Picture spam of food + Hong Kong
Sun, Jul. 27th, 2008 02:25 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
oyceterThere's another typhoon blowing in, and I'm hoping it won't delay my flight on Tuesday.
I already posted my ode to Hong Kong previously, and now I have pictures! Though I make fun of all the metaphorically thrusting buildings in the notes, I love the Hong Kong skyline, I really do.
One of my favorite street snacks: ji dan gao. They're little egg-shaped cake things made with a very simple batter and cooked in something like a waffle iron, and I love them to pieces.
And for the first time, I visited the top of Taipei 101, currently the world's tallest building... as noted in the pictures. I still think trying to have the world's tallest building is an expensive pissing contest, but whatever.
And for some reason, the mascot of Taipei 101 is modeled on the wind damper. It took me a while to figure this out, as "Damper Babies" isn't exactly self explanatory (at least, to me).
I forget which side of Taipei this is, but it's not the west side.
This is probably the east side, given the shadow of Taipei 101 in the photo.
The damper!
The damper + a damper baby. Uh, yeah. I am still confused too.
And herein begins an adventure in one of the odder restaurants I've been to this trip: a healthy teppanyaki place. This is a giant chunk of rose salt that was displayed in the restaurant lobby. Apparently it is healthy? I was really tempted to lick it until I noticed the very thick layer of dust on top.
As mentioned, this is an odd restaurant. I, for one, am completely baffled by the concept. Who on earth goes to have teppanyaki for healthy food? What's the point if you can't fry everything in butter on a giant metal surface? Also, this is algae tea. Sadly, unlike many supposedly odd things in Taiwan, this did not end up tasting wonderful.
The cook grates rose salt onto our plates.
A dish of chopped onions, apples, and vinegar. No one was quite sure if it was meant to be a salad or a relish-like condiment.
Steamed mango and lychee, with a flower in between. Everything at the restaurant was beautifully plated and presented, and yet... This, for example, was completely tasteless.
Wee bowls of fish, steaming. I ask again, why in the world use a teppanyaki range for steaming things?
The good thing is, the fish was actually tasty. Unfortunately, the watermelon it was steamed on top of was pretty gross.
Finally, shrimp! My dad, me, and my cousin were very excited at the prospect of something actually being grilled or fried instead of being steamed.
Real food!
And then, they steamed asparagus.... and cut off the tips.
I am hoping this is some diabolical restaurant scheme so the employees can munch on tender asparagus tips for free instead of actually throwing them away because they contain too much something-or-the-other, because, really!
I didn't take pictures of much of the main course, as it was largely something rolled in a thin slice of beef. In our case, it was something and a mandarin orange, flying fish roe, then salmon roe. I... am a little confused as to why one would heat fish roe, but then, much of the restaurant was confusing.
On the other hand, this part was awesome! Popcorn cooked on a giant steel surface! With sugar and sesame seeds scattered around the periphery to turn into a tasty caramelized topping!
We also got a free fried egg, which was also very good. The yolk was very orange and very perky, and that sentence just started to sound vaguely pornographic to me.
The finished popcorn! Definitely the best part of the meal.
And then... dessert. None of us had any idea what this was, though I womanfully tried it. I lied and told my little cousin that it was frog eggs. Eventually, the waiter said it was some kind of fruit seed and mango puree. I am still somewhat in awe of how they managed to make mango bland and tasteless not once, but twice.
This is one of my favorite snacks ever. It is based on dorayaki, only instead of red bean paste, it's ice cream in the middle! I suspect this is Taiwan's equivalent to cheap ice-cream-truck ice cream, but much like I enjoy those red-white-and-blue rocket popsicles that turn your tongue different colors, I love these as well.
A random cat on a random car.
More dorayaki twists! This one is a green tea mousse filling with bits of red bean. It was actually really good, although I think they should make the filling something more solid than mousse so it doesn't ooze out onto your fingers every time you take a bite.
A giant rat in the Taipei airport, left over from New Year. (My rats are cuter.)
And for Yoon, Rachel and Rilina! The store had models of pink Gundams as well, and I really wanted to buy it, except then I would have to lug it through Hong Kong and Shanghai. I will look for it locally as well.
I thought this was so cool! It's a post in one of the airport airtrain cars; only instead of one pole, it is split into three in the middle to accommodate more hands! So useful!
The view from Kowloon. The big globe is part of a museum or art center.
Escalators leading down to the MTR station. As you can probably tell, I am greatly fond of public transportation.
I thought this was so neat too! The little arrow blinks to tell you which way you're going! The next stop blinks! If the next stop is a transfer, all the places it'll transfer to blink! Oh usability, I love you so.
