guangzhou 廣州 2011

In the winter of 2011 my brother and i took a train from Hong Kong to Guangzhou 廣州. Until then I had never been to Guangdong 廣東 province before even though it is just adjacent to Hong Kong 香港.

lin heung kui 蓮香居

This is a follow on post on my two other posts about a dim sum restaurant in Hong Kong - Lin Heung Lau 蓮香樓 part 1 and part 2.

Located in Sheung Wan, Lin Heung Kui is one of the three restaurants operated by the same owner. This one is in less than a mile from the more widely known Lin Heung Lau 蓮香樓 located in the Central district. In the latter part of my stay in Hong Kong I came here to Lin Heung Kui 蓮香居 instead to avoid the crowd.

lin heung lau 蓮香樓 - part 2

I had been wanting to complete my post on Lin Heung Lau 蓮香樓 and it's sister restaurant Lin Heung Kui 蓮香居

I visited this restaurant for dim sum and later it's sister restaurant daily when I was in Hong Kong recently. They have the most complete selection of authentic dim sum and retains the relatively plainer traditional Cantonese tastes. All too often dim sum dishes today tended to be adulterated with sugar and MSG to impress palates dulled by eating too much sweets.

soup noodles in thailand

Soup noodles are the ultimate comfort food for most Asians and I am no exception. They are so easy to make and you can prepare the broth and the ingredients in advance. Most versions are quite healthy and relatively low in calorie.

Here is a compilation of soup noodles I had in my recent trip to Thailand.

an evolution of basil pork - part 2

One of my favorite Thai dish is basil pork (moo pad kaprao). Not wanting to be corrupted by the Americanized Thai cuisine I actually ate very little Thai food in the US. I saved the enjoyment till I visited the country.
instead of buying ground pork I often just dice my own.

hot and sour steamed grouper

One reward in travel for me is expanding my experience with cuisine of different parts of the world. Often I come home with new perspective or just ideas for new recipe. Sometime I recreate a dish that I enjoyed during a trip. At another I take what I experienced and incorporate into dishes I already know (a sort of fusion).

My recent trip to Thailand is particular rewarding and I came home with a few dishes under my belt. Well literally too as I ate too much there. Amongst the great dishes I ate is this hot and spicy steam grouper I had while in Phuket Town. The cooking method is very similar to that of Cantonese cuisine of Southwest China (I have a post on this). The main difference is the garnish that are used - making this a Thai version of steam fish.

patong - thailand

Patong is one of the beach town that most tourist goes when visiting Phuket which is a peninsula in the South of Thailand. Phuket is quite hot and humid year round, even in the mid of winter when I visited.
promoting Thai boxing that night

golden triangle

We took a trip from Chiang Mai to the Golden Triangle at the Northern border of Thailand. It was an all day (12 hour) trip which involves may be 7 hours of driving. The itinerary includes stopping at a hot spring, the white temple, the Golden Triangle, and a short visit to a hill tribe.

one great thai meal

This is one of the many best meals I had in Thailand. I was walking towards the Chinatown area in Bangkok one day looking for a restaurant cookware supply. I happen upon this restaurant full of people. Needless to say it is a sign they must have very good food. There is no English signs or menu. Fortunately they have photos of all the dishes.

thailand open markets

I never miss a chance to see fresh produce market when I travel. It is so much joy to see all the unfamiliar ingredients as well as the familiar ones.

 Here is a collection of photos I took in markets in Thailand.

an evolution of basil pork

I have recently made a number of meals with the Thai basil pork. Gradually I tweaked the recipe to make it more healthy. There is nothing wrong with the original recipe that consist of mostly minced pork if you also have a vegetable dish to go along with it.

While it is very delicious but I prefer a dish with less meat and more vegetable

doi suthep - chiang mai

One of the best things I did in Thailand is renting a scooter. I did that in Chiang Mei and in Khao Lak. A scooter allowed me to get to places that would normally be difficult to get to. With a prepaid SIM card I could use my iPhone to figure out where I am.

 One day in Chiang Mei I went up the nearby mountain Doi Suthep that overlooks the city.

My DSLR lens failed very early in my trip but I managed to workaround the crippled lens in complete manual mode, stuck in a fixed aperture.

phuket town - thailand

Three nights in Patong was more than enough for someone who does not care too much for the beach and tourist scenes. I wanted to go and see something more cultural and historic. Phuket Town it was.

shanghai grocery store 上海鋪

In my childhood growing up in Hong Kong one place we lived in Tsim Sha Tsui has a Shanghai grocery store on the ground level. There are certain things my parents would buy from that shop and most of these food are etched in my young mind. Most I forgot until seeing this Shanghai grocery store recently.

chinese condiment shop 醬油鋪

For most Western cities Chinese cuisine is often poorly represented or outright altered to please the sweet palate. Similar to many Asian countries Chinese cuisine employs a wide variety of cooking condiments. In truth I am at a lost to find a better word than condiment. Condiment typically refer to sauce or sauce-like substance that you added to cooked food as enhancements. In China there are shops that sell a variety of condiments. While some are used as condiments as the word's original meaning, most are used for cooking. They are called joun yau po 醬油鋪 - meaning sauce and oil shop poorly translated.

I came across the biggest one in Beijing a couple of years ago. Unfortunately I didn't take any photo of it.

eating snake

While I consider myself quite well versed in the cuisine of China there are some less common dishes I have not tried. Amongst them is food made with snake. For most Westerners even the thought of eels as food is not all that appealing. Not me. I love eels.
the snake master handling a poisonous snake

this and that - hong kong 2012, part 3

This is one of many photo diary of a recent trip to Asia

hong kong soup noodles

There are countless noodle soup styles in Chinese cuisine. Most are meant to be a light meal and casual one at that. Whenever I visit Asia I eat plenty of them. The soup noodle that I miss the most is wonton noodle done in the authentic Hong Kong Cantonese method.

home made thai meals - 2013 jan

One of the best meals I had in Thailand was in a mid price restaurant in Bangkok near the Democracy Monument near the infamous Kao San Road. Had it not for the manager of the hotel I was staying I would never know about it. That day I set out to take a long trek to another restaurant which I read about when in the US. It would involve taking the river boat and then the sky train that requires switching a train line. I was delighted when the manager told me there is a restaurant of similar quality withing walking distance.
democracy monument - some fraction of the red shirts were staging a rally that day

lens repair

In my recent trip to Asia I brought my Canon 7D DSLR together with a 17-85mm zoom lens. Very early into the journey the camera threw a fault code that it could not communicate with the lens. It suggested the electrical contacts may be dirty and needs cleaning. Knowing my camera and how I used it I knew the problem is not due to dirty contacts. Needless to say my spirit was dampened knowing I have to travel without my DSLR. Dreading the though of taking photos with my iPhones (I brought a old 3GS to used with prepaid SIM cards), I struggled to figure out a workaround.