Weird Food Stuff

Hong Kong Milk Tea is one of my favourite caffeinated drinks. Made with black tea and evaporated milk, this caffeinated delight is super rich and creamy. This make coffee drink like water in comparison.

Not only do each Chinese greasy spoon has their own secret recipe, even Lipton has theirs.

Street Food - Egg Puffs

This is one of the billion street food items you'll find here. Egg puffs are made with a waffle like iron with the same kind of batter. After cooking them come out looking like a giant slice of packing bubble wrap, which you can pull apart as you eat them.

They're hollow, crispy on the outside and a bit gooey in the inside. There's no sugar or anything added to them. The taste is homey and simple. Like that of eating fresh baked bread from a bakery.

Most places put them into paper bags with holes cut out of them so that they don't get all soggy on you.

You'll see vendors all over the place slotted into nook and crannies throughout Hong Kong. Many offer different flavours, but I suggest trying the original first and see how that hits you.

Weird Food Stuff

Yes, it's another KitKat flavour. Framboise is actually really close to it's flavour. Unlike a regular KitKat, it has a more wafer cookie texture to it and lightness.

Besides the obvious pink packaging, there is label on the back of the box where you can write a From: and To: on. So I'm taking this as a way to send a gift to someone who needs a break (heh).

Weird Food Stuff

So a while back I did the KFC Hong Kong style breakfast combo, so after recovering from that I went to Mc Donald's to check out one of theirs.

So what we have here is a cup of coffee, a hash brown and a bowl of chicken broth, macaroni, carrots and a chicken steak. The other kind is with sausage and egg (a sausage egg McMuffin taken apart essentially).

Like the KFC version, it's taken from one of the local staples from Hong Kong's greasy diners. Instead of chicken steaks and all, it's usally with fried Spam or ham, etc. Spam is pretty popular as a breakfast dish here.

The taste is like a soup with macaroni and chicken. Nothing weird when you think of each thing separately, but together it works well. The different textures from the squishy macaroni to the meaty seasoned chicken steak get all mix within the chicken broth, which creates to me, a distinct Hong Kong breakfast meal. When you add the hash brown, it's not so great as it gets all soggy and over powers the tastes of the other food.

I'm still debating if I want to eat the pineapple bun with butter. Sounds all right, but when you realize the butter is a wedge, well you have to ask yourself, "is this really a good idea to eat this?"

Kung Fu Sells Luggage

I saw this huge billboard add at the Tsim Sha Tsui Pier a while back. I wasn't sure if it's about how not only can it carry your clothes, but it can help you kick ass too, or maybe it's so damn durable even this fella can't break it with kung fu.

Jumbo Kingdom, the Floating Restaurant

In Aberdeen, you'll find the Jumbo Kingdom Restaurant  it's the famous floating seafood restaurant here. I've never eaten there, but you can take free water taxis to and from there, which is fun if you're ever there.

Well, the question of it being able to float like a boat is answered when I was walking the kids to school.

Astro Boy and the Dangers of Electricity

In this episode, Astro Boy appears in my electrical bill, telling me the dangers electrical appliances.

Freaky Hong Kong Weather

What some don't know is that Hong Kong has tropical weather. So besides being insanely humid (even seen 99% humidity?) and loads of heat, it gets lots and lots of rain.

When it does rains it comes fast and furious at times. I've been caught in it while waiting for a bus going to work during rush hour. Good times.

Here are some photos I took of rain rolling in. Each photos was taken about 3 minutes apart.

Hong Kong's First Dr. Grordbort Exceptional Exhibition

After watching Iron Man part deux with my kids in the morning, I noticed Greg Broadmore's (I met Greg way back in 2006 at San Diego Comicon and lucky for me picked up one of the last rayguns they were selling. Lucky in that he planned to keep it for himself since no one gave him one. Yeah, he's a nice fella.)rayguns on a mini bus ad. Lucky for us, the exhibition was at the same place we went to see Iron Man 2.

So Walked into Cyberport and looked at the models of rayguns, paintings, statues and comic book art. Pretty cool for a free exhibition.

Then we walked over the temporary Weta store. Life size District 9 Prawn Weaponry to statuettes from Lord of the Rings. I was so tempted to ask if I could check one of the guns out, but with my daughters there I knew that would end as a bad idea.

How to Train Your Dragon at Ocean Park

Took the kids a while back to check out their dragon Exhibit, which was done with a small How to Train Your Dragon interactive theme park experience. It had Chinese vikings too! I know I took photos of them, but where did they go? I'll add to the post when I do find where they're lurking.

Hong Kong International Art Fair

We scored free ticket for the last day, on the last day. That made it into a last minute family outing, which was enjoyed by all.

It was held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center. It was made up of galleries from different parts of the world showing various types of art and media, all of which was for sale.

So all I had was my camera phone, thus the pics aren't the greatest, but here we go...

Macau

Macau is just a short boat ride from Hong Kong. It was a Portuguese colony until the handover in 1999. The uniqueness of this place is the fusion of the Chinese and Portuguese cultures, resulting in beautiful architecture and foods. It's also know for it's gambling. The Asia Vegas with it's 16 casinos has drawn in a slew of jobs because of it.

There's are many things to enjoy in Macau, but many gravitate to the wonderful foods there.

Here's a man roasting chestnuts on the street.

We found this place where a family was making what I guess you could call crispy like pancakes. They were simple, but infectiously delicious. Egg, flour and a little bit of this and that, a pile of coal bricks and two hot metal plates makes for some tasty treats.

Walking from Senado Square to the Ruins of St. Paul's, you end up in a narrow alley full of souvenir and snack shops. It's always packed with people. Why? Free sampling. You'll hear people yelling out about their snacks and cutting off pieces of beef or pork jerky, people with round bamboo woven trays passing out cookies and other tasty snack samples.

These are monster shears, but a free sample of beef jerky? Who wouldn't take the risk?

You'll also find many antique furniture shops and craftsmen that create custom furniture along the way to the ruins of St. Paul's (Next to the staircase that goes to it is also a great toy shop, which is where I got this from).

 There was some lion dancing group setting up, so before they go down and dirty with their lion dancing, I asked if I could take snapshots of thier lions.

 My oldest couldn't stop petting it and talking to it.

 A fire burned the wooden church down and only the stone facade remains.

 This is my wife's pal Kevin doing a classic Alex Ross shot.

 From the ruin of St. Paul's facade looking down the stairs (the toy shop is on the right of the stairs from this view).

I hadn't been here for many, many years. This is new (to me at least). You can now walk up the back side of the facade and look down out the windows.

Chinese New Year was around the corner so they were in the middle of decorating the streets.

Food vendors are in every nook and corner here.

So naturally after eating our hearts out we went to a buffet. Wish I could remember the name of the hotel it was in. I'll add it back when I remember. Let me say, the trip back to Hong Kong on the ferry was a very long one. I didn't give up my dinner, but many did. There was some impressive art in the lobby, so I took a few snapshots. You'll find a quick video of the entire buffet below.

 One freaking big ink brush painting.

 On your marks, get set...