Breaking Bread Pt. 3

Apologies for the lack of updates as of late. Still adjusting to my new job so setting aside some Media Maid stuff for the time being.

But I do have time to post up pictures of food!

Xiao Long Bao. Juicy juicy. I heated up these frozen ones for lunch one day. They looked so pretty I could barely stand to eat them.

…Ah who am I kidding. Gobbled up within seconds!

Sis and I live right next to a cooked food centre but we never visited until one adventurous lunchtime. It was surprisingly really really delicious! (And the price tag didn’t hurt either *wink wink) I frequented another one on a workday lunch with my coworkers one day. Still good! Still cheap! You must try it if you don’t mind all the construction workers ogling at you (if you’re a girl because it was pretty much men that ate there).

Happy hour with good friends are always such an enjoyable thing for me. Sushi lunches with family as well. <3

Mmm.. Tsui Wah. Such a staple to our HK diet. Left) their fish ball noodle soup and Right) their french brick toast. So bad but so good for you.

Dim Sum. My parents visited for a couple of days so we got some dim sum in.

Desserts. I am really itching to try more more more HK desserts. Like these egg custards in actual eggshells on the left! So cool I would have taken an egg shell home but then Sis would just harp at me, saying, “You’re such a junk collector” and it’s just not worth it. Right) Ingenious milk and cookies from Gusto in Happy Valley. I was a happy girl, I tell ya.

Eat well!

 

Breaking Bread Pt. 2

Nothing I like better than some good ol’ Eggs Benedict. Paired that with my sister’s company and you have my idea of heaven.

In Hong Kong’s famous chain, Tsui Wah, they’re known for these toasts with tons of buttery butterness and sugar. Caution: probably should just eat once every few years.

On  a lighter note, some stuffed pumpkin with wild rice.

My sis cooked me up some ramen with a fried egg and sausages. Tasty tasty!

This one French restaurant was okay but the bread there was super good-looking. Love a good presentation!

I’m American. I’ve missed my old meat and potatoes.

Dim sum! Only in dim sum would it be acceptable to munch on greasy, oily, gelatinous square thingies.

Wine. I didn’t try any of these but just looking at them makes me happy.

Eat well! (And drink well)

 

High High Tea

High tea…

Ah, what a regal affair this British afternoonly (it is a word because I say so) ritual implies.

Sipping on some caffeinated concoctions…

While munching on some sweet and savories…

All the while admiring THIS view 100+ floors above ground.

High tea indeed!

Jlo and I high-tea-ed at Tsim Sha Tsui’s famously towering Ritz-Carlton Hotel where we giggled like giddy schoolgirls while dainty tai-tai’s and powerful execs surrounded us.

JLo also snapped plenty of pictures with her pro camera. I snapped pictures of her with my iPhone like I was a crazy fan.

Oh yea, I also made this semi-shaky video documenting our afternoon at the Ritz.

Pardon the giggling, when you’re with one of your best girlfriends, you can’t help but to laugh a lot.

 

Breaking Bread

I’m changing the name of these food picture posts now because a) I just think I’m SOOO clever putting a pun on the television show, Breaking Bad (hehe, I make myself giggle just thinking about my own cleverness) and b) I have not been able to post these on Fridays so the name “Foodography Friday” doesn’t really make sense. and c) 1 Corinthians 11:23-26.

Let’s continue, shall we?
I love love love tea and the abundance of this found in Hong Kong makes me very very happy.

I also love love love tofu fa. The way this one was presented was very cool. Though the top-seller at this restaurant was pigeons, my dining companion and I were so eager to devour the birds that we forgot to take pictures beforehand. Oops.

Why do waffles taste so good? Seriously, pair it with anything and it is still delicious. The quality family bonding time this dessert was shared over made it all the more tasty.

Sis and I had a date night (we do that) and the waiter was so cute, he brought this dessert out for me as a surprise. With such hospitality, how can I not like this city?

We had dim sum at Man Wah, this fabulous Michelin-starred place. (I only snapped artsy shots but check Sis’ blog for more!)

I’m so amazed that people use Doritos-flavored chips to substitute for their nachos.

Chicken wings. Can’t go wrong with that. (Accompanied by some very loud KTV-singing)

Eat well!

