When we are there

The past 2 days the TV has been showing what a devastating earth quake and tsunami can happen out of the blue. A train was reported to be missing along the coast of north eastern part of Japan. I recalled I took a train to Otaru 小樽 from (Hokkaido). The beautiful coast line has still captured my mind. It's very cold in the North Eastern part of Japan. Millions of families have lost their home. Now that with the nuclear threat, it is even making their lives harder. We should be really thankful for having a place to stay and food to eat....

*It would take at least a few years the nuclear pollution can be cleared up in the north eastern part of Japan. Hope that there won't be any big after shock as that would cause much more damage to the remaining severely hit nuclear plants.

Pedicured chicken feet in abalone sauce by East Ocean Restaurant Quarry Bay HK

Chinese or Cantonese are often considered they eat whatever from head to toes. Can it be considered a very good environmental example? No. It is considered as something disgusting. So when we eat the whole fish, but not just fish filet, it's considered as "cruel". These are just some brief examples but often distorted into something negative.

*these chicken feet in abalone sauce by East Ocean restaurant. Pretty nice as they don't use frozen chicken feet. Check they cut the nails.

Maxim's Palace Taikooshing HK part 2 - Staying fine

I know it sounds a bit crazy but this Maxim's restaurant surprisingly gave me almost a full mark report on my visit of last Sunday night. I ordered their dried squid/scallop and veggie casserole (HK$60). The squid and dried shrimp were browned a bit and so the soup was very aromatic with this perfect combination. The dried scallop brought the sweetness into it, making the whole casserole so good to go with rice. Most of all, not a single drop of oil is in the casserole, not even sesame oil. This can be controversial. If the dried squid and shrimp weren't browned, then the sesame oil and some boiling oil would be good to cover up. However, this step can be skipped.

Last time their deep fried chicken surprised me. I tried their BBQ goose for the regular portion (quite big) (HK$78). This is another surprise. Nice roasting, and the goose is not fatty and the meat is tender and aromatic (check the last pic.).

Pho 24, Vietnamese fast food shop, Windsor House Causeway Bay HK

Pho 24 is a chain fast food noodle soup in Vietnam and pretty cheap at just HK$10-15 for a bowl of noodle soup. The shop opened its branches in HK at some higher shopping malls and of course prices are much higher. If they charge for just HK$20-30 for a noodle soup, it's fine. No, they charge for over HK$45 to 50. The worst part is that this branch is much worse than their original ones in Vietnam. The broth is just some colored water. The baby lotus stem salad has only 2 x 0.5 lotus stem. A lot of bean sprouts and the shrimp is like glass shrimp (over bouncy from the soda powder effect).

7 to 8pm at Causeway Bay

Took my 50mm F1.4 lens for some snap shots and candid photos. Most of the photos were taken at a lower angle on a guess. 50mm is a bit difficult to judge, and the 9 point AF has made some of the shots not in focus. In general, this is what I saw in Causeway Bay tonight.

Jumping into hyper dimension

In the movie Star Wars, the scene of how the Hans Solo's (Harrison Ford) space ship switched to light speed to get away from the Empire troop, has been often in my mind. So I practised to use a 0.5 to 1 second exposure time and during this exposure, I pulled in the focus. So the longer exposure time (at F22 and -2 to -5 exposure) with slower pulling would result in images (the first 3 photos) pretty close to that scene in my mind. The last 2 were on a shorter exposure time and faster pulling. *better choose some place with tiny LED light instead of lamp or flat light. Though physically I can't break the speed light, mentally with my camera, I feel like I can.

Weekend delight from BKK - Marina HK Siam Square BKK

It's midnight time and I thought of the other midnight when I arrived at BKK very late at midnight. Since I stayed in Siam area, my friends and I felt like going out for a supper. So I brought them to this noodle shop which runs real 24 hours (not closing at 12 midnight). Got a bit surprised with the food quality of this shop and it's very close to HK taste. I would also recommend trying their juice, especially dragon fruit juice.

Coming out for water in Causeway Bay HK

What a scene to see long lines of people carrying various buckets for water in Causeway Bay. Saw some staff from Crystal Jade, Lei Garden and the talk-of-the-town dessert shop Chong Kee 松記 (on Canal Rd).

Hanging deep fried chicken - Maxim's Palace Taikooshing HK

After almost a year I came back to try Maxim's Palace Taikooshing. Again, I was given a roller coaster ride but this time it's a happy ride. Didn't intend to take photos of other dishes as I expected those were no good to be updated, but my guess was wrong. A bit late and I took a photo of this nice deep fried chicken. As you can see the round and firm skin which is very crispy. Also, the even color told it was evenly poured with hot oil in hanging up. This is the difficult of Cantonese deep fried chicken. If it's put in the wok of hot oil, the meat will be dried out. This way the skin would be very crispy but the meat remains tender and juicy. Hope this will last for some time at least within this year. :)

North Point Phoneix Restaurant (the original) 鳳城酒家 HK

Been here 3 years ago and that was still very good. Came back to hope for a nice authentic Cantonese dinner. Dropped to almost zero. First the pickled isn't nice. Too sweet and soft. Second their renowned deep fried chicken (HK$128 for half and it's a very small one) is awful. Quite undone inside but the skin is a bit overcooked to shrink, not crispy at all. See that so-called aromatic salt 椒鹽. See that color. It's just plain salt with very little roasted "five spice powder" in it. The other 2 dishes are just average, but if they charge it at HK$78/$50 respectively, then I wouldn't find it ok. Most of all, services are way below standard.

Busy people, dizzy Central HK

Took this photo on a bus stopping at the junction at Landmark and Wynham Street. Changed the focal length when pressing the shutter for about 1 second exposure time at F22 with -5 exposure. Need to practise more.

Asiana Restaurant 喜萬年 Wanchai HK

I was told this restaurant used to be a place for the "black and white" (police and mafia) in the 60's/70's. Part of the restaurant used to be a night club with singing live performance. The first time I visited this restaurant had already been solely for dining. The food may not be the best but historically it really means something to many HK people. I kind of like their BBQ section, like the plain chicken which is in some very traditional classic taste. At least this one has chicken flavour. They are also good at BBQ pork and roasted suckling pig.

Cassette Tape

Passed by an old shop in Ap Lei Street Shamshuipoo. Met some old friends - our old time cassette tape. Do you remember TDK, D, AD, SA, SAX, and Maxell UD, UX? Personally I like AD and SA sound, the others are either too low or too sharp.