Kate & William

If there's anyone out there who doesn't know Kate & William (Prince William & Catherine Middleton), they must be living under the rock. The prince who shared a lot of media spot light together with his well celebrated mother, the late Princess Diana, lives his life under close observation from media and public and has find his soul mate - Catherine Middleton and has decided to tie the knots together in a holy matrimony. 

Bride's arrival at West Minster Abbey

Bride and her father, Michael Middleton

The wedding venue

Their engagement announcement only escalated the news coverage, TV reports, magazine pictures, advertisements, and gossip magazines articles about the couple, which in turn boosts the couple and also the British Royal family's image & publicity in public. I'm not a huge fan of British royal family but I have to admit Prince Williams & Kate Middleton makes a lovely couple. One of the Danish magazine named Kate as the new-age Diana, only stronger, smarter & prettier :)

Watching the hour long wedding ceremony of probably the most celebrated couple possibly throughout the British Royal history brings back font memories of the old days for some, I'm sure. Looking at British royal family gather together with prestigious guests, such formal event, I'm not sure I'd enjoy it if I were Kate but I guess it's part of the 'deal' of marrying a prince :)

The Queen and her husband (plus other royal family members)

Prince Charles, Camille and Prince Harry 

The Royal wedding certainly brings more benefits to just the royal family. Fashion designers, hotelier, caterer, media, and even small merchants selling souvenirs sure benefit a lot from this wedding. It's a shear pleasure to watch men in official outfits, finely dressed ladies (duchess, countess) with their posh designer clothing, special tailored shoes, matching handbags and accessories, and of course, the large & elaborative hats ladies used to wear in old times.

Look at the magnitude of photographing of the wedding

And the crowd goes wild

  

So in the high spirit of celebration, sharing in the joy of the their union, a sincere wish to the newly wed royal couple, Happily Ever After!!! *with a side note to Prince William: do not follow Charles' foot step ;)

Punctuation

The topic about language and punctuation came up during a brunch session with friends. She has two children at 11 and 7 studying in Danish public school. On a side note: personally, I don't think Danish public school possess high education quality, I was surprised to discover that there's no nation wide examination to determine the academic results of the students at all!

Of course nationwide exam is not the single guideline to having a good public school but how do further higher education organizations determine the standards of the student before entering college or university? Is there no common baseline? It all puzzles me.

Anyway, recently, it is to my friend's great shock to discover that apparently punctuation usage has been changed creatively to an absolute wrong direction, for example:-

Teacher in school wrote this:-
"Dear parents! We are hosting an event in school! Please join us in this wonderful event!"

or a text message between parents:-
"Hi! I assume you'll be picking up the kids! Just want to confirm with you! Have a nice day!"

Notice all the exclamation marks? Since when does exclamation marks replace full stop in a sentence? Fundamental mistake such as this, especially if it's made by a school teacher, is really worrying. What is becoming to the next generation? Punctuation is vital to disambiguate the meaning of sentences. I sincerely hope that these are just handful isolated cases of ignorance or human error.

Language is constantly evolving but if the basic fundamental is changing (for better or worse) without synchronization or consensus from other users, what will become of the language in future? If full stop is going to be 'replaced' by exclamation mark, I'm afraid my world will be very different too.

Korean BBQ Pork

Korean BBQ pork / Daeji Bulgogi

450g thinly sliced pork

3 tbsp soy say

2 tbsp minced garlic

½ tbsp freshly minced ginger

2 tbsp brown sugar

2 tbsp sake

2 tbsp gochujang (Korean chilli pepper paste)

2 tbsp sesame oil

2 tbsp cooking oil (for pan frying)

Korean BBQ Pork

Instructions:-

1. Combine all the ingredients except pork and cooking oil, stir well to make marinating base.

2. Add pork and marinate for 30 - 60 minutes. I guess overnight marinate won't harm but it's not necessary.

3. Turn heat to high and add cooking oil. When it's nearly smoky, add marinated pork and stir fry until cooked. I like mine a little charred, so I tend to keep the heat high and stir the pork around.

