Cooking

Hannah helping out with the cooking

Dim Sum

One of the pleasures of being in Hong Kong is going for Dim Sum in the weekends.  Or Yum cha ('drink tea') as its called in Cantonese.

We usually go to the Superstar Seafood Restaurant at Times Square in Causeway Bay.   They are 'famous' for making fun DimSum for children.  





Right now they are doing food themed around the 'Three Kingdoms' period of China.




We usually go after Hannah's ballet class, just as the restaurant is filling up.

Hannah likes the cake called 'Mah-la-cow'

Kyo-chan

In the week of Apr 14th, Kyo-chan visited from Tokyo.   As always it was a real pleasure to see her.

Unfortunately Kyo-chan has terrible luck with the weather with rain almost every day except for the last Saturday night and Sunday Apr-22nd which was lovely and clear.    This is the Parkview BBQ on Saturday evening.

So where do you take your honored Japanese guests if they have just one sunny day to enjoy Hong Kong?   My pick was St Stephen's Bay the site of the infamous Stanley Internment Camp in WW2.

St Stephens College: site of the St Stephens hospital massacre

We took a cab down to Stanley village where they were holding dragon boat races.

We enjoyed watching the Dragon Boat races for a few minutes.  We saw plenty of boats but not many Dragons.

Then we had a lovely but extremely slow brunch in a seaside cafe on the promenade.

Daddy and Mummy were having one of those stupid arguments that married people sometimes have.  I cant remember the details, which were not important even at the time.  But it went something like this:   "why are you grumpy?", "Im not grumpy - why can't you smile",  "you started it", "no you started it, you bombed Pearl Harbor".



After that we went shopping in Stanley Market.  The market is really quite good, and Rika and Kyo-chan loved it.  But for a tired Dad it becomes a sort of hell on earth after 10 minutes.  So I took Hannah to see the Stanley Internment Camp instead.


This is St Stephens Bay, also part of the old camp - presumably the posh part.


Hannah playing in the water.

Above:    Looking out across Stanley Bay.  On the horizon you can see the silhouette of a large container ship one of a steady stream passing by on its way into Hong Kong. 

After St Stephens beach we took a taxi round to Repulse Bay.  It has a magnificent beach, complete with beach volleyball,  and some of Hong Kong's most expensive real estate.   

We walked along the seaside path from Repulse Bay to Deepwater Bay at Dusk.  

Below:   looking north across Deepwater Bay to The Peak.

And NE across the Deepwater Bay beach, with Mt Nicholson on the left and Parkview on the ridge to the right, hidden behind the  buildings.

 We had dinner at CoCo Thai, an outdoor Thai restaurant on the beach.

This is Deepwater Bay in the daytime  (we went back the next Saturday to pick up Hannah's crocs)

And Coco Thai on the beach.

JMW arts and dance

Since we are an extremely cultured and sophisticated family, one of the priorities after we arrived was the Fine Arts (or F.Arts, as I sometimes like to think of it).

Top priority was a ballet class for Hannah, ideally teaching the Royal Academy of Dance (RAD) method.  Fortunately there was one just just down the hill,  one of 6 studios run by the JMW arts and dance organization.   

So I've been taking Hannah down to class on Saturday morning to give Rika some time off.   Also, I hope that encouraging Hannah to have hobbies will help keep her out of trouble when she is older.  

Next problem was finding somewhere for me to practice Shakuhachi.   My practice at Parkview was inhibited after I got a visit from the management.  Apparently "the neighbors had reported a 'strange noise' - had I heard it also? "  I also tried practicing in the nearby country park, but had trouble with wasps.    

Fortunately, just 2 doors down from JM Warts and Dance is the 'Perfect Pitch Music Center'.   They have practice rooms that I can rent for HKD 60 ph if there are no lessons being held.   So I can Shak there while Hannah has her ballet lesson.   

Perfect Pitch say "your child could be the next Beethoven".    Which might be true as it can be extremely noisy, particularly when the drummers and trumpeters are going for it.

Shimajiro

To help maintain Hannahs progress in Japanese we have signed-up for a distance learning course from Bernesse called 'Shimajiro'

It is quite entertaining.  We get a monthly DVD with stories and skits, and a workbook of educational tasks like writing and puzzles.   These are all really well done.  The TV is just as entertaining as normal childrens' TV  and the tasks are fun.

They also use a small computer to for the games and to teach writing.  Hannah seems to enjoy it. 

Gweilos in the Mist

People who live on The Peak or Parkview are sometimes called 'Gweilos in the Mist'.

Gweilo is the Cantonise term for foreigners (literally 'ghost man').  And the mist refers to the fact that the peaks are often covered in clouds even when its clear at sea-level.

We had a good demonstration of this today.

The entrance to Parkview (note the portcullis where the driveway goes under the podium! - a thoughtful touch)

Looking up to our building 

Hannah playing with the Ipad in our living room this morning.  You can just see the opposite towers thought the mist.

The view out the window to the podium.

Parkview from the bus heading up Wong Nai Chung Gap road from Central.  Parkview is just visible above the 'V' of the gap.  Jardine's Lookout is on the left.

The same view going down to Central in the morning.  Parkview is hidden in the mist.

This is a typical view looking across the harbor from ICC towards Hong Kong Island

Zooming in... 

.. and you can see Parkview poking out of the mist, on the top of the ridge.

Food miles

Our new supermarket at Parkview - Fusion by ParknShop  is very posh.

Posh fish waiting to be eaten.



Amazingly, the majority of the  fresh produce is imported.  Not just from Asia but from Australasia, America, Africa and Europe.   This is not just about variety and Expats requirements for the familiar.    I think it mainly reflects about a deep distrust of the safety of food produced in China and particularly mainland China.   So those who have the means will pay 3-4 times the price of local product to ensure safety.

 Zucchini from Holland

For example Rika believes that most vegetables fro the mainland need to be washed thoroughly - in detergent - to remove pestacides and other harmful chemicals.    




















Pre washed salad greens from Australia and America.

Frankly I find this all rather frightening.   I can't but be appalled at the unnecessary waste of flying vegetables halfway around the world.   Not just the gross wast of greenhouse gasses, and secondly the fact that much of this produce spoil before its is sold and be thrown away.  And of course the fact that the locals don't seem to trust their own market gardens.

New potatoes from Australia  These were very nice.

Artichokes from France reduced from HKD 68 each to HKD 8.

Portabello mushrooms from Christchurch.  Half price but a bit soggy.

When it comes to Eggs,  I'd say 90+% are foreign,  with the local options seem to be premium organic brands.