A street, lined with vendors. The two streets it connects are large, with lots of fancy shops, and then you poke your head in and get lost in tiny stands that crowd the street so much that you have to walk through in single file.
Uh, I thought this was really neat too, although the Starbucks employees must have thought I was nuts when I photographed it. In Taiwan and HK, they put little sticky tape things over your coffee lid mouth so it doesn't spill in the car (sort of like the Post-It tabs). And apparently, someone somewhere makes a giant roll of tape just for this purpose! You rip the sticky tape tabs off from the side.
And the start of the many pictures of thrusting, penetrating buildings. I've mentioned before that I think building the tallest building is like a pissing contest, yes?
Still, I am fascinated by tall shiny buildings and skylines! This one is where I spent my horrible and miserable two months, and I bah and hiss at it.
A look at Hong Kong street traffic and the way the city coexists with the hilly jungle right behind it.
The famous I.M. Pei Bank of China building. I think most of the locals don't actually like it; I heard a lot of comments on how it looks like an ax while I was there.
The view from Central of Mid-Levels.
More of Mid-Levels, along with another shiny building! It was so odd revisiting and being able to recall my old bus route, which wound its way through the forests of trees and buildings.
The HSBC building and the CK building.
The Bank of China building again.
The Lippo building, which I always thought looked like it had giant metal koalas crawling up the side.
The new tallest building in Hong Kong. It was so weird to see this; it was still under construction the last time I was here. For people who watched the new Batman movie, this is the building Batman jumps from when he's in Hong Kong.
It's so hard taking pictures of the buildings here because they're so tall!
OMG! Medicinal soups! I was copying the names, but they were all so neat that I finally just photographed them.
Soup is a very Cantonese thing, particularly the notion of specific soups to cure specific things. I mean, aside from the seemingly global "chicken soup for a cold" cure!
Glazed and barbecued chicken. Sadly, a little too salty, but oh, I still love the crispy skin!
Sugar snaps with fish.
Cold jellyfish in sesame oil. Their jellyfish is so fat! When we made some for class, ours were definitely not as chewy, sadly.
Winter melon soup! OMG SO GOOD. Just very light and refreshing, and cooked in an entire winter melon. So instead of having the melon cut in chunks in the soup, the server scoops bits of melon from the sides of the melon/bowl when s/he's doling out the soup. I love this soup so much.
Barbecued goose (bottom) and char sui (top).
Sugar snap peas with XO sauce and mushrooms. I have decided that I really like XO sauce.
Really tasty greens!
Dessert soup: mango and coconut milk and bits of grapefruit and tapioca. This is so good! Luckily, I know a place in Bay Area that serves it, so I will not be deprived all year.
Hot red bean soup with either gingko nuts or lotus seeds. I think they're lotus seeds. Also, I think this came with chewy bits of mochi in it as well.
OMG so good! They're these flaky cashew pastries that would just melt in your mouth.
I already posted my ode to Hong Kong previously, and now I have pictures! Though I make fun of all the metaphorically thrusting buildings in the notes, I love the Hong Kong skyline, I really do.
One of my favorite street snacks: ji dan gao. They're little egg-shaped cake things made with a very simple batter and cooked in something like a waffle iron, and I love them to pieces.
And for the first time, I visited the top of Taipei 101, currently the world's tallest building... as noted in the pictures. I still think trying to have the world's tallest building is an expensive pissing contest, but whatever.
And for some reason, the mascot of Taipei 101 is modeled on the wind damper. It took me a while to figure this out, as "Damper Babies" isn't exactly self explanatory (at least, to me).
I forget which side of Taipei this is, but it's not the west side.
This is probably the east side, given the shadow of Taipei 101 in the photo.
The damper!
The damper + a damper baby. Uh, yeah. I am still confused too.
And herein begins an adventure in one of the odder restaurants I've been to this trip: a healthy teppanyaki place. This is a giant chunk of rose salt that was displayed in the restaurant lobby. Apparently it is healthy? I was really tempted to lick it until I noticed the very thick layer of dust on top.
As mentioned, this is an odd restaurant. I, for one, am completely baffled by the concept. Who on earth goes to have teppanyaki for healthy food? What's the point if you can't fry everything in butter on a giant metal surface? Also, this is algae tea. Sadly, unlike many supposedly odd things in Taiwan, this did not end up tasting wonderful.
The cook grates rose salt onto our plates.
A dish of chopped onions, apples, and vinegar. No one was quite sure if it was meant to be a salad or a relish-like condiment.
