Cooking with Hannah

On Sunday I felt motivated to do some cooking.  So I talked Hannah into making cheese-cake with me.    Hannah helped me crush the biscuits for the base...



I chose 'Montana Moms Dynamite Cheesecake',  a favourite recipe of mine from my first real cookbook, Mollie Katzen's 'Moosewood Cookbook' (recipe).   I have kept my (2nd) copy of this book (complete with extensive food stains) through all our moves.




Perhaps this recipe was perhaps a poor choice do do with Hannah as it takes at least 24 hours to set and we couldn't eat any on the day.



But Hannah did good job mixing the base and then the two cheese-cake and sour-cream filling mixtures.



I also decided to try cooking Maccanese African Chicken (Galinha à Africana).    On the web I found the African Chicken recipe from Henri's Galley (recipe link) a famous restaurant very close to the hotel we'd stayed at.



As I started cooking I realized that my favorite cast-iron Le Creuset marmite needed to be replaced!  Another sad mile-stone!  After almost 20-years use (including couple of months with our former helper, Auntie Jasmine)  the enamel at the bottom was lifting-off.   So I tearfully laid it in the trash, and went to Shatin to buy a Staub for about HKD 4,000.



African Chicken is an interesting and rather complicated recipe invented in Macau that involves marinating the chicken in a mix of herbs including cayenne, paprika and Chinese 5-spice, and then baking it with potatoes in a sauce of paprika, coconut cream and peanut butter.    



This recipe was a big hit.  I think it was nicer than most of the versions we had tried in Macau.  Although Hannah didn't like the hot spices.

Quest for Macanese Cuisine (2)

Once again, our goal in visting Macau was to try some good Macanese Food

I booked two restaurants we'd not tried before - which turned out later to be the first 2 entries in the Michelin guide to Macau - and the best restaurant from last time.

For Saturday lunch we went to Antiono's in Taipa village.  The restaurant is a lovely traditional building and richly decorated with Antonios many awards.   We sat under a portrait of chef Antonio and played it safe by ordering the recommended specialities highlighted on the menu.

Salada de Polvo Português - Portuguese Octopus Salad.  This was wonderfully tender and beautifully flavored.   A very promising start...

The obligatory Ameijoas à Bulhão Pato - Sautéed Clams with Garlic, Coriander, Olive Oil and White Wine Sauce.   Very nice.

Mariscos Diversos na Cataplana à "António" (Caranguejo, Camarão, Ameijoas,Vieiras, e Mexilhões), servido com Batata Cozida – Assorted Seafood Stew “Antonio Style” in a Portuguese Copper Pot (Crab, Prawns, Clams,Scallops, Mussels) and Served with Boiled Potatoes.   Actually rather a strange dish but the soup was very tasty.

Bacalhau à Braz - Fried Codfish mixed with fried onions , “Allumette” Potatoes and scrambled eggs and green salad.

Galinha à Africana com Batata Gratinada e Salada Mista (Importado de Portugal) - African Chicken with Garlic, Onions, Chili, Ginger and Desiccated Coconut Sauce, served with Gratinated Potatoes and Mixed Salad.    This one was a little disappointing - the chicken was quite tough and the sauce was unexceptional and the 'salad' very small.

Coelho Recheado servido com feijao branco estufado (Imported Rabbit from Portugal) - Stuffed rabbit served with white bean stew.   Very nice and flavorsome (and prompted fond memories of Peter Rabbit and Watership Down).

Mousse de Chocolate - Chocolate Mousse.

A very nice lunch.   But I was a bit disappointed in the seafood stew and cod, so perhaps it didn't quite justify the high-end bill of  MOP 2,500 including 4 glasses of wine.    But I would like to come back again and try ordering the special menu in advance.

International sign-language for 'Mousse'

For dinner I'd booked A-Lorcha.  This is a well known and well regarded neighborhood restaurant near the A Ma temple on the other side of Barra hill from our hotel.  It was busy with a people outside queuing up for 'standby' tables.

We were still fairly full our from lunch and didn't order much, andpassed on the speciality of clams which every other table ordered.   We had fried sardines, Galinha a Africana (African chicken, again), Arroz de Marisco a Portuguese (seafood rice),  minute steak & eggs for Hannah, broccoli fried in garlic, all washed down with Sangria.   .  The bill seemed fairly reasonable at about MOP 950.

The food was more basic but tasty and good portions, and the staff were very nice despite the crowd.   But Rika's sardines were undercooked and she sent them back to be finished-off.   My chicken was also undercooked and raw in the middle so I didn't finish it (and I had mild diarrhea for the next few days).

For Sunday lunch I booked Auberge 1601 where we'd had a memorable meal on our last trip (blog link).

