- Ta Siu Bow (phoenetic): Which is a bbq pork bun...and incredible. Some countries, like Japan and Canada do beef well.. Many do Chicken well, but the Chinese do pork well...it's tender, sweet and juicy. So, these pork buns are covered in a gentle bbq sauce and crammed into a bun, which is not baked...but rather steamed, keeping is soft and fluffy. I will make you all eat one, unless you can claim celiac disease!
- Tripe: Essentially, the lining of one of the seven stomachs of a cow. It is textured much like a rubber thimble were you to put it in your mouth....and it also feels rubbery. The taste is forgettable, really nothing exciting...like wet undercooked chicken skin or something... which sounds much grosser than it is. It's just meh to me.
- Cow stomach: Yep, a full on stomach (a different one than the tripe lining). It is spongy and I can imagine the word "bouncy" as well when I think about it, though we'd have to imagine that one, as it doesn't literally bounce. The way that it is textured reminds me vaguely of a soft coral...many little holes, you can feel them all, and the walls are smooshy and squishy. The food can be bought from the window of your local meat shop or chinese restaurant, and turns bright orange upon being cooked.
- Pigeon: Wee small bird it is. Not much to talk about...there are a lot of bones to dig through and after eating it, you're still hungry. But, the way that they serve both pigeon and duck is to keep the bird fully intact...including the head and sometimes limbs, no bonelss skinless anything over here. And then, they lay it on a platter and garnish it. The pigeon that we had was a pigeon head standing straight up in the center of the plate, mouth agape, and the wings and legs surrounding it... truly picturesque... lol
- Duck Feet: Yes. in fact, those same feet that I just mentioned can be eaten...well,at least you can eat around the bones. I found it to be like eating chicken skin without any meant on it...mmmmm, chicken skin... (not)
- waffels with lard: On the street, you can get some meat, scewers, noodles, buns of all sorts, and there are, on occasion, these hillarious waffel shops. They make you a waffel (not quite the same in deliciousness as those I"m used to, but it's still good), and they then proceed to put on pure lard, and then peanut butter, and then sugar/cinnamon mix. Very strange. And if you tell them, no thank-you, they shove it in your face, trying to convince you that it is crucial to the overall experience...in cantonese of course, and so, you end up getting it anyway just to they stop shoving canisters of lard in your face. But, overall, both funny and good to the palet.
- Assortment of sushi: So, I know you're all saying "I LOVE SUSHI!!!!" But I don't. I don't love raw fish...I don't love any fish. Me eating fish is like someone getting a haircut after sleeping in gum....you just have to do it because it's the best thing for you. Unfortunately, that doesn't work out well here, because there is fish, and more importantly, shrimp, in oodles of different foods....so, I'm in the process of making myself enjoy fish. Slow and steady. I have tried salmon and tuna, seaweed (of which I actually do enjoy kelp), calimarie, cuttlefish, crab (not bad), and lobster. When you all come visit....(that's right...I'm expecting you!), I will take you out to some really interesting seafood places.
- Durian: Fruit? Or enemy? Not sure. It smells, not badly, but very strong...so most would say it is indeed, "stinky"...however, I don't know about that. The taste though is incredibly destinct...and sometimes I think I like it, but then I don't think so...It has been known to make people lose their lunches...just saying.
- Miso: delicious japanese soup...basically a broth with tofu and kelp in it...can't go wrong with miso!
- Green tea ice cream with coconut flavoured frothy ice shavings, and cheerio's on top: we went to a wonderfully fancy desert place, and it was fabulous. I ordered this ice cream, covered in ice (they call it ice, but when I say ice shavings, I don't think you'll get the right idea...it's almost like a really light ice cream...but made of ice, so it's way better for you?) Anyway, it was bigger than my head and contained fruitsbits for garnish, but the best part was that they showered cheerio's on top...what a delicacy.... it made me laugh out loud.
- sesame soup: another desert, made of black sesame seeds, crushed into a liquid and served hot. It takes like drinking milk might if it were sesame seed flavoured... I guess.
- moon cakes: made from Lotus seed paste and filled with an egg yolk as your center, the moon cake is the way to celebrate the Mid-Autumn festival here in Hong Kong. I guess it's been a tradition for centuries. I have eaten pieces of a few, and got one from a student again just today. Really, they're interesting. I think people love them or hate them...I can't tell yet which. I can certainly get through it, but don't know if I"d want to buy them on my own.
- egg tart: jsut that. it's a tart, filled with egg pudding...tastes like egg, but is the consistency of pudding... it's a real treat here...not for me, but for some people.
- Green tea ice cream: enough said.
- choy sam: my new favorite vegitable...right up there with baby bok choy. It's stalky like asparagus, but leafy on top like celery...and tastes like a mix of the two. Steam it and serve it with every meal...I'm pretty sure that it has negative calories...so, I can eat it forever!!!
- stinky tofu: ok ok, I haven't actually had it yet...it has the same kind of predictable smell that Durian has, and apparently it smells horrible...BUT, I guess it's the best kind of tofu to eat...so, I'm going to have to try it pretty soon.
Anyway, that concludes the "food" chapter....soon to come "weird things to see"
Yours,
Talia
No comments:
Post a Comment