insomniac

1. At the supermarket buy some fresh lamb (or fish), bamboo or metal skewers, cumin powder (I think), chilli powder, salt, tomato sauce etc. (according to your taste) 2. cut the meat into small cubes, not too big otherwise it won't cook properly. After cutting put the meat which has been rubbed with ingredients onto the skewers. 3. you need to prepare the charcoal and the grill (can also use a wok (baking dish?)to make things easier) 4. leave until cooked 5. after eating remember to tidy up for next time. (If you are outside remember to put your rubbish in a bin) ATTN: If it was too spicy, you can go to the supermarket and choose other ingredients, After all you are the one enjoying the result! My paltry attempt at translation, I'm sure a better Chinese reader will be along in a minute to correct me! not sure about the cumin as I know a different set of characters for it (anyway it filled in a few minutes ha) I like instruction #5

I am a huge fan of manuka honey from NZ which aside from having a fantastic flavour has interesting health benefits. (boring bit now ha) All honey has some level of the antibacterial chemical hydrogen peroxide, which is produced by enzymes in the honey. These enzymes are easily destroyed by exposure to heat and light and also by contact with body fluids. Manuka honey has an antibacterial action that is separate to the peroxide effect, resulting in a much more persistent and stable antibacterial action, great for wound treatment. The honey also has a synergistic antibacterial effect with the hydrogen peroxide activity, producing a very powerful weapon against bacterial conditions....at first the benefits were thought to be strictly 'homeopathic' but lab testing has confirmed the antibacterial benefits...

....just as the'dirty kitchen' in the Philippines, my favourite spot, you do not stand alone

and I thought my Jesus on a chimichanga stamp was tackmeister...I was wrong, sorry kids....

I avoid the 3 Crabs sauce because it is a processed, flavour-added sauce rather than a naturally fermented one..... fructose and hydrolysed wheat protein have been added to hurry up the fermentation process by way of hydrolysis (which seems to have taken place in HK rather than Thailand, hmmmm )... way too chemical.... I personally prefer Golden Boy, Tra Chang or Squid in that order....a superlative fish sauce takes time to ferment and is a reasonably expensive, age-old process for good reason.

2 gems from my daughter's friend's very old Irish granny this Christmas.... Ali, 'No thanks granny, I won't have a sausage, I'm vegetarian.' Granny, 'Ah, ya will, sure it's not meat, it's pork.' and Granny' 'If you ever want to kill a dog feed him chocolate, he'll be dead within the hour.'

when the kids were small they used to fight over who got the eyes...I was curious so tried one, tasted like a salty grape (not flavour, texture) with a hard pebble in the middle....I prefer the cheeks

I looked into it. I was really tempted to try it. But unfortunately most of them (at least those that I checked) would not entertain parties of two. The minimum is like 4 or 6. There were only the two of us. The rest of my family are economic eaters and would never pay that price tag (e.g. HKD300 to HKD500 pp) for dinner. So... next time I will drag my high-school buddies along to try them. But then it might mean I need to treat them. The uncle from Gold Mountain they called me. ← That's the beauty of Hong Kong. You can get a really good meal for 100 HKD without much difficulty. When I'm in New York we would go eat and spend about 50 USD per head for a standard meal and it's not a big deal. If I was in HK (let alone GZ) doing that, my gf would kill me. There are just too many options and price ranges - which is a good thing. Ah Leung, does Gold Mountain refer to the Gold Rush in NorCal and the immigration of Chinese settlers in the late 1800s? Or is that just a nickname of some sort? ← Hi bethpageblack, I can recommend the book On Gold Mountain by Lisa See, great history (with pix) of her Chinese-American family beginning in 1867. According to her Gold Mountain was the name used by Chinese for the USA (excuse me for butting in ah Leung )

Koleen M. Guy has written a couple of papers on the champagne industry in general and the widows in particular...perhaps she has now written a book? ...Drowning their Sorrows??

ditto: I've just placed an order for several cheeses and some goose foie, must say the way you display the products on your site is excellent....very informative and easy to use.