 

The Coffee Shop Conundrum

When Sis and I moved into our new abode, we were without internet for three weeks. THREE WEEKS! That’s an eternity in bloggerville!

It wasn’t so bad though because we made it an adventure to go hunting for cool coffee shops to set up our blogging offices.

We got lucky finding Cafe O on our first try and the two of us fell in love with  the place. The Cafe O near our neighborhood served a grand variety of fresh, healthy foods and had this spacious second floor that was part dorm lounge-part cafeteria. It’s always full of pretty people having quiet chit-chats together or writing into notebooks or streaming TV shows on their laptops.

But alas, the heart is a fickle thing. You never know how good of a thing you have. I loved Cafe O but still wanted to find other cool places so I set out by myself one afternoon (Sis has this thing called– oh yeah– work.)

The first place I went into solely because it was so pretty to look at on the outside. It had a very modern feel and sat at the side of a street across from a park and reminded me of those cool french cafes in Paris. I sat down and ordered a milk tea that cost $45 HKD. That’s roughly $5 USD for tea with milk added into it.

{ You are more expensive than most of my lunches here }

Though the restaurant said they had free wi-fi, my laptop just would not cooperate and I was stuck finishing my milk tea while working on some things off-line. It was fine but I could have just done that at home.

I didn’t post a picture of the cafe because I still want to go back there for a meal and I don’t want to completely count them off as an establishment. They just weren’t my cup of tea (har har, get it?) in terms of blog office candidates but they may still have potential in other departments.

Sis later got off work and joined me to the next blog office candidate, Pacific Coffee Shop. You may have heard of this place, ubiquitous around these parts of Hong Kong. But surprisingly, PCC (as the cool kids call it) only allows around 20 minutes of free wi-fi unless you have a PCCW account. So we just sipped on some green tea and bummed internet off the cafe across the street. Sweet but shaky deal since the connection wasn’t always the best.

{ Still a sweet deal since I got to hang with Sis }

Finally, Sis and I went back to Cafe O for the rest of the evening because it was just the best for us. I learned a few things from my blog office-hunting afternoon.

THE MEDIA MAID’S TIPS FOR BLOG OFFICE-HUNTING

1) Always ask first whether the place has free wi-fi and for how long.
2) Then find out whether they have plugs for you to charge your electronic devices in.
3) Scan their menu prices.
4) Gage how good their food/drinks are.
5) Test how cold the place is (if you’re going to be working for hours, you do NOT want to catch a cold from the establishment’s freezing AC).
6) Observe how fast their turnover rate is. You wouldn’t want to be at a place itching to rush you out the door.

And sometimes, when you already have a good thing, don’t let it go.

 

Foodography Friday

Two of my favorite foods: quinoa and beets… combined in one dish! Quinoa, one day, I will figure out how to make you. One day!

In my favorite Chinese restaurant back in LA, I used to always order porkchops and “tsai fan,” (veggie rice) forgetting that carbs are evil for just one evening. This reminds me of home.

We celebrated my cousin’s birthday at Inagiku. The sashimi was yum. Just need about 4 more plates of these kthx.

Homemade beef curry courtesy of my amazing aunt and uncle. Deliciously delish.

Had a nice afternoon to myself one day where I journaled while indulging in some high tea. Tea-time me-time.

Sis was so sweet she brought me desserts from Starbucks one evening. Starbucks in HK trumps Starbucks in LA anyday. Thank you!

Fancy soup.

Nan Tei yakitori. Gotta love me some chicken gizzards!

Fashionable cupcake.

Eat well!

 

Foodography Friday

Sorry for the delay. I’ve been so busy eating and taking pictures I’ve forgotten to post about them! Here you go.

Homemade whole wheat pasta with a medley of vegetables topped with minestrone soup. I was craving pasta but because it was a rainy day, I wanted something soupy. Hence this combo.

As much fun as it is to cook, Sis and I decided to eat out more. A) Because fresh vegetables are very expensive to buy at markets and cost about the same as eating it at a restaurant + you don’t have to wash dishes! B) Sis has a FOOD BLOG! It shall be our DUTY to go out and eat at as many fun restaurants as we possibly can. Woot! (Please check out her blog and show her some love! You will also be getting regular updates from yours truly over there!)

