insomniac

what does that Suntory taste like Peter? compared with the other brands... ps. are you reading the IHT?

when wished to 'have a nice day' a Kiwi friend of mine inevitably replies, 'no thanks, I've made other plans'... leads to the odd confused look... I live deep in 'my lover' territory....love it...but as yet no touching,not even in my local...

also saying thanks for the pix Fengi, especially of off piste food like Russian and Uigar, my daughter is often mistaken for a minority, even tho she is a Kiwi/Oz split, but it's handy when travelling, esp. in restricted places.... the hutong demolition is very sad, all that history gone...I was amazed at the difference between 1990 and 2005, big gap between my first 2 visits...huge changes...I was especially amazed at the 6 ring roads!!!! Is Liqun still standing?

re fake soy sauce, I believe the preferred method is to boil down human hair to an amino acid gloop and proceed....and I just know I've eaten it *shudder*...god why is there something so deeply disturbing about hair not attached to a head? and why bother faking vinegar? well, why bother going on a 2 day course to make fake eggs folks? apparently to save 1 kuai per piece, that's why... and about that free tea you are drinking with your meal, freshly swept from the factory floor.... I was speaking to a friend who has 30 years experience battling the fakes trade, especially in the Far East and apparently the next big worry for the world is fake food and water... edited to add sorry Fengyi to rant on your lovely blog

You mean a funny-looker? I just noticed how sad that fish's mouth looks. Poor little fishy. I would have posted more in almost real-time, but by Sunday night, I had started to feel very much under-the-weather, and by Monday, I was most definitely sick. I still managed to eat (though not with as much abandon, so I'm glad I got some really good meals in before the sickness set in), so there are still pics and posts to come! I'm due to return to Japan today, and I'm hoping they let me go! I'm quite sure I still have a slight fever, and if the SARS-era initiated protocol is still being enforced, they may just detain me! If not, well, I'll just use the time in quarantine to post a little more. I sure hope they have wi-fi in quarantine! ← ...bummer....but a good reason for another trip to HK

How could I have missed this thread? I make my own soy milk to make tofu and tofu fa.....will give this a go when (if) it warms up... ps. remember with great nostalgia walking along the path by the sea at Yung Shue Wan village on Lamma island (HK) where the villagers were making fish sauce and paste out in the sun...alas no more...

Um.. are you furry? ← I bet you look like a lucky buddha, markk.....or santa:)

Fengyi, I'm very curious about the local (and expat) attitude to pollution in food, particularly meat and seafood. Do your friends worry about what they are eating? Especially as Yang Shumin (ex-controller of doping in sports for the Olympics ...hmmm wonder why he is ex??) warned that athletes competing in the Olympics might fail their drugs tests if they ate out in restaurants because of the common practice of pumping meat full of anabolic steroids......I must admit I avoid seafood in HK now.

Fengyi, excellent stuff...your remark about having 2 fish and chips places reminds me of being in HK listening to an interview on the radio with the Brit who was a partner in one of them....she related that her local partner was extremely enthusiastic about the taste of fish and chips when he'd been interviewed in Beijing, but she thought it would be better if he didn't say that they were delicious but that if you ate too much you would vomit....

I am guessing southern hemishere (summer) as the leaves are too developed for a northern hemisphere winter/spring.... the landscape does not look Australian to me.... N.Z.??

I cook lamb this way a lot.....delicious, and the thicker bits stay pink while those philistines who like their meat well-done can eat the thinner bits...I tent a bit of foil over the leg to get a more oven-like effect and a smokier taste...also cooks very quickly compared with oven time for a similar beast...

My husband's grandfather is type 2 diabetic. Japanese, barely 5'2" at his tallest, and very little fat on him. Very active until fairly recently, eats well (not a lot of junk). My 5 year old daughter eats about as much rice as he does. His only son, OTOH, is also type 2 diabetic and obese. ← After working in HK with a Chinese colleague with diabetes (he used to hide his extensive selection of fine wines in my office so his wife wouldn't kill him) I was interested to find out about the issue of weight on the disease. My friend was what I would call underweight. Another friend who was a doctor working on that very subject told me that in Chinese Type 2 diabetic patients, lean subjects had predominant insulin deficiency and obese subjects had features of metabolic syndrome. i.e the ability of the body to store up in case of famine, sort of what Helenjp describes above...

the vinegar worked a treat and I didn't baste during the cooking time...it still ended up a beautiful mahogany colour....I used a German frozen duckling, smaller than the usual English one but a shedload of meat.....have a request to do it again this weekend so I will attempt a photo (cameras are the devil's children to me

I cooked one the night before last and used a mixture of golden syrup and black vinegar on the skin....very pleased with the result... ps. not sure what sort of ****ose golden syrup is... edited to add: it took longer than a day for the prep...

Lindacakes, I think that appleseeds are toxic to parrots but I guess not the flesh...

burning charcoal indoors has long been a popular method of committing suicide in HK....

....but isn't it thicker?....seriously...

Can't say more than that....long may the Philip A. Mahl Memorial Kitchen prosper...

aha Ce'nedra....stop paying attention ....was funny that as I was typing my post I was thinking of 'In the Mood for Love' for some reason....hmmm, sorry to Maggie Leung!

thanks Pedro, I am a Sergi Arola fan, specifically because a meal at his restaurant when our son was 16 tipped him over the edge...our son, not S.A.... and convinced him to leave school and join a mich. restaurant as an apprentice..... look forward to his new venture, another good excuse for a few days in Madrid (if one is needed...)

well, I just watched a HK movie 'Dumplings' (Gau Ji) with Bai Ling, Maggie Leung and Tony Cheung and it is definitely NOT for the squeamish.....although certainly about food...questionably appetising but interesting nonetheless

ohhhh sh!t can you pick it up and shake it? ← I love brussels sprouts and they grow beautifully here I should try them for sure ..the look so funny with the little things all up and down the stalk! They look like dinosaur food! I tried to shake it ..how hard can I shake with out fking up the rest of this laptop? I am so pissed at myself it was the right spot but I had a feeling something was wrong when the chip slid in so quickly ..I have to use my worst camera now ← eeeek but, edited to add, a bloke or blokess with computer expertise must surely be along shortly to give you *good and practical* advice

I rather optimistically planted some brussels sprouts too late into autumn last year and they bolted.....however now, spring has arrived(ish) and we are eating the most amazing tender stalks with teeny broccoli-like head and leaves, sort of like gai lan (Chinese kale-like veg.)....they are incredible, whether with melted butter like young asparagus or thai style (like ka na) with oyster sauce or garlic and kapi and there is tons of it!!!.... I'll be making the same mistake this autumn... ohhhh sh!t can you pick it up and shake it?

sorry double post

I have posted about this book already but to give it more exposure I have just finished reading Fuchsia Dunlop's new Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper. A stunning read, it encompasses her journey from student of the Chinese language to food addict. She chronicles her 15 years of living and travelling in China, her growing passion and obsession with Chinese food, history, preparation and recipes. The lengths she has gone to to accurately detail the food is amazing. she manages to inveigle her way into places westerners have never been permitted, including a long stint at a Sichuan chef's course, the Chinese equivalent of the CIA. She becomes fluent in the Sichuan and Hunan dialects as well as Mandarin. At the end of each chapter she posts a relevant recipe. The book is intensely personal and full of incredible anecdotes about the history of China and how it is inextricably bound up with eating. I absolutely take my hat of to her total dedication to the subject (and the people) she loves.