BREAKFAST

Hong Kong chinese breakfast is delicious.  Just a hot bowl of porridge, a plate of cheong fun and fried bee hoon makes your day.

Sampan porridge - smooth and fragrant

A bowl full of ingredients - pork balls, pig blood, cuttlefish, pig skin, peanuts

Smooth cheong fun with chilly and dark sauce mixed in soya sauce and sesame oil

Fried bee hoon, looked plain but very tasty

NEW YEAR 2010

Count Down in Hong Kong after the Beijing trip.  We went on foot to join in the celebration at IFC tower in Central Hong Kong as most routes were blocked and inaccessible by traffic.  Everywhere was sardine packed and almost everyone was out in the street to get the feel of the atmosphere, although freezing cold at minus degree.  We managed to squeeze to the front and took a few good shots.

All stars were out in full force

Teresa Caprio was one of the stars invited to usher in the New Year

Nearer the countdown, Donald Tseng and his wife toasted to another year

Ready..10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 1!

Fireworks at the stroke of midnight from IFC Building

Whole of Hong Kong was lighted up in welcoming a new Year!

PORK ROLL

Pork use for shabu-shabu is delicious when cook as roll and stuff with carrots and straw mushrooms.  The meat is tender with crunchy and juicy fillings.

Grate the carrots finely and marinate with sesame oil, garlic and soya sauce.  Squeeze carrot dry and retain the sauce.  Cut out the bottom part of straw mushrooms and separate into branches.  Blanch mushrooms in boiling water for 1 min.

Pad dry meat and stuff with carrots and mushrooms

Roll up tightly and steam till pork is cook.  Use the carrot sauce and mix with mirin, salt, oyster sauce, shaoxing wine and 1/4 cup water.  Add in corn flour and still well.  Cook until sauce thickens and pour over pork.

My children consumed by dipping the pork roll in beat raw egg.  Yuk!

PAPAYA SOUP

1 green papaya
peanuts
1 pigtail
white fungus

Papaya enzyme promotes the digestion and absorption of animal protein in the alimentary tract.  It lessens the burden of the stomach and reduces the chances of gastric and ulcers.

IKEA

To go for cheap and quality food, Ikea is a good choice.   Tampines branch is larger in size and has twice the number of carpark lots than the Alexander branch.

Smoked salmon with mustard and lemon.  The pungency and smokiness of the salmon tickled the palate

Robust deep fried chicken wings to go with chilly and tomatoes sauce - fingers licking good

Roast pork and ham with sour cabbage.

GREAT WALL OF CHINA (萬里長城)

We were to climb a section of the the Great Wall of China - Juyongguan Pass (聚傭關).  It is located 20 kilometers north of Changping County, about 60 kilometers of Beijing.   It is a renowned pass of the Great Wall of China and is a national cultural protection unit situated in a valley surrounded by mountains.

Juyongguan Pass has long been a military stronghold.  This pass has fewer tourists and is more quiet, and the place is well maintained in its original state.  Some sections of the pass are so run down that it had being closed off.

The main gate to the pass - "The World First Great Pass".

The overview of the whole pass, which has 5 sections with its steep peaks and broken bricks, and the steepest to climb is S4.  Fortunately the weather was fine with no strong wind.

The pass opposite the Juiyongguan which is longest and steepest.   Hope to climb at the next visit.

Leisure and easy climb

2nd section

A lot gave up at the 3rd section as the 4th section is too steep to attempt

Hurray, managed to reach the top tower in less than the 3-hour given time

A panoramic view of the whole place at the top.  A word of caution, when climbing down hold on to the railing and do not lend over as the railing height is only up to your lower waist as not careful can topple to your death.

"Have not being to the Great Wall is not a Hero" as the tablet says.

JADE

Was told that the price of jade is cheaper, as the factory is owned by State Government when we were taken for a tour during our Beijing trip.  Nobody wants to buy anything as the trust in the goods sold by PRC is questionable.

Pieces of beautify carved jade with intricate designs and fine workmanship are on display, besides jade jewellery housed in glass cases.

Sculptures of jade craftsmen carving jade stone

Jade cabbage

Peach tree with peaches carved from red jade

Incense burner

Fountain with intricate designs of flowers, birds and cranes

Elaborate fish pond

Before embarking on next trip, we proceeded to lunch at a farm.  Most of dishes were cooked from vegetables grown on the farm.  The place to visit next expected us to use a lot of energy and thus a full meal was required to embark on the journey.

Started with hot sweet potatoes which were fragrant and soft

Steamed sponge cake with dates and savory bread

Stew cabbage with pork

Bright color mixed vegetables

Stir fry sweet hairy gourd in light sauce

Cabbage with button mushroom

Black fungus and eggs with cucumber

Stew spareribs in bean sauce and meat was tender

Energy boosting dish - Chicken stock noodles with eggs and vegetables

QUALITY VS QUANTITY

The food we had in Beijing was oily but was nevertheless delicious.  The reason could be due to the cold weather that the food was cooked this way.  The portion served was gigantic.

Steam Sea Bass - Very fresh

Groundnuts with prawns

Preserved pamelo skin - unusual dish.  Very well cooked and paired well with rice

Fried long beans

Celery with carrots

Capsicum with pork - spicy

Fried egg with long beans