4. Sprinkle toasted sesame seeds (or green onion) for garnish. Served with steamed rice.

Note: The recipe also tastes very good with chicken

Ever since I introduce this pork in my cooking, I find myself cooking it on a rather frequent basis. The taste lingers in my mind all the time. A very versatile recipe and one of the best home cook pork dish that can be ready in less than 5 minutes (minus the marinating time) which is perfect for weekday dinner meal; definitely a keeper :)

Mozzarella Carrozza with Bacon & Tomato

A foggy winter Saturday morning calls for heart warming comfort food. Recently I lost control over the desire of cheese purchase creating a reservoir of cheese in the fridge. What's better than to put the two together to create a heart warming cheesy easy lunch? Hence the mozzarella carrozza with bacon and tomato.

Ingredients:-
4 slices white bread
4 slices of pre-cut mozzarella cheese or fist-sized ball mozzarella, cut into approximately ¼-inch (0.6cm) slices, then strips (season with a pinch of salt & pepper)
4 strips of bacon slices
1 medium tomato120ml (½ cup) milk
2 heaping tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 egg
salt and freshly ground black pepper
oil for frying (I used what's been 'released' from the bacon)


1. Pan fried bacon until golden brown and crispy. Retain oil for later use. 
2. Cut tomato into thin slices, set aside.
3. Make sandwiches out of the bread and mozzarella, I layered it by 'bread-mozzarella-tomato-bacon-mozzarella-bread' sequence.
4. Leave a little margin around the edges unfilled with cheese, and press the edges together with fingers to help seal.
5. Pour the milk into a shallow plate, the flour into another, and beat the egg with salt and pepper in another.
6. Warm the bacon fat in the frying pan over medium heat. Dunk the sandwiches briefly, 1 by 1, in the milk, then dredge in the flour, then dip in the beaten egg. 
7. Fry in hot oil on each side until crisp and golden and remove to serving plate. Cut in half and serve.

Macau

While in Hong Kong, why not take the liberty to cross the sea to the nearby Macau, a city that's so close to Hong Kong yet so different from the British colonial city and its mother land - China. A side note if you shall decide to do that: entry form to Hong Kong needs to be returned at the harbour upon departing to Macau, and a new form needs to be signed to enter Hong Kong again. For an hour boat trip, estimate about 30minutes of queueing time if you're unlucky.

As an ex-Portuguese colonial, Macau's street names retained its Portuguese names and manage to keep the charm of Portuguese influenced in some buildings; culture and food are heavily Portuguese influenced, which in a more subtle way,  contrast its metropolitan cousin - Hong Kong. Contrasting to Hong Kong's octopus like metro line, Macau is a small city that relies entirely on buses as public transport, but no metro.

Lisbao and some other 'historical' buildings in Macau

Moon boots in Macau, is it really necessary?

A man on a bench in a wonderfully tiled small park

A walk down Largo de Senada, it's not hard to find that even Macau has changed its paced towards a commercialized city, chain shops everywhere. We dined at a noodle shop that is originated from Mace (which then turned famous in Hong Kong as well) but you can get the same quality even in HK airport, thanks to globalization. Not that it's not good, but nothing is so uniquely Macau any more.

I had most fun walking in a maze like small streets behind the main high street (wanted to avoid the many souvenir shops that are selling pork jerky or Portuguese tart or the many other cookies / souvenirs). A few turns and often an area of tranquillity with buildings of different architecture is found. For example, the late Lou Lim Ioc, a prominent rich merchant in Macau's residence. Beautifully carved wood panels of the house with 2 different carving patterns on both sides shows the highly skilled wood craft in the older days and of course, a way to declare the rich and powerful's status.

If there's one thing that cannot be missed in Macau, it must be it's iconic Sao Paulo ruin (Ruins of St. Paul's). Facing flocks of tourists wanting a portrait with this magnificent façade as back drop, I resort to the side which actually offers a nice view :). Musuem of Macau is right next to the ruin, on top of a hill though, together with Fort de Monte. If you don't have good legs, there's elevator service (typically for older people and disabled) :p

Wanted to flee away from the heat (even in end November, it is still very hot in Macau) and the noisy tourists (I'm also a tourist, but less noisy than a flock :p), we then marched on to Lou Lim Ioc Garden. On our way, I stopped for a very refreshing drink - jasmine tea with apple infused flavour, still miss it; and also provided direction to another tourist. I wonder why he needs direction because there's practically a city map at every junction of the city, not that I'm not glad to help though :)

Unlike other gardens in Macau, Lou Lim Ioc Garden features pavilions, terraces, lakes, zig zag bridges, rocks and cascades, reminiscent of the classic ShuZhou garden. I saw the garden first time in one of the Amazing Race episode and remembered it since :) All elements in this garden are skilfully arranged and it is perfect for a relax or tranquillity retreat. However, this government owned garden seems a bit under maintained, nevertheless, it's a pleasant afternoon walk for sure. 

