Thursday, February 28, 2008

Gwongdungwa haih naahnhohk.


So I have a Cantonese quiz tomorrow. I need to know things like Hong Kong is very beautiful, Heunggong haih hou leng, and your wife is cheap, Neih taaitaai haih pehng. Fingers crossed or... okay I have no idea what that is in Cantonese.

Monday, February 25, 2008

Thats a Chinese Myth Dragon


About a month ago Andrea and I visited the land in Kowloon City that she has proclaimed "Little Thailand" during a big Pad Thai craving. It was a very Cantonese resturaunt so I let Andrea ask for a vegetarian version for me. Simple enough, and the waitress expressed a clear understanding. When our meals arrived, I noticed mine was significantly less colourful than Andrea's because not only was there no meat, there was also no vegetables, only egg and noodles. When we were finished Andrea asked the waitress why I had no vegetables. They spoke back in forth in Cantonese for about 5 minutes as Andrea started to look more and more confused. It turns out that at the end of an ancient Chinese legend, a pig, cow and chicken turn into that particular green vegetable which led to the logic that I don't eat it either. I clearly need to look more into what my food originally was in its past life.

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

An Edible Tour Through Southeast Asia

Andrea and I speant 9 days in Thailand and Vietnam about a week ago. It was absolutly incredible. The sights were amazing, the people were generous and the weather was perfect. But what added most to the trip was the food. Hilariously enough my mom said I look thinner in the pictures. Andrea's obsession of taking pictures of our food istranslated into a short culinary tour through our trip below:

Breakfast on our first morning in Bangkok.
Teddy bear shaped fried rice at the Joy Luck Club, unknown relation to the book/film.
Curry, roti and salad at The Treehouse in Ko Chang, Thailand. Agreed upon as being the best meal on our trip.
Cooked bananas in honey and butter with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce. And an ice mocha too of course.
Pad Thai and a whole sweet and sour fish in Ko Chang.

The food in Vietnam was good also but looking through the pictures it seems as if the photo taking died down when we hit Ho Chi Minh City.
For inquiring minds, the rest of our pictures are on Facebook.

HK Love




I am sitting in my room eating the best pear I have ever eaten in my life only 2 days after eating the best mango in my life. This has inspired me to reflect on the other amazing things of Hong Kong.
1) The Cat Place (roughly translated from Cantonese): An adorable little cafe, accessible through a sketchy hallway and up a ghetto elevator where cats and bunnies rub up against your leg while you eat cat shaped Tirimisu.
2)<----- Junction Park: The perfect date for two aging recluses lost in HK; cherries, elderly exercising and Understanding the Holy War. The park has re-invented playground equipment intended for low impact workouts for HK’s adorable aged.
3) Stores that sell $600 HK Marc Jacobs heels (approx $85 CDN): Direct from the factory and on sale, it’s possible.
4) Random neighbors who make dinner for you: Forcing me to like unidentified food.
5) Jackie Chan is my neighbor: Okay, well not quite. His office is about a 5 min walk from my building.
6) Signs that say “Tim Fuk Road”: Immaturity at its greatest.
7) Having a window that looks into the fitness centre at the neighbouring fire station. 8 ) Drinking beer on the street.
9) Professors who accommodate for non-English speaking students by insisting essays be written in point form with abbreviations.
10) The everyday opportunities to become a better person: Taking advantage of the most pivotal experience that will make me the adult I will be. 11) The Edison Chen Scandal: wiki it.
12) 50% off tea-time sushi. Salmon hand roll for 65 cents Canadian. Why not?