Developing a taste for Hong Kong

I’ve been mulling about how life has been for in Hong Kong (it’s my third year!), and it’s really been an interesting time. I’m glad to have been given this opportunity to live in a foreign country. It’s made me a stronger (I think?), wiser and at least I can tell myself, I did it.

What I do hope for moving onto my third year is to be more adventurous, and just try new things, without worrying about whether it’s the right thing to do, or say. I must say that I’ve been true to my word – I’ve lined up a couple of courses, researching on interests, and generally being more open to new ideas and thoughts. There’s so much to explore that I haven’t given myself the chance to see, and I want to do more of that from now on.

So let’s see what’s in store for the coming months.

Onto more relevant baking themes – I’ve been dying to replicate a delicious walnut and raisin toast I had at Das Gute (a bakery in Hong Kong that’s German-esque).

Love,

Diana

I’m revived

Speaking to a friend (whom I think, is literally a burst of sunshine) last night, I realised what I needed was just that little push.

That push has led to a revival of this blog because this blog, in essence, goes back to my roots of what I’ve always liked doing. I hope to be back being passionate again, to start filling my life about what makes me happy.

So hi again. Told you it’s not goodbye.

Diana takes an indefinite hiatus

Hello. My name is Diana, and I am the writer of this blog. The initial motivation to start this blog was to see how far and serious I would take my interest in baking and eating desserts to. So far, I would say, it’s been pretty good. I’ve done an “apprenticeship” in a cafe, made friends with several foodies along the way and even published my articles print (albeit for a school club magazine, but I’m still proud! :)). Yup, it’s been good.

In September 2008, I moved from Singapore to Hong Kong, starting my first real taste of corporate life. It’s been an exciting move, and I am glad I did it. As such, this blog has moved from being desserts-centric to more of how’s-diana-doing-in-hongkong-centric. With work, study and life adjustments coming into play, my posting frequency has also dropped dramatically.  Every time I thought of posting a recipe I had tried online, I would think to myself, what’s the point? Others have done it before, others can do it better. What’s the value-add I can bring?

Honestly, I am ashamed. As a food blog-enthusiast, I look at all the great food blogs out there, and think to myself, how can I qualify to call myself a food blogger? Even though I got into this not to compete for super-blogger-of-the-year, I am still ashamed at the lack of enthusiasm I have had recently. I started this to ask myself how much “passion” of mine means to me. As you can see right now, apparently not that much.

I am trying to get more inspired to revamp this site to become more focused, more interesting and more personal. So perhaps, it’s time to take a rest while I think about how to reorganise my thoughts. It actually feels so much better to end this for a while, because I promise (to myself more than anything else) that I will be back better than before.

It’s not goodbye, but see you later! 🙂

The day before my 24th Birthday was spent in Macau

My 24th birthday came and went, and it was exactly the way I wanted it: simple. On Friday, we took a day’s leave to venture into the land of vices: Macau. Here’s a sum of my thoughts of the land where you have an Asian who’s an “gondola-boat guy, singing Italian songs”.

The pretty parts are prettier than I thought. Cue in old colonial buildings (though mightily commercialised with McDonald’s and Starbucks fronting it).

The hotels are more in-your-face than I thought. I visited The Venetian and Grand Lisboa. The Venetian is ultra ultra big, and you get a sense that you are trapped in this timeless, perfect Twilight Zone, where nobody sleeps, and the sky is always blue and cloudy.

Grand Lisboa, on the other hand, is in-your-face with its golden grandeur. As if a HK$69.1 million bronze horse (as in THE bronze horse from the 12 Zodiac Animals from the Summer Palace saga) isn’t enough to front the hotel lobby, you have a bronze figure of the Mr Stanley Ho, plus not one, but two gigantic gems (a diamond and an emerald), actually, make them the most gigantic gems in the world. Yup, throw in a couple of  mammoth tusk sculptures, a boat complete with tiny carved out figures plated in gold and many many hanging crystals, and you get the feeling that you should be shouting “HUAT AH” the moment you get in.

The food is saltier than I thought. I had Fernando’s, and along the way, tried some bak gua. I have never tried Portuguese-influenced food, but I get a sense that the food is quite saltier. Kudos to the freshness of the clams and salad (surprisingly yummy tomatoes). A lovely end to our lovely day was the egg tart from Margaret’s Cage e Nata (flaky crust with sweet egg custard).