Casino business is the core of economy in Macau. Lisbao being the first and longest established casino plus all the other smaller casinos was supporting the gambling life of hundreds of thousands of gambler annually; recently the big boys from Vegas join in the fun and build the world's largest casino - The Venetian in Macau; sorry cowboys :p

I'm absolutely amazed that they manage to mock up scenes from Venice and built 3 canals on the second floor of the building. If the old town city centre of Macau boasts culture, this very huge establishment screams luxury. Venetian Macau also contains some of the jaw dropping luxury shops-- Frank Muller watch, anyone? only around the range of Millions :)

Most of the gambling tools are computerized now. I was dying to try my hands on the slot machine but it's so sophisticated that a hardware engineer plus a software engineer couldn't figure out. Nevertheless, it doesn't stop me from winning 60HKD (oh...Macau Pataca is not accepted in casinos in Macau, ironically), don't ask me how, I just press some buttons.

If you didn't manage to find Margaret's Portuguese tart near Largo de Senada, her ex-husband's establishment opens up a branch in the Venetian as well. Not as good as a pipping hot tart from the oven but still much better than those on the streets leading to St. Pauls ruins :)

Well, that concludes my one day Macau trip. To be honest, if I were to go to HK again, I won't take the trouble to go through custom just to get to Macau, there's too much excitement in HK!!

HK Special - Private Kitchen 'Da Ping Huo'

Private kitchen dining is one of Hong Kong's best kept secret for years until the rave review and excessive promotion from movies and bloggers unconcealed the covert dining secret. Private kitchens that were only known among old customers are now being published as a list on websites and I chose the fiery Szechuan private dining which is also on Michelin Bob Gourmet list  - Da Ping Huo (大平伙), which literally means everyone, regardless status, sit and dine together. 

Owner Wang Hai (an artist / painter) and wife Wong Siu King (chef / Chinese opera singer) moved to Hong Kong in 1980s and every Saturday night, they invited friends over for traditional Szechuan home cooking. Eventually more & more guests were coming that they simply have to add tables and extend the 'serving hours'. Now, a spacious basement for approximately 30 people is open for dinner, two sessions each night (6.30pm & 9pm), fixed 12 course menu and only accept cash payment (actually payment has to be made up front but they made exception for tourists like me), drinks at extra costs.

Even though I know exactly which street to go to, it still took some minutes to find the 'hole in a wall' entrance. The door was not open 10minutes before the serving time (of course, they need time to clean off the previous session) which makes it a bit difficult to spot the house number ;)

While we still have some minutes before the dinner is ready, the kind waiter took a couple of pictures of the two far travelling hungry tourists. Our 9pm session was out-ratio by foreigners (Expats in Hong Kong), 6 locals and 15 foreigners (me included, of course). We were sharing table with an expat and his visiting girlfriend from US, lovely couple. Oh, and we were definitely the most 'under-dress' people in the whole restaurant :p

Before serving, Mr.Wang explained to us that the dishes will be served with spicy & non-spicy Szechuan food alternately to revive the taste bud if the spiciness is a bit over the top. And if the fiery hot dishes are not spicy enough for our taste, they can always 'level up' the spiciness :) Soon we were serve with 2 appetizers:- chilled julienne pickled cucumber 糖醋香瓜 and spicy Szechuan salad 凉拌三丝.

chilled julienne pickled cucumber 糖醋香瓜

 spicy Szechuan salad 凉拌三丝

Just when we thought we can well handle the spiciness, came spicy bean sheets with soy nuts and spring onion 酸辣粉皮. The translucent bean sheet (sort of glass noodle texture, more chewy) is slightly chilled, soaked up the delicious sauce, very spicy but the cold noodle brings out the contrast of the spiciness topped with the crunchiness of the nuts and a bit of the 'stinginess' of spring onion, definitely one of my favourite dish.

spicy bean sheets with soy nuts and spring onion 酸辣粉皮

After washing the spicy/non-spicy starters down with some sweet sugar cane juice, up next is the famous 'Mouth Watering Chicken 口水雞' - braised chicken in Szechuan spices and chilli oil topped with sesame seed and peanut. The chicken is served traditionally cold with skin on and bone in. Texture of the chicken is really smooth and the sauce is wonderfully seasoned, well balanced spiced and really mouth-watering :) Mr.T's 'chopstick' skill that night is not perfect when he dropped a chicken piece and splashed my t-shirt with chilli sauces!!!