Steamed mango and lychee, with a flower in between. Everything at the restaurant was beautifully plated and presented, and yet... This, for example, was completely tasteless.
Wee bowls of fish, steaming. I ask again, why in the world use a teppanyaki range for steaming things?
The good thing is, the fish was actually tasty. Unfortunately, the watermelon it was steamed on top of was pretty gross.
Finally, shrimp! My dad, me, and my cousin were very excited at the prospect of something actually being grilled or fried instead of being steamed.
Real food!
And then, they steamed asparagus.... and cut off the tips.
I am hoping this is some diabolical restaurant scheme so the employees can munch on tender asparagus tips for free instead of actually throwing them away because they contain too much something-or-the-other, because, really!
I didn't take pictures of much of the main course, as it was largely something rolled in a thin slice of beef. In our case, it was something and a mandarin orange, flying fish roe, then salmon roe. I... am a little confused as to why one would heat fish roe, but then, much of the restaurant was confusing.
On the other hand, this part was awesome! Popcorn cooked on a giant steel surface! With sugar and sesame seeds scattered around the periphery to turn into a tasty caramelized topping!
We also got a free fried egg, which was also very good. The yolk was very orange and very perky, and that sentence just started to sound vaguely pornographic to me.
The finished popcorn! Definitely the best part of the meal.
And then... dessert. None of us had any idea what this was, though I womanfully tried it. I lied and told my little cousin that it was frog eggs. Eventually, the waiter said it was some kind of fruit seed and mango puree. I am still somewhat in awe of how they managed to make mango bland and tasteless not once, but twice.
This is one of my favorite snacks ever. It is based on dorayaki, only instead of red bean paste, it's ice cream in the middle! I suspect this is Taiwan's equivalent to cheap ice-cream-truck ice cream, but much like I enjoy those red-white-and-blue rocket popsicles that turn your tongue different colors, I love these as well.
A random cat on a random car.
More dorayaki twists! This one is a green tea mousse filling with bits of red bean. It was actually really good, although I think they should make the filling something more solid than mousse so it doesn't ooze out onto your fingers every time you take a bite.
A giant rat in the Taipei airport, left over from New Year. (My rats are cuter.)
And for Yoon, Rachel and Rilina! The store had models of pink Gundams as well, and I really wanted to buy it, except then I would have to lug it through Hong Kong and Shanghai. I will look for it locally as well.
I thought this was so cool! It's a post in one of the airport airtrain cars; only instead of one pole, it is split into three in the middle to accommodate more hands! So useful!
The view from Kowloon. The big globe is part of a museum or art center.
Escalators leading down to the MTR station. As you can probably tell, I am greatly fond of public transportation.
I thought this was so neat too! The little arrow blinks to tell you which way you're going! The next stop blinks! If the next stop is a transfer, all the places it'll transfer to blink! Oh usability, I love you so.
A street, lined with vendors. The two streets it connects are large, with lots of fancy shops, and then you poke your head in and get lost in tiny stands that crowd the street so much that you have to walk through in single file.
Uh, I thought this was really neat too, although the Starbucks employees must have thought I was nuts when I photographed it. In Taiwan and HK, they put little sticky tape things over your coffee lid mouth so it doesn't spill in the car (sort of like the Post-It tabs). And apparently, someone somewhere makes a giant roll of tape just for this purpose! You rip the sticky tape tabs off from the side.
And the start of the many pictures of thrusting, penetrating buildings. I've mentioned before that I think building the tallest building is like a pissing contest, yes?
Still, I am fascinated by tall shiny buildings and skylines! This one is where I spent my horrible and miserable two months, and I bah and hiss at it.
A look at Hong Kong street traffic and the way the city coexists with the hilly jungle right behind it.
The famous I.M. Pei Bank of China building. I think most of the locals don't actually like it; I heard a lot of comments on how it looks like an ax while I was there.
The view from Central of Mid-Levels.
More of Mid-Levels, along with another shiny building! It was so odd revisiting and being able to recall my old bus route, which wound its way through the forests of trees and buildings.
The HSBC building and the CK building.
The Bank of China building again.
The Lippo building, which I always thought looked like it had giant metal koalas crawling up the side.
The new tallest building in Hong Kong. It was so weird to see this; it was still under construction the last time I was here. For people who watched the new Batman movie, this is the building Batman jumps from when he's in Hong Kong.
It's so hard taking pictures of the buildings here because they're so tall!
OMG! Medicinal soups! I was copying the names, but they were all so neat that I finally just photographed them.
Soup is a very Cantonese thing, particularly the notion of specific soups to cure specific things. I mean, aside from the seemingly global "chicken soup for a cold" cure!