Gambling is  not as fun as I thought. Maybe it’s the fact that I went on a weekday. Most of the people who were at the casino seemed to be hard-core, long-time gamblers. Both of us, on the other hand, giggled as we placed our bets, and laughed our losses off (well, at the beginning at least). I never understood the attraction of spending so much time on something you have so little control of, and hopefully never will.

So what do I have learnt out of 24 years of life? Well, I think it’s really to try and be a bit wiser, a bit kinder, a bit happier, a bit more respectful every single day.

I hate the fact that I am able to quote from a animated cartoon, and am always touched to tears during the scene where he becomes one with the universe and disappears along with the peach tree leaves.

But I’m still going to do it.

As Master Oo-gway from Kungfu Panda said,

“Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the present.”

My simple meals

While I do not bake as fervently as I wish to, I have upped my cooking capacity – mainly simple meals that I can eat for dinner and bring to work the next day.

They include:

– fried vegetables with oyster sauce

– pizzas (mainly topped with potato and onion, fresh vegeables, ham and cheese)

– stir-fried chicken with baked cashew nuts

– curry chicken with diced cauliflower

– mee siam (using prima taste)

– pastas (mostly tomato-based)

My next endevours include:

– hainanese chicken rice (including chilli sauce, authentically-made with chicken oil, yum)

– lion’s head, literal translation from shi zi tou (braised lettuce with meatballs)

– roasted duck or lamb of some kind

– more variations of vegetable-based meals – I’ve been reading lots of Mark Bittman on NYT.

When I next go home (in April), I will eat

– bbq stingray with less sambal, and more of that sour, onion chilli sauce please!

– fish soup (more fish please!)

– fish head with salted bean paste sauce and pork lard (my dad’s recipe is the best)

drool…

Sites I’ve been drooling over

1. www.orangette.blogspot.com – her writing is fluid and her photographs are gorgeous

2. www.norecipes.com – i like his inspired take on cooking (after all, isn’t it what most home cooks from a previous generation did?).

3. www.cookinglight.com

I’ve been writing lots in list-form recently. Work does that to you, I think.

What I want in life

1. Balance
2. Respect
3. Health
4. Happiness
5. Clarity
6. Peace of mind

Writing it down just so I remember.

Updates from Hong Kong in Feb 2009

Just a quick update:

1. I’m back in Hong Kong.

2. I’m starting to enjoy cycling in the outdoors (though I always protect myself with three layers of sunblock). I’m probably going to head down to Cheung Chau this Saturday.

3. I’m learning to eat healthily again (brought my weighing scale back to Hong Kong and discovered that many nights of chips and chocolate chip cookies are not good for one’s weight and health). That means more vegetables and fruit, fewer chocolate for me.

4. I went hiking for the first time on Tuesday at a terrain behind my office. I imagine if we were racing for time and running towards the finishing point, I would have enjoyed it much more.

5. Kids grow up so quickly. My niece has grown by a head since five months ago.

6. I miss the familiarity of Singapore, but I also enjoy the freedom (in all sense of the word) in Hong Kong.

7. If all goes well, I might be heading to Turkey this year (keeps fingers crossed).

PS: I refuse to succumb to the power of 25 Random Things About Me.

Keep safe, and cheers!

Christmas is all around me

This Christmas will mark the first time I won’t be spending it with the family in Singapore. In any case, my family was never that big on celebrating this festival. It was always more of a watch-Home-Alone-and-Indiana-Jones-reruns-on-TV kinda day. Well, I’ll definitely be missing them (and my lovely friends), especially since there’s a new baby in the house (not mine, thankfully).

Yixiao came down for almost three weeks (with one week spent in Japan), and together, we headed off to Lantau for Buddha admiring.

Of course, what would our excursions be like without some dessert!

Her ice cream (caramel hazelnut and mixed nut cheese?) looked delicious, but I had in mind to try the tau-hway (soya bean curd) at the monastery.

In search of my perfect LBD for a formal event cos I-have-all-this-money-and-no-dress (nose flares ala Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman), we headed on a shopping tour in Causeway Bay. Alas, it was found in Zara (it says classic, elegant and gorgeous to me).

To rest our tired feet, we had a break at Azabu Sabo (Fashion Walk, Level 2). I discovered a new fondness for green tea ice cream.  Some crazy photos we took:

Haha.. I love this photograph. We look CRAZY, yo!