Sis and I LOVE Cafe O! Find out why here.

These pieces of bread have cheese AND truffle on it! Amazeballs, right?

Swiss Cafe‘s porkchop skillet. My whole meal cost about $5 USD. I knoooowwwwww, right?

Cafe O again. Hearty and healthy, just the way I like my food and my men.

I tried to get creative with my breakfast and served myself some grilled tomatoes, chicken patties with cheese, beans and a carrot/pear/blackberries juice. It was…creative.

HK-style desserts! Even though we ordered four different types (almond milk, mango and tofu, tofu pudding, and tofu-mango-something-something, they all somehow looked similar one way or another.)

Eat well!

 

Foodography Friday | HK Week 4

This lo mai gao — glutinous rice snuggled deep into some lotus leaves– actually leaves me drooling.

Went to this trendy East-West fusion restaurant called Tai Lung Fung in Wan Chai. Loved how these cheesecake slices were presented. Loved how they tasted even more!

I could probably eat oysters everyday for the rest of my life.

Was craving some good ol’ pasta. Think I’ll be attempting to make my own in a couple of days.

Paid a surprise visit to Stanley Beach. Soaked up the sun while also soaking up some fresh green veggies and fresh…pizza?

My aunt and uncle made delicious dinner one night! Ceviche with fried oysters (told ya I could eat it everyday) with garlic bread with corn with sweet potato, oh my!

Same meal at my aunt and uncle’s. Rolling with the homies.

I whipped up a simple meal for my sis and I. These sweet peas look so sweet don’t they? I mixed it with sausage pieces and boiled it so it was healthy too!
 

A Happy Ending At SIx Taste’s Thai Town Food Tour

I’m a fan of food tours.

I get to indulge in my absolute favorite activity in the world — eating — but not feel so guilty about it because walking around to get to the places to eat justifies the pig out. It’s also fun meeting new people on the tour and discovering more about places I’d normally just drive to.

Six Taste’s food tours give you all of that satisfaction and more.

Howard (who snapped all these lovely shots) and I took up the Thai Town Food tour one Saturday morning. The tour began at 10:15am where we met in a parking lot of a plaza. Once there, we were handed cute black tote bags with “Six Taste” emblazoned on them. “It’s for the leftovers you may have to take home,” Wanda, our tour guide tells us.

Speaking of Wanda, our tour guide, I really appreciated that Six Taste took the care to hire someone who was of Thai descent and knew and cared a lot about her Thai culture and heritage. Our tour was sprinkled with personal anecdotes about growing up in Thai town, Thai jokes, and even learning some Thai dance moves!

But let’s get on with what’s really important — the food.

{ Thai Tacos }

{ Ruen Par’s sausages }

With generous portions of Thai snacks and meals served at each restaurant, I can definitely say I received a happy ending by the end of my tour. (Not that kind, you sickos)

For Audrey’s video of the Thai Town food tour experience, click below…

Other tours include and exploration of New Chinatown, Hollywood, and a Delicious Dumpling tour.

Perfect for dates, unique birthday parties or even a family bonding time, book your Six Taste food tour here!

Details:
Thai Town Food tour cost: $55

http://www.sixtaste.com/

P: 888-313-0936
info@sixtaste.com

 

Foodography Friday | HK Week 3

Nothing like a good ol’ bowl of Quaker Oats Squares while watching the rain fall down to the bluesy Hong Kong streets.

They have Vegan food here! This here be a Mana flat. And my, my, my, it was absolutely scrumptious. Avocado, hummus, pita bread…mmmmm. The owner of this place took a spoonful of the soup my sis and I shared ’cause he hadn’t tasted it yet. It was weird but kind of refreshing for him to have no personal boundary.

My sis and I celebrated moving in with some delicious take-out! Everyone loves a little variety, right?

True love is going with your sister to an Indian buffet even though it’s not your favorite cuisine in the world and it makes your stomach feel funny and you don’t know the name or ingredients of most of the dishes.

Cute little white wine bottles for my cousin and I to take home as souvenirs! (Oh, we weren’t supposed to take it home? Oops…)

Why is Korean food so good? WHY?! From Arirang.