braised chicken in Szechuan spices and chilli oil 口水鸡

To sooth our gradually numbing tongue, we were then served with a non-spicy mushroom white cabbage and minced chicken soup 雞豆花. I find the taste a bit too subtle compare to the strong spicy dishes we had before, which is intentional but not one of my favourite.

mushroom white cabbage and minced chicken soup 雞豆花

Keeping up with the alternating balance in dishes, stewed beef brisket in spicy gravy 水煮牛肉 was served. We were warned by the owner that this dish is super spicy and that he has extra rice and water standby for top-up if we find the dish too spicy. I actually think the bean sheet & the smooth chicken were much spicier than this in a different way (unless one bites into one of those chilli pepper in the beef dish, then it's a different story :p). The beef is braised to perfect tenderness and the gravy was irresistibly delicious than I was drinking it straight from the bowl. The owner was really impressed with the spiciness tolerance, but hey, I'm a Malaysian, we can eat spicy food :D

stewed beef brisket in spicy gravy 水煮牛肉

While I'm busy enjoying the beef, Mr.Wang served us the Szechuan spices marinated prawn 川味泡椒蝦. I don't find it memorably in any way especially when served together with the beef brisket. And the prawn shells are tricky when we're only given chopstick. I can't even be sure if it's supposed to be spicy or not, too bad.

 Szechuan spices marinated prawn 川味泡椒蝦

Steam sticky rice with pork rib and pumpkin 粉蒸南瓜排骨 is up next, giving us some rest from the spicy dishes. The pumpkin was a really nice touch but I found some small bone pieces in the sticky rice, not a very pleasant experience when it nearly broke my tooth and the taste was just so-so.

After a sort break for the tongue, classic Szechuan dish, tofu in spicy chilli sauce - Mapo tofu 麻婆豆腐 was served. At this point, I change my comment about the bean sheet or chicken being the spiciest because the tofu just blow my tongue away. It is so out of the world spicy and when you thought your tongue is too numbed to taste anything, the wonderful flavours of the sauce well soaked into tofu creeps back to your mouth. Eating this dish is like taking drug. Suicidally spicy and yet I can't stop eating it. The minute I put down my chopstick, my mind is savouring the taste, commanding my hand to pick up the next tofu again...

Mapo tofu 麻婆豆腐

Mr.Wang then served us a soothing vegetable soup 蔬菜汤 (I stopped him from clearing the tofu away) and immediately after bringing my tongue back to life, I resume eating the remaining tofu even though my stomach is screaming to explode. The soup was yet another not so memorably taste ones but it comes at the right time to temper the palate :)

vegetable soup 蔬菜汤

Just when I thought we're going for dessert (I lost count of the dishes at some point), two home made dumpling in spicy sauce 成都水饺 was served in a small bowl. The dumplings had thicker skins than Shanghai's dumplings, hence preserving the subtle taste of seasoned minced pork inside while contrasting the spicy dressing outside. I never like thick skin dumpling, but I like this.

dumpling in spicy sauce 成都水饺

Dessert is a Da Ping Huo special - varied textures of sweetened beancurd with white fingus, atapchi (palm seed), water chestnut and Chinese pear 马蹄雪耳香梨豆花, slightly on the sweet side but oh so refreshing. It might not fit everyone's taste for its slightly slimy texture but I could easily eat a few more bowls if I'm not already too full to even breath. While working through the wonderful dessert, the couple (owner, of course) appears at the table and invites guests to stick around for one final hospitality.

Da Ping Huo special dessert

Being a former Chinese opera singer, our chef of the night presented us a high pitch Szechuan classical opera song. I was surprise to hear so much power and volume from a small size lady like our lady chef here, the voice echoes the basement for quite sometime. Not exactly my cup of tea but I highly appreciate the sincerity and effort.

Dining at a private kitchen is a highly recommended must try experience. Not knowing the menu up front might not pleased some with special dietary but definitely brings out the element of surprise and anticipation, and in some way, 'spiced-up' the dinner. The serving portion in Da Ping Huo is generous, so if you're going there, don't eat anything up to 4 hours before and enjoy ;)

Da Ping Huo (map)
L/G 49 Hollywood Rd.
Central, Hong Kong
+852 2559 1317