Fishing Hong Kong Style 港式釣魚

In Hong Kong we live on an island surrounded by the sea.  Hard to remember sometimes in this concrete jungle that is the city.  But really truly, yes, we all live by the sea.  Often times we will stroll by the ocean pier just to breath the fresh breeze and feel the freedom of the open skies. 

Recently in the depth of the winter the weather has been just lovely (read blue skies instead of grey) and we have been exploring our outdoor options more than usual.  Thus our inspiration for a Fishing Hong Kong Style expedition 港式釣魚, a frolic along the pier of our nearby sea, a first fishing experience for our little girl and a fun reminder of past fishing adventures for mom and dad.  (Not sure why the ocean was sloped that day but it sure felt gorgeous!)

Fragrant Pan Fried Squid Paste 香煎魷魚滑

Ah, the mysterious creature of the deep, the delicious squiggly squid!  The stuff of legends, sailors of old telling tales of ginormous squid rising wrathfully from the seas to shallow them whole, boats and all.  

Did you know that the giant squid is a real creature, growing up to the size of 30-60 feet (13-20 meters)!!  It's true, they really exist and I'll bet they're super yummy too, if ever I get a chance to snack on a bit o' giant tentacle.  

For now , though, I'll have to be content with the wonderfully fresh squid that we can find at the wet markets in Hong Kong and especially, especially with our latest yummilicious discovery, the amazingly scrumptious freshly made squid paste that one can find at selected wet market stalls.  

It's really fabulous that they did all the hard work of making the squid paste already (so fresh too!) and you can just pick some up and TA-DA!!, just like that, a drool worthy, super easy to make and yummilicious dish, the Pan Fried Squid Paste 香煎魷魚滑!

Homemade Rice Vinegar Health Drink

The absolutely lovely (and rare) weather that we've been having in Hong Kong lately has managed to tempt us out and about more often than usual.  And we have been rewarded in some unlikely and very foody ways indeed!  

We had taken our little girl to her Christmas dance performance and soon after her dance we wandered off into the nearby neighborhood of Kowloon City to enjoy the sunshine.  We discovered the wonderful Kowloon Walled City Park 九龍寨城公園 (more on that later) and had a leisurely, lovely stroll to our heart's content.  

Just as we were almost ready to leave we discovered a little Mom and Pop shop selling water, snacks, ice pops, sodas...you know, the usual 士多 kind of stuff.  But, wow, wow, wow, imagine what we discovered, this humble little shop was also selling little bottles of homemade rice vinegar...with the mother!

Boiled Fresh Octopus 白灼新鮮八爪魚

Have you ever seen a live octopus up close?  Beautifully sinuous creatures in constant fascinating motion, their suction cups giving off a rapid fire pop, pop, pop as they propel themselves all over the place with ease.  

At the wet market seafood section the other day one of the fish vendors had a basketful of live octopus.  We stopped to watch the feisty boneless creatures writhe this way and that for a long while, my little girl was just fascinated!  In the end, of course, we ended up taking one of the octopus home!  

We made the simplest and best dish one can make with super duper fresh octopus: Boiled Fresh Octopus 白灼新鮮八爪魚 served simply with a soy sauce and wasabi dip.  So fresh and yummilicious!

Sea Salt White Pepper Crackers

It must be one of the ironies of modern life that we have everything at our fingertips and yet...we seem to miss out sometimes on just as much as we gain.  The reason I've been contemplating such dreary thoughts is that I realized recently (gulp...hangs head in shame) that I have never ever in my life eaten homemade crackers or even thought of making my own crackers!  I have always eaten the delicious (well sometimes delicious usually just kinda stale) boxed crackers that one finds in plentiful supply at the grocery shops.  

It never ever occurred to me to make them myself, I guess because I somehow thought that one needed a special machine to make edibles so thin and perfectly shaped.  Well it turns out that I was completely wrong!  You don't need a machine or special skills.  