Portuguese 'Happy Hens'

We started with cod fish-cakes

and spicey clams which were excellent.

Followed by duck rice - just as good as last time

creamy cod with mashed potatoes (ditto)

Portuguese chicken stew.

The stew very nice but not as wonderful as the african chicken we had last visit.

We agreed that Auberge 1601 was once again by far the nicest meal of our stay.   The bill seemed very reasonable MOP1,200 including 3 glasses of wine but without desert.

Macau Tower Sky-Jump!

On Sunday we walked from our hotel round the lagoon to the Macau Tower.

Macau Tower from our hotel

The Macau Tower is apparently modeled on Auckland's sky tower.  Just a little bigger.

Long way down

From the observation deck we could enjoy spectatular views across Macau, the harbour, Taipa Island and the neighboring mainland coastline.

Barra hill from Macau Tower

Macau from the Tower

Macau Tower is also home to the worlds highest commercial bungee jump, which is run by AJ Hackett, the NZ bungee pioneers.    Many years ago Rika and I did their bungee jump from the Shotover Bridge at Queenstown.

Tampa Island from Macau Tower

The height is 233m or about 61 floors!    Every 15 min or so we could watch someone jumping off the platform and falling down towards the plaza below.

Hannah surprised me by asking to do a 'sky-jump'.   A sky-jump is like a controlled bungee-jump - not free-fall and not face-down, but still looks pretty scary.  

We hadn't suggested the possibility of doing a jump.   But Hannah seemed pretty confident so I 'sold' it to her for 50 'smily tokens' (that is a serious amount of good behavior at home).

Hannah says she wanted to do it because she has a dream of being able to fly.

After being safely harnessed-up and clipped-in, she calmly jumped off the platform by herself on the count of three.

After she first jumped she swang to the side and was scared she would hit her head.

But then she says she felt like she was really flying, and the breeze was so nice!

She wasn't scared to be so high.  I think we were more worried than she was!

The descent lasted about 25 seconds (compared with about 5 seconds for a bungee jump)

When she got to the bottom she showed no signs of nervousness.  

She seemed pretty proud of herself.    I certainly was.

Hannahs comment:   "mummy was crazy and was scared of heights even though Hannah is not".

Video: Hannah's sky-jump (2min - may take time to load)

Video:  from Hannah's arm-camera  (2min - may take time to load)

Video:  the short version (30s)

Macau

Kyo-chan has been visiting us so Rika made a last-minute decision to go to Macau for the weekend.

I was instructed to book hotels etc.  but given strict instructions not to book the 'hoiking hostel' again.   I chose the Riviera Hotel, a fairly old 3-star on Barra hill.

This turned-out to be a good choice :  the staff were friendly, the rooms were nice, and we could walk to many places around the Barra hill, and it was nicely located to take taxies to Taipa and other places.

The hotel has a roof-top terrace with great views over the Sai Van Lake.  It would have been great place to do Tai-Chi and I regretted not bringing my gear.  It is also very convenient for the well-known restaurant Henri's Galley, but I discovered that too late to book.  Something for next time.

We took the 8:30 Turbojet ferry from Kowloon, checked-in at the hotel around 10am and took a taxi over to Taipa village for sightseeing and lunch. 

"The historical part of Taipa is best preserved in this village in the south of the island. With a tidy sprawl of traditional Chinese shops and some excellent restaurants, the village is punctuated by colonial villas, churches and temples. Avenida da Praia, a tree-lined esplanade with wrought-iron benches, is perfect for a leisurely stroll.  (lonely planet link)

We found a playground where Hannah and Kyo-chan could stretch their legs.  And we had a good walk around the streets before lunch.

Taipa Village is located on what used to be the south cost of Taipa Island, looking across Seac Pai Bay to Coloane Island.   Then the bay between the islands was filled-in creating the Cotai, which is now built-up with casino developments, the first opening in 2006, followed by the Venetian in 2007.

We walked down to the Tiapa Houses Museum, where we had a good view of Venice across the Park  - or at least the Venetian Macau.

After lunch in Taipa Village we went back to the hotel and walked round and over Barra hill to the A-Ma Temple and dinner.   

View from top of Barra hill

Central Macau from Barra hill

We spent most of Sunday at the Macau Tower, but we did go into town for lunch in the St Lazarus area.  

Macau seemed to be very busy with mainland tourists - many in their traditional dress...

Then back to the Macau Tower for Hannah's sky jump which we'd booked for 3pm.   Waiting for the jump the jump took longer than wed been told,  and we had to rush back to the catch our 5pm ferry.    Fortunately we made it, with literally not one minute to spare.