Lunch

I just made the best lunch ever.  Maybe it's because I miss Korean food, but man this hits the spot:

Kimchi, avocado, tomato, and shirataki noodles salad with mustard/soysauce dressing.  YUM. I think tomorrow I shall have the same with tofu.

Anyway, it's an exciting couple of days coming up! Today I meet with the editor of Foodie then out to dinner for Moroccan BBQ.  Tomorrow meeting with the marketing director at Aeris, an online "style and substance" magazine, tutoring, and dinner with Kameron.  Kameron is the daughter of Mei-Mei's best friend and just moved to Hong Kong.  I love meeting new friends!

Also on tap for this week, I have to write a review of a Thai restaurant and Cupcake Nails for sassyhongkong.com.  No Finance job, but at least I'm busy :)

Check out the November issue of Foodie, and me on pages 9-11, here:

http://issuu.com/foodie.hk/docs/foodie_2011_november_issuu

Check out Aeris's latest issue, now in Cantonese!, here:

http://www.aerismagazine.com/

I'm Baaack

Although internship is still off, I will be able to do a few things over at Foodie, yey!  First off, Paul and I are going to Le Souk tomorrow night so we can try the food and I can write a review. It's a new place in Soho, and by the pictures on openrice, it looks to be delicious!  Who doesn't like a good tagine?  Before dinner I'm meeting the new editor and we're going to discuss some things I can help out with.  One of which is Street Talk where I ask random people on the street a question.  The other is where I will profile a lesser-known neighborhood.  More details tomorrow :)

Last night I attended Tutor Time's Halloween party.  I got to meet a few of Mr. Paul's student's parents, one of which works for a large Chinese insurance company and wants to pass my resume around.  Although the best part of the evening was when all of the teachers, Paul being the only man, did a choreographed dance to Thriller.  Angry Bird, Witch, Cleopatra, Dora and Diego (best Kindy costumes ever!) all pranced around on stage while 100 or so parents looked on.  I wish I had it on film.

For now it's off for a run. I was lazy yesterday and laid on the beach instead of running.  I did, however, go for an hour + walk in Clearwater, which was much much too cold to swim in.  How did the water temp change so much in just a few weeks?  Beach days may be coming to an end soon.  The horror!

Ma Shi Chau

AKA Horse Shit Island.  This is where Paul, Liza and the rest of Liza's church group went hiking Saturday afternoon.  If you had asked me a year ago if I'd be spending my afternoon with a church group on Horse Shit Island, I would have called you crazy!  HSI is in Tai Po in the New Territories, but a different area than where Paul and I had ventured out before.  It's super easy to get to; MTR to Tai Po Market and any number of mini buses will take you to either HSI, the dam, or biking areas.

After we got off the mini bus, we walked through a tiny village and up a tiny hill through fields and fields of tomb stones!  Apparently you bury your dead, hope no one comes by for a few years, and then poof the land is yours.  After you get off the tomb island your on a smaller more rocky island.  The inner part of the island is too dense with vegetation, so we just meandered along the coast.  About 1/2 around and it got really rocky.  Big iron boulders and other purple rock made us jump around like goats.  Paul was loving it until he took a shortcut through the water and then had slippery crocs.  Wet crocs not so conducive to boulder jumping.  An old old woman pulled up on her speed boat and asked if anyone need a ride back to mainland, yes please!  We scurried aboard waved goodbye to new church going friends.  Big thanks to Liza for thinking to invite us.

Saturday night was of course Halloween night.  Well for the foreigner crowd at least.  Paul and I left out apartment at 8pm and made our way to the bus where no less than every single person we walked by stopped, stared and pointed at us.  Halloween's not so big over in San Po Kong, no it ain't.   Regardless, everyone got our costumes.  I wish I had pics, but you know, lack of camera.  Let's see if I can somehow manage to bitch about my lost camera in every post.  So far I'm 3 for 3.  Anyway, we wanted to avoid the crowds of LKF.  Apparently walking the 500m from the MTR to the bar area in LKF takes 2 hours on Halloween Saturday.  No thanks!  So Steph and Katie threw a rooftop party in Wan Chai.  It was perfect, everyone dressed up and there were new and old faces.  No, no, we're all in our 20s, but people I knew and new people to know.  A fun Saturday inevitably leads to a not so fun Sunday.  P and I made the best of it, head over to the island, took a fun trolley ride from Causeway to Central (I have decided I want to have my birthday party on a trolley!) had amazing beers at The Globe.

More on The Globe.  While at the Wine and Dine event, I started chatting it up with a French wine distributor.  The guy who gave us the Cherry Pie.  We were complaining that it's hard to find a good beer in Asia and he suggested that we try The Globe.  Was he right!  It's an English pub, newly reopened on Graham Street, so it's a beautiful large space.  The draft beer list was impressive and not the typical Carlsburg, Guinness etc.  I had the Old Speckled Hen English Ale and Paul had the Budvar lager.  Bot were mighty tasty! Then we had the local micro brew Typhoon's Summer Ale.  Although not my favorite, I commend their effort as they are the only micro brew in Hong Kong!  Paul and I will certainly make a trip to the brewery in Lan Tau when we have a chance.

