been on hols to the UK and Scotland and have had some delicious dishes! I will post over the next few days so as to keep you entertained.

First things first. Breakfast. Weetabix. Why have I not had this before? I discovered this a little by accident. Being wai sik, I had some breakfast at the B and B at Edinburgh and then I thought I'd have some cereal with yogurt. The cereal didn't excite me much so I picked up a small yellow packet of this Weetabix. Brought it back to the table, poured out my yogurt into the bowl and proceeded to open the packet. Looked a bit like a cake of thin vermicelli cardboard. Began to regret cereal choice. The boy looked on horrified as I started to smoosh up some of the bits to put on my cereal. Tried to stop me, telling me "That's not the way to eat Weetabix! You have to leave it WHOLE!". His parents told him to stop trying to sway me to eat cereal HIS way (haha). I took great joy in dumping it whole (to his short-lived relief) into my bowl of yogurt, then smashing it to bits with my spoon.

Hmmm, tasted ok. They proceeded to tell me about the challenge of eating 3 Wheetabixes....oooh, sounded interesting. And different methods of eating it such as with hot milk (more on this later) and so on.

In any case, I enjoyed it. Wasn't until about 30 minutes later that I realized that these things are PURE FIBER! I was soooooooo full. Me. FULL. Full feeling lasted a good 3 hours! This is a wonder food. I must have more!

So, today back in good old smelly harbour, I heated up a mug of ginger milk and dunked a patty of Wheetabix in. Hmm, seemed a bit thin, broke up another half and stuck that in. After stirring it, it turned into some thick paste.

Damn I'm full.

Sweet Dreams....

I have been suffering from an odd kind of stomach bug recently...I do get incredibly hungry but also very nauseous... so, I've been eating lightly and trying not to eat anything that may disturb my stomach. BUT, I am, at the heart of hearts, too waisik and this can be evidenced by my dream last night...

There I was! With a buffetbuff and other female friends, at a HUGE, and I mean HUGE hotel Chocolate Buffet!! There were piles and piles of chocolate of the most divine kind! Oh and little stations of different types of chocolate for you to taste! I recall eating this gooey, rich, dark piece of chocolate covered almond that is NOTHING like I have ever tasted in my entire life! However, I can still "recall" the taste and texture! I also remember huge green olives stuffed with anchovies (yes, yes, odd in a chocolate buffet but made sense during the dream) and big, big piles of multi-colored macaroons! It was absolutely huge and sooo delicious.

I tell you, the dream was so realistic and vibrant that I actually had a stomach ache by the time I got up.