Tasty Food Things: Hong Kong Eats

While we were in Hong Kong many mornings looked like this:

It was technically winter there, kind of like winter in FL, misty, a little chilly and still pretty humid.

A lot nicer than the midwest, in any case :)

Sweater weather > Coat weather.

That day I went around with my cousin. We stopped to get some noodles first, which looked pretty good....

However, the noodles were over cooked an fell apart in our chopsticks... Not the best. According to my cousin Anson, it usually wasn't like this.

After abandoning our disappointing fare, we met up with my grandmother.

We went somewhere else, mainly for something to drink and a little snack.

Anson recommended I try this:

It's bread fried in butter (really tasty, soft on the inside with the perfect crispy outside) with condensed milk on top. Sweet, rich, crunchy... what's not to like?

Lemon tea. It's rather popular in Hong Kong and is very light and refreshing.

It can be served in hot or cold form.

That day was relatively warm, so we went with the iced.

Ahhh, Hong Kong style French Toast.

I featured it in one of my earlier posts, and now here it is again!

Two thick slices of bread with a generous amount of peanut butter or condensed milk in the middle, dipped in an egg-milk mixture, then deep fried for crispiness and then eaten with syrup.

Oh hells yes.

I walked around with Anson for a while longer while my grandmother went back home.

We talked, window shopped and sipped coffe until it was time for dinner.

Around 7 we headed back to the apartment for a nice home-cooked meal.

My Uncle, Grandmother and Anson :)

Me and my relatives <3

I forgot to take pictures of the soup... but this is the stuff that went into it.

Typically, a soup is served at the beginning of the meal.

It's just the broth, so the stuff that went into the soup is strained out and served separately.

It's usually a mild soup and is very comforting.

One of my favorite dishes in the world! It's called 'jai' and is traditionally eaten on New Years. It's a Buddhist dish and is comprised of vegetables and tofu. The weird looking black hair-like stringy stuff is mermaid hair (also known as black fungus or hair vegetable) which is a fungus that basically looks like hair. As weird as it looks, it's delicious.

My Grandmother and Aunt taught me how to make this a few years ago (when I was like... 14)

and though I can make it decently, my grandmother makes it best :)

Mmm... Steamed fish! Served with light soy and sliced ginger and green onions.

Very simple, but very satisfying.

After dinner my Uncle drove me home, with my Grandmother and Anson coming along.

I was laden with foodstuffs; lots of leftovers from dinner and these fruits:

(These aren't actually all the fruit, we had a lot more. I just thought this looked nicer)

At the top is dragon fruit.

The red fruits are called 'rose apples' and are one of my favorite fruits when we visit Hong Kong.

They're crunchy and have a subtle sweetness with a hint of clove. It has about the same flesh to water ratio as a watermelon, so it's super juicy.

In the middle is what is known as a 'custard apple' or 'soursop', more on that later.

We also had mangoes and starfruit. The mangoes were so ripe and they smelled incredible.

Sliced star fruit and rose apples.

I'd never had a soursop before! Dad was very excited to show us (me, my sister and her boyfriend). He said they were very hard to get when he was little.

I had been curious about the fruit since earlier that day when my grandmother bought it for us.

The outside looked scaly, but upon touching it, it was soft and slightly spongy.