Post beers (a little hair of the dog never hurt anyone) we ferried over to TST to go to the Sky 100 in the ICC.  The ICC is the 4th largest commercial building in the world.  We had ticket for buy 1 get 1 from the Kowloon Wine and Dine festival.  Buy 1 get 1 is a great deal, but not when the coupon is only valid for 3 days.  Cheap bastards.  Anyway, we made it into the 3 day window and head to the 100th floor to the observation deck. It was pretty cool to see out through the haze and darkness, but it was no Taipei 101, or even Seoul Tower for that matter.  They could have put in some more activities on top.  But, meh, check it off the list.

Tis Monday, Halloween, and the supposed first day of my internship.  Screw it, I'm going to the beach. Happy Halloween Kiddies!!

In Time

More like In Stink, Justin!  ha ha ha get it?  But really, it was totally unrealistic, had super poor acting, and really really bad dialogue.   The movie was a (mildly entertaining) disappointment.  Not only was it over the top ridic, it was also over the top preachy.   Screw the rich! Equality for all!   The only redeeming quality was Amanda Seyfried running around in ridiculous heels and short shorts.

Better luck next time, JT.

Kowloon Wine and Dine

I wish I had pictures because this food and wine festival was quite the scene.  It was held on the West Kowloon waterfront promenade, about a 20 minute walk from the ferry piers which Paul and I learned the hard way.  Waterfront promenade to us meant where the boats were, nope, no dice.  So we walked the 20 minutes down the highway to the real deal. The promenade was decked out in purple icicle lights and there must have been well over a hundred food and wine vendors all with a spectacular view of Hong Kong Island.  We got there right at the beginning (which was 8 o'clock which I found odd.  People finish work at 6) and by the time we left a couple hours later there must have been thousands of people there, including our friends Jackie, Justin and Merg.  Tis a small little foreigner world!

Paul and I opted for the Classic Wine Pass which was $200 and came with 10 wine coupons, some food coupons, a wine glass and wine holder.  If we had to do it again, I would skip the pass and just buy 20 wine coupons for $200.  The food vouchers were pretty lame.  Ohh mini bag of almonds, awesome!

Despite the feeling that you're constantly being ripped off (you have to pay for samples!), the wine really was spectacular.  The entire wine producing world seemed to be represented!  The best wine we had was definitely the Cherry Pie Pinot Noir from Cali (Water & Wine Limited).  We also had some good Portugese wine, Japanese sake,  Chinese wine, and of course French.  One of the best tents visited was from a new store, Grandly Pacific Winery Limited.  They just opened a few weeks ago but had a lovely staff, wines from around the globe, and cheap wine for sale on the spot!

Ohhh the food!  Food was from around the world as well.  We started with tteokbokki (spicy Korean rice cakes) which was awesome, although totally small.  We also saw kebabs, yakitori, dumplings, sandwiches, cheese plates, fruit, ice cream...it went on and on and made it difficult to choose the "right" place to stop. The best thing we had was from a salami place, of which I don't recall the name.  The place was clearly popular as the line was down the block.  They served cones of cheese, salami, prosciutto, and parma ham.  And you got to try each one before you decided which cone you wanted to buy.  Good marketing my friends!

The biggest complaint I would have is that you're not allowed to open your own wine.  There were several stages with music, beautiful lights, and the backdrop of the city which would have been the perfect venue to plop down with whatever feast you just bought, and open a bottle of freshly purchased wine.  Again, trying to gouge you for more money.  Buy more coupons!  Regardless it's definitely worth the trek for some good food and wines.  The wine distributors were all very enthusiastic and knowledgeable, so if you like drinking and talking about wine get your ass down there!

Too Much Veg

Home Food

Whenever I have lots of veggies in the fridge on the brink of going bad, I turn to tomato sauce.  Onion + garlic + red wine + Italian seasoning + chili pepper + whatever veg I have; usually eggplant, spinach, broccoli, zucchini; and cook it down for 30 or so minutes.  I wish I had pictures of last night's pot, but lack of camera and funds have made that impossible :(  It's especially perfect because as it's cooking you need to repeatedly taste.  One stir for the pot, one spoonful for my mouth.  Add some S&P, one stir, one spoonful.  More chili?  Stir, spoon.  Healthy, spicy and Paul likes it too.  Although, what doesn't Paul like?


Street Food

My new deli manju (Korean waffles with cream filling) replacement is eggettes AKA gai daan jai.  Anyone remember my obsession with deli manju?  I don't think I'd be able to eat even one after the obscene amount consumed last winter in Korea.  Eggettes are not so rich though.  They're street waffles in the shape of eggs and taste of coconutty awesomeness with no filling.  Crispy outside.  Soft chewy inside.  Perfect for a fall (it's below 80 today!) afternoon stroll.



Quote from my friend Katie today after I told her Paul and I are attending the Wine and Dine event in TST:

"You are the queen of wine mixers in this city I swear."

Damn straight.  Review of Kowloon's Wine and Dine coming tomorrow.  

REVAMP

So after this disappointment with Foodie, I have decided to take things upon myself and continue to write and improve, and I shall use this blog as my forum.  Is there anything you'd like to see more of, or done differently?  I think I shall shift the perspective a little.  A little more away from what I'm doing and more toward, recipes, places around Hong Kong, and events.  I want to contribute to mags/blog, but I need to practice here first.  Keep posted.  :)

PS I will find a job.