Urban Hike

From Star Street, up the stairs at Ship Street, pass the haunted (beautiful) house, overtaking some tourists on their way down ( “hey! you’ve come the hard way” they quipped)  left at Kennedy Road, on and on bypassing the fancy pansy 60´s residential buildings, over and under a semi highway at Cotton Tree Drive, around Hong Kong park, down Upper Albert Road, up Wyndham, left on Hollywood and safely home.

The weather was bliss. Sunny and clear but not too hot.

In Hong Kong the beginning of autumn feels like the beginning of spring elsewhere, airy and giddy. Finally done with the scorching summer heat, on with the open windows and off with the air conditioning!

Follow the red big road: http://bit.ly/E8zFL

Lunar July

It is Lunar July, the time of the year that according to old HK traditions the gates of Hell swing open and  ghosts or lost souls take a stroll trying to find a place to stay.

Around the neighborhood we have seen families huddled around a small fire throwing paper bills at it. These are wishes of prosperity for their ancestors and also a way to calm down the roaming spirits that hide close to the walls and in shadowy areas. That is why,  or so I have been told, in this time of the year one should not walk too close to the walls or dark areas…

I also heard that evil spirits reside in the 18th floor of Hell,  although for Hong Kong standards nowadays I calculate that is more like the 44th floor (and forget about the harbour view!).

My neighbors in particular are burning incense next to the elevator to workship their ancestors with candles and incense. I can’t imagine seeing this in any of the apartment building I have lived in my life and yet it reminds me of my grandmother’s altar with Virgin Mary and the never ending candle.

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…as they dissapear from the urban landscape

Triad out

This is not a shot of a Tarantino movie, it is an image of the massive funeral of a slain triad member. The funeral has been going on for a couple of days, busloads of visitors have visited, there is a whole army of paper soldiers and maids that will be burned for the deceased, a huge police operative is making sure things stay calm around the funeral home and South East Asian security guards use their jackets to shield the view…wait, maybe this is a Tarantino movie.

Who knows? maybe we don’t wanna know who went to pay their respects, maybe we don’t wanna know just how entangled and weird things can be here in Hong Kong, ma?

As for the paper figures I quote The Straits Times:

“An army of 50 near life-size paper figures representing male and female virgin attendants to serve Lee in his afterlife were on display at the vigil. In keeping with the Chinese tradition of burning paper symbols of wealth for the dead, there were also models of a Ferrari, a Mercedes, a yacht, a six-floor mansion and a jet plane”

I cannot clarify if these articles were also life-size.

Lovely Corner

Yes, that is the name of a restaurant. A Nepalese one.

Long time before we moved to HK some friends back in Spain took us to taste momos, tonight we tasted the nepalese version…

Delicious and soft with vegetarian filling and some nice sauces. The best part is I got a tutorial of how to make momos by the owner, a nice short man who also paints romantic landscapes and realistic tiger mugshots; classy stuff. The rice and the samosas were also good, but beware of the pickled vegetables, they are extremely spicy.

We will come back to taste the pork momos but also try to make them at home with the technique I learned, more on that later….

And, also the view is interesting to say the least…

Lovely Corner

7/F, Cheung Hing Commercial Building,

37-43 Cochrane St.,

Central, Hong Kong

Phone: 2854-0916

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In Hong Kong nature has a way of tangling…

Rice noodle soup

Pick your soup, pick your noodles, pick how spicy, pick how sour, pick your topping.
No fuss, just a heavenly 40HKD treat right in the middle of TST. Queues are long but service is swift.

23 Lock Road. TST. HK

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(Wanchai wet market)
I look at you / you look at me.

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Lasaña de Pollo

It is officially Lasagna week. So after trying Mrs.K’s family recipe (http://aratandamonkey.blogspot.com/2009/08/kitchen-confidential.html), my mother felt she also deserved hers to be tried out. So that is what I did for the past few hours and here are the photos to prove it.

I must warn you… preparing Lasagna is a lengthy affair, a worthwhile one but nevertheless tough work!. First I boiled the chicken (actually I. my cooking angel did), which was then shredded and mixed with a homemade tomato sauce. With some of the water where the chicken was cooked I made a bechamel and even pan fried some huge tasty portobello and Chinese mushrooms and then assembled the floors of the lasagna building. One layer of each of the above. And to the oven. Topping it all up with more cheese than I should have…

Note to self, no need to fill the thing all the way to the top, not only is it too heavy, but it bubbles out and stains the inside of the oven. Note to self, be careful taking hot bubbling things out of the oven. The first thing I would change about my matchbox kitchen is not having to stand on a stool to reach the oven, yes it is that small…but hey, I see this as a sort of military training. If I can cook lasagna in this kitchen I can do it anywhere!.

So here it is. There is plenty leftover that I will freeze for those of you close by….for the rest try making it on a rainy afternoon.