Glazed and barbecued chicken. Sadly, a little too salty, but oh, I still love the crispy skin!
Sugar snaps with fish.
Cold jellyfish in sesame oil. Their jellyfish is so fat! When we made some for class, ours were definitely not as chewy, sadly.
Winter melon soup! OMG SO GOOD. Just very light and refreshing, and cooked in an entire winter melon. So instead of having the melon cut in chunks in the soup, the server scoops bits of melon from the sides of the melon/bowl when s/he's doling out the soup. I love this soup so much.
Barbecued goose (bottom) and char sui (top).
Sugar snap peas with XO sauce and mushrooms. I have decided that I really like XO sauce.
Really tasty greens!
Dessert soup: mango and coconut milk and bits of grapefruit and tapioca. This is so good! Luckily, I know a place in Bay Area that serves it, so I will not be deprived all year.
Hot red bean soup with either gingko nuts or lotus seeds. I think they're lotus seeds. Also, I think this came with chewy bits of mochi in it as well.
OMG so good! They're these flaky cashew pastries that would just melt in your mouth.
(no subject)
Sun, Jul. 27th, 2008 10:00 am (UTC)The three-split grip poles are a very cool idea, yes. I've also seen them in Lyon in France.
Did you see the trams in Hong Kong? I believe they're the only city that still uses old-style British-style double-deck trams for a proper public service.
(no subject)
Fri, Aug. 1st, 2008 11:03 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Sun, Jul. 27th, 2008 11:10 am (UTC)As for the Cantonese soup thing - you are completely right - there is a special soup for EVERY TINY AILMENT. It's insane!
(no subject)
Sun, Jul. 27th, 2008 11:12 am (UTC)(no subject)
Fri, Aug. 1st, 2008 11:03 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Sun, Jul. 27th, 2008 12:38 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Fri, Aug. 1st, 2008 11:04 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Sun, Jul. 27th, 2008 12:50 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Fri, Aug. 1st, 2008 11:05 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Sun, Jul. 27th, 2008 03:02 pm (UTC)Also, the kitty! Looks like two of my cats combined to be that kitty! It looks like it is well fed and belongs to someone, too!
(no subject)
Fri, Aug. 1st, 2008 11:06 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Fri, Aug. 1st, 2008 11:19 pm (UTC)But perhaps we can go for Cantonese food somewhere at some point! I'll be in NYC for Stereolab concerts and a visit to
(no subject)
Tue, Aug. 5th, 2008 07:17 am (UTC)(no subject)
Sun, Jul. 27th, 2008 04:06 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Fri, Aug. 1st, 2008 11:06 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Sun, Jul. 27th, 2008 04:30 pm (UTC)The seeds in your sadly tasteless dessert look to me like basil seeds. Were they slimy/unctuous? Basil seeds often are. (Of course, I may be telling you something you already know... sorry!)
(no subject)
Fri, Aug. 1st, 2008 11:07 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Sun, Jul. 27th, 2008 04:55 pm (UTC)And I am having designer-glee over the UI stuff you posted from the subway. Yay good public transit signage!
(no subject)
Fri, Aug. 1st, 2008 11:08 pm (UTC)And yes, we should definitely go for more Chinese and neep over subway usability!
(no subject)
Sun, Jul. 27th, 2008 08:12 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Fri, Aug. 1st, 2008 11:10 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Wed, Aug. 6th, 2008 05:40 am (UTC)Damper Babies, meet Naked Mohawk Carrot Jockeys!
Sun, Jul. 27th, 2008 08:26 pm (UTC)That first restaurant looked GROSS. But I envy your egg cakes.
Naked Mohawk Baby Carrot Jockeys:
http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/2008/06/naked-mohawk-baby-carrot-jockeys.html
Re: Damper Babies, meet Naked Mohawk Carrot Jockeys!
Fri, Aug. 1st, 2008 11:01 pm (UTC)Also OMG, the naked mohawk carrot jockeys are hilarious! What were they thinking?
(no subject)
Mon, Jul. 28th, 2008 02:56 am (UTC)(no subject)
Fri, Aug. 1st, 2008 11:10 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Fri, Aug. 1st, 2008 11:24 pm (UTC)Delicious Food
Tue, Aug. 4th, 2009 09:28 am (UTC)http://www.chinese-food-recipes.net/chinese_pork_cooking_recipes/wintermelon_and_meatballs_stew_recipe.html
Re: Delicious Food
Tue, Aug. 4th, 2009 06:23 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Wed, Feb. 24th, 2010 10:55 am (UTC)