It turns out that not only are crackers dead easy to make but these homemade Sea Salt White Pepper Crackers are so much more amazingly delicioso than the crackers that you buy at the store!  Seriously now...I'm kinda mad no one ever told me about homemade crackers!

Christmas Sugar Cookies

A very very Merry Christmas to all!!  It's that wonderful time of the year again, time for the baking, decorating and eating of Christmas Sugar Cookies!  

Do you like my little girl's Santa Claus Cookie?  We're going to save this cute one to put out for Santa Claus when he comes by on Christmas Eve.  (Don't know how he's going to get into our tiny house!)  

These cookies are a great Xmas project to do with your kids cuz all kids love to draw and what better thing to draw on than a cookie you can eat!  My little girl and I had a blast making these decorated cookies in preparation for the holiday season and we figured out some great tips for the cookie decorating part that made it much, much easier for my little girl to work with the icing to decorate the cookies.

Perfect Stove Top Steamed Rice 蒸米飯

In the past I have always been astonished that people would want to steam rice in a pot instead of using a rice cooker.  Why, I would wail, would anyone want to add more work into cooking a Chinese dinner!  After all, if you wash your rice out well and are careful with the measurements, your rice cooker cooked pot of rice is a beautiful thing.  

However, recently we decided to try to Cook Steamed Rice on the Stove 完美的蒸米飯 and I realized at the moment I first tasted the perfect, perfect steamed white rice, that it was soooo worth that little bit of extra effort!

Watercress & Fish Ball Soup 鯪魚球西洋菜湯

Recently my 老公 has been trekking out to all the far flung ends of Hong Kong for his work.  There has been a wonderful side benefit to us on the eating side of things, though, cuz he's been finding and bringing back home all sorts of delicious things to cook and eat!  

The other day he came back tired and hungry with a really huge bag of something green.  I scratched my head at first, wondering what on earth he could of brought back that was so big and green.  Turns out it wasa big ol bag of farm fresh watercress, picked that very day from Hong Kong fields!  

Wow, I could have never imaged that, living as we do in the middle of a concrete jungle, we could still cook up a yummilicious pot of Watercress & Fish Ball Soup 鯪魚球西洋菜湯 using freshly picked watercress!

Steamed Lap Cheong Rice 蒸臘腸飯

A classic (and easy!) way to wrangle two delicious things to eat out of one pot!  If you've never tried Chinese Lap Cheong, or Chinese sausage, you are in for a treat.  These lovely dried sausages hung from hooks in pairs tied to colorful strings are so distinct in look, texture, taste and smell, just thinking of them reminds me of all the chinese groceries I have ever visited.  A happy memory indeed!  

So this is one for all the sausage lovers as well as all the rice lovers in this world, not only will you end up with a delectable dish of steamed Lap Cheong but also a heavenly pot of rice aromatically infused with all the sausage's flavors!  Steamed Lap Cheong Rice, or 蒸臘腸飯, is the perfect cold weather comfort two-in-one dish!

Winter Melon Pork Bone Soup 冬瓜豬骨湯

For the Cantonese, drinking soup is like drinking from the fountain of life.  Since I've been in Hong Kong, I've caught the soup bug too, and why not, Chinese soups are soooo delicious!  Once I got used to having soups like these, I now find that I long for them, feeling like a wrung out rag when I don't get enough of these luscious liquids into my tummy.  

Lately we've been super happy cooking with our latest yummilicious discovery for making soup: using pork bones!  (I know, I know...everyone knows that already, right?!)  But do you seriously realize just how good of a soup you can make at home with just a bit of pork bones?  It is so good that it's sinful!  

It's a soup so sweetly savoury that it'll knock your socks right off!  Try out our Winter Melon Pork Bone Soup 冬瓜豬骨湯 recipe (with our secret for intensifying flavor) and see if you're still wearing socks after your first luscious sip!