Prawncrackers and lapin d'or are on the money....the 'Nigella Show' has degenerated into a sorry caricature of her obvious talent with both words and food....recently we all sat glued in horrified fascination at one of her latest midnight feasts...reaching into the fridge and coming out with a pork chop, wrapping it in slab of bacon and proceeding to hoover it down .......don't do it Nigella!

I know of a few Mcdonalds that have great views..... maybe something at the peak?bubba gump? ← maybe the McDonalds on the old Fenwick Pier(?)(Fleet Arcade) at the Admiralty end of Wanchai on the water with a great view of the harbour..... ps. there is a Burger King on the Peak in the tower, with your favourite view Ah Leung!

yr shuttle bus tip is a good one, sort of like getting in a lift in HK that's going down when you want to go up can recommend Macao buses, nice and compact...

I too love Fernando's and yr pix brought it all flooding back...thanks Will. ps. one of my favs is the clams in a sort of spicy coriander sauce... will be interested to hear how the Club Militar is these days HKDave, have spent many a long lunch there but not since the shiny new casinos came online. ps. Lisboa a slightly seedy dump, a bit like walking thru an old movie, isn't it, ??...always expected to see Humphry Bogart leaning on a post, smoking a non-filter

Me too Rona, not keen on it, but the kids LOVE it, guess it's like vegemite, you have to start young

If you weren't a foreigner I would take your statement as an insult.But often people pay Japanese prices most of them Aussies who like to show off ← hunh? Shalmanese is an Aussie and as a fellow Australian I fail to find an insult in his post. on the tuna topic there is a burgeoning and very successful land-based tuna breeding programme in South Australia, perhaps we will be seeing otoro on the domestic market in the near future. Regarding deep sea tuna fishing, Australia has just accused Japan of under reporting by 50% its tuna catch for the past few years after a forensic study of the amount of tuna used in Japan compared with the amount declared as caught. Maybe the dispute will result in an Oz tuna boycott and more tuna staying at home (we hope)

Ah Leung, you are definitely back home ps. have you been to Tung Lo Wan to the backstreet food yet? We lived almost opposite Aw Boon Haw when the kids were small and those streets were their favourite for eats.....

a gastronomic tour de force Peter, just want to thank you for your tireless, intelligent and humourous foodie documenting, Yoonhi and Serena for their tolerance in allowing us to butt into your holiday and your personal space and Jason for his superb tour-guiding,...how generous you all are.... mate, I would have been on my knees begging for mercy a third of the way thru... edited to add: what a great face Jason has... if he's not spoken for I have a reasonably presentable young daughter...

you mean you actually have a limit Peter?? ....must admit we have dragged our chairs up to the PC in anticipation.....hope you are REALLY hungry Ah Leung....

I THINK I'm ready for the exam.....slightly worried about the paper (hope I've done enough revision) however very confident about the practical,.... *hic*........... 실례합니다

as a Sun Tsu afficionado ( war is the art of deception) .......look out Peter....what's that behind you...? grabs crab pkt and legs it... ps. just googled Naver for Korean recipes and found quite warlike translations after hitting Kitchen then Smith(?).... 'a pot of water a cup in Libya, life crisis'.....hmmm, do they have a webcam in my kitchen??

I'd fight you for those crabs

was wondering how you'd react to the new HK with rampant harbour reclamation and smog from the SEZ industrialisation just over the border....pretty disheartening to me.....at least the food is still stellar ps. CX flies the great circle route (shortest) LAX or SFO-HKG which brings you into HK over China for the last bit of the flight

someone deeply into Atkins

a deeply orange and densely fleshed pumpkin I love from Oz is called the Queensland Blue....incredibly hard to cut and peel but well worth it for its intense flavour