insomniac
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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...
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Another aspect of all local-style (this is the technical term, believe it or not) homes in the U.A.E. is the presence of an indoor and an outdoor kitchen.
The indoor kitchen is used for assembling sandwiches, making breakfast, baking cookies, and casual dining. My sister took this picture while standing on the platform in the nook where we eat breakfast, lunch and snacks. It's not a very practical room, as you can seem but then again it isn't intended to be.
The outdoor kitchen is for doing anything with onions, garlic, meat and anything that spatters. It's where things get butchered and where stock pots get scrubbed. It's got a much better stove and a bigger sink. I prefer to cook in there, but I think I stand alone in my preferences. No pictures, sorry. My long-distance photographer refused, saying it was too unattractive (well, it kind of is).
....just as the'dirty kitchen' in the Philippines, my favourite spot, you do not stand alone
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I received a stamp with which to imprint an image of the Virgin Mary on a piece of toast.
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.
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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.'
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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
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.... Did you try any private kitchens this trip around?
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
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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??
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You'd get me as a customer for sure
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.
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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!
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A teaser question:
I swore that I wouldn't step foot in any US-based restaurant chains while I am in Hong Kong... but last night I broke my vow... I dinned at a US-based restaurant. Not because of the food. But because of the view. Which restaurant might it be?
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!
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That's not Bogart leaning against a post at the Lisboa, that's just me... wondering how I'm going to find a taxi on a weekend in Macau.
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...
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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
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Can you not get Vitasoy in the US? My dad used to buy it a lot when we were younger. I never liked it much, but I should probably give it another try.
Me too Rona, not keen on it, but the kids LOVE it, guess it's like vegemite, you have to start young
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Does Australia have a native tuna fishing industry? If not then I suspect most of the otoro is being diverted to Japan so very little actually shows up on the Australian market. When it does, you would be paying Japanese prices for it.
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)
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(e.g. cook it with sogo pearl balls).
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.....
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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...
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Oh, man! I'm out of vacation days!
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....
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First, you drink soju in shot glasses. These don’t hold a lot.
Second, you never pour for yourself.
Third, you always play “spot the empty glass” (or near empty) and fill it up if you see it.
Fourth, if your glass isn’t empty and someone’s going to pour, drink up!
Fifth, when you pour, think about who you’re pouring for. If it’s not too formal you can get away with just touch your shoulder or chest. If it’s the president of your company, hold your wrists.
Sixth, when you take the drink, if it’s someone below you, use one hand, if above you, use two hands. If it’s someone really high up, turn your head away from them when you drink.
Seven, spank the bottom of the soju bottle before you pour.
Eight, never pour the very last drops out. This stuff is fine, but it’s tradition not to pour the “dregs”.
Nine, when you open the first bottle of soju, everyone toasts. We don’t believe this has to happen after every bottle, otherwise you’d be toasting every couple of minutes.
Ten, you can take a love shot with your significant other by crossing forearms and drinking. This can be modified to wrapping arms around each others necks and drinking.
Eleven, if there’s someone you want to get to know better (not in any romantic sense) you can offer him a drink from your empty soju glass, sharing one glass back and forth. This indicates an interest in becoming better friends (usually among men – again, there are no romantic overtones to this).
As expected, there are a huge number of drinking games. Here are two (which are the only ones we remember):
All soju caps have numbers. Someone gets the cap when it comes off, and then it’s a game of guess the number, with high and low the guidance. Whoever guesses the number drinks.
Then there’s the cap tap. When the cap comes off, pull the bottom part of the metal away a bit, and dangle the cap by this “hanging chad”. Take turns flipping at the cap until it separates from that umbilical of metal. If you separate it, you drink.
Or you can cut through all of this cute stuff and just drink.
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
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Choose your weapons.
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??
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Here’re those crabs I was talking about a little while ago. Rather than fresh and raw, these ones have been sweetly spiced, and then crisp fried before being packaged as bar snacks. We dragged one bag out the other week to a get together. I ate them, but I didn’t see too many other takers.
I'd fight you for those crabs
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Landed safely at HKG, local time 0640. Transited to Hung Hom. The first impression after 8 years: a WOW! Big changes.
And a disappointment. The harbor view (North Point) once enjoyed by this hotel (Harbour Plaza Hotel) is now blocked (a good portion of it) by a newer building. When I watched the video people took of Harbour Plaza Hotel, that building wasn't there!
Haven't had our first meal yet. But the in-flight meals onboard Cathay Pacific were quite nice. Though the Chow Mai Fun breakfast was a little dry.
Weather-wise: ugly overcast. Couldn't see through the clouds/fog from above 3000 feet. The last thing I notice was the Phoenix Mountain to our right through the fog... 1 minute later, touch down.
We flew most of our way above China instead of the Coastal water for some reason. I kept seeing city lights. Perhaps to avoid the jet streams.
First meal will be something quick and light, probably somewhere nearby...
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
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someone deeply into Atkins
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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
Recipe for Skewered Mutton
in China: Cooking & Baking
Posted
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