Finally to complete this Christmas post, I would like to write down what I’m appreciative for:

1. Being able to start a new job in a new city with so much support and help (from new friends and of course, that somebody)

2. Having friends back home whom I know will be there for me no matter what

3. Knowing my family cares very much for me

4. Being healthy, and more importantly, knowing that good health is something I should not take for granted

5. To have people I love safe and healthy

Okay, till 2009! Take care!

Dessert Places I Want To Try

Having lived in Hong Kong for almost three months, I must say, things are starting to get easier. I guess, in the first place, it wasn’t all that difficult. I have had so much support, and for that, I’m thankful. Perhaps, it’s about this time that I am clearer, and thus happier, about what I expect from myself in my career and my life.

I love living here for several reasons, one of which is the fact that there is so much good food around. I must admit though, that I haven’t been as diligent about trying new dessert places around Hong Kong. Mainly, I frequent Honeymoon Dessert (a chain of tong-shui/Chinese-style desserts located all around Hong Kong) and I’m now into frozen yogurt (especially lychee flavour!) – Berrygood along Graham street, right below Hollywood Road. Which is PATHETIC I tell you! PATHETIC.

Okay, so to do this blog some justice, I’m going to list a bunch of places I would like to try. I got this list from this website: http://www.openrice.com which is for people who like to find reviewed and ranked restaurants in Hong Kong and can read traditional Chinese (or least know how to use google translate).

1. Sawdust Dessert

Shop 5, G/F, No. 3 King Shing Street, (Causeway Bay)

Named after its famous 木槺布甸  (sawdust pudding), the dessert looks like a chiffon sponge cake, but apparently is soft and has the texture of a pudding. In any case, it looks delicious in the photos.

2. Tsui Yuen Desserts

銅鑼灣波斯富街83號C舖

Chinese style desserts

3. Queen’s Cake Shop
15D Pak Sha Road, (Causeway Bay)

Ooo… they have chestnut cream crepe! Yum! Also recommended, the huge banana cake.

4. C’iest Mieux

Shop B110-B, CitySuper, Times Square, 1 Matheson St (Causeway Bay)

French-style petit desserts. Definitely will try the Mille Crepe, which from what I have read, is a very difficult dessert to tackle – imagine making the cake by layering more than 20 crepes with syrup/custard in between each layer!

Yup, so I guess this is my “goal” before the end of the year. Ambitious, isn’t it? Haha.

Bakery Class at TST – Yakult Cheesecake and more!

On Saturday, my roommate and I went to Best Kitchen (C2, 3/F, Wah Yuen Building, 83-97 Nathan Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, No: 23689389). It offers baking and culinary classes in Cantonese, and we had joined with my colleagues for the session.

The chef, whom you could tell had most probably worked in either a hotel pastry kitchen from his ability to take cake tins straight out from the oven with his nerve-less fingers, stood at the end of the long table. He also seemed to be a ladies’ man, seeing the many laughs he drew with his jokes from my colleagues. The class was divided into three groups: People who had chosen to learn to make Yakult Cheesecake (ala myself and my roommate), Chocolate Sponge Cake and Mango Napoleon.

Fortunately, our recipe was really a stir-and-freeze kind of recipe. It basically calls for a simple base of crushed graham and chocolate cornflake, and a frozen cheese custard with one bottle of Yakult. Apparently, you can replace the Yakult with an equivalent of beer or probably any other liquid you like (as shown from a poster of the altered recipe on the wall).

The kitchen is small, but can fit maybe 15 people?

The base – butter, crushed graham cookies and chocolate cornflakes

The cheese custard

Not posing

Posing

Chocolate Sponge Cake – Pretty, isn’t it?

My decorated Cheesecake

Mango Napoleon – sponge cake with custard and flaky pastry layers

At the end of our DIY session, the chef whipped up a Molten Chocolate Pudding for all of us in ten minutes, which wasn’t the best I’ve eaten, but was still good enough.

In short, this session was fun, even though it was in Cantonese. At about $230HKD per person, it isn’t that expensive as well. Oh, the only thing is, please make sure you get into the right lift in the building. My roommate and I had gone up the wrong block, and I thought we had stumbled into a gang headquarters (I’ve probably watched too many Hong Kong gangster movies for my own good).

Proud smiling mamas of our cakes!

For more photos, head over to my facebook.