Shanghai Hairy Crab!!!

In Hong Kong there are not many different changes in the season in terms of weather, but in terms of food, there is always a special time for something particular. One of my favorite seasons are: Hairy Crab Season!

It typically starts in late September and can last until January (depending on the temperatures of the waters that the crab live in).

Below are pictures of one the best quality hairy crabs of the season (which are usually the months right in the middle of the season.)

Look at the Fiery RED color! Mmmm...

You can see the Wet Tissue behind cos you've got to get down and dirty with your hands.

My Foodie Janice Jann enjoying for crab!

The inside of the crab with the shell lid off. This is a particularly good one cos of the large amount of yellow yolk and it's bright color!

It's steaming hot, cos they are all steamed fresh.

My sis LAHVING it. She skipped the shell fish during pregnancy because some doctors believe it's not good for the baby's skin.

ME! I was one of the luckiest that night cos I got one of the best pick of the crab!

Slithering Soup...

In HK there are a lot of different types of delicacies... such as bird's nest, shark's fin, abalone. Etc.

This day we were invited to go eat Snake Soup.

I'm not sure what type of snake, I think it's a form of sea snake.

The texture is more gritty than fish but it was interesting to try!

~ SNAKE SOUP ~

Below is just a pic of how many different types of drinks we had for that night. I thought it was really funny...

Let's count: tea, hot tea, red wine, diet coke, Chinese yellow wine...not counting the water, coffee later and dessert soup!

It runs in the family...

Being the youngest in the family has its advantages and disadvantages. One of the great advantages is that I am always in the presence of good food, as my mom is a wonderful cook, as well as my dad and if worse comes to worse my sis can always whip up something good.

The disadvantage of this is that I never needed to learn how to cook. EVER! My first (and only) fried egg I've ever done was in my first year in college...Yup that's right. WOW.

So as I had promised my sis that I would cook her an entire meal when she was pregnant with her 2nd baby, I didn't manage to try it until the baby was about 6 months old. Well better late than never! So I went into the kitchen and spent a good time in there cooking for 6 adults and a 5 year old.

Alright so I didn't do much of the 'cooking' as I did more of chopping! I made them a great big meal of MEXICAN tacos! It was actually very tiring. And from the looks of the pics you can tell that I have no experience in portion control! As I prepared way too much for the amount of ppl eating...but in the end it was all well worth it!

The rice always smells better next door...

Although I'm already EXTREMELY blessed with two awesome parents who love to cook as much as they LAHV to eat it, sometimes you still go out and find food that tastes better than home food! And most of the time the best food is always found in the warmth homes of your close friends. For it is there that you will taste something unique and different than the food at home, even if they are just cooking a simple bowl of white rice. This is extremely true from the old Chinese saying of "the food always smells better next door".

One of the most wonderful experiences I have ever had with beef noodles in soup was made by our very good family friend May. She is from Si Chuan and naturally she LAHVES spicy food. And if you can't take spicy don't try to stomach anything from Si Chuan!

She made her famous beef noodles in soup made with her own homemade spicy sauce and marinated beef. It was AWESOME. But of course EXTREMELY spicy and I had to down 2 glasses of coke lights!

By the time I finished my wonderful bowl of noodles (which I downed after my full coursed dinner) my lips was red and numb like a goldfish!

Mami's Bday 2008

I know it's already 2010...but I didn't start my blog until this year so just a recap of my mom's birthday back in October 2008!

This is my beautiful mother, and also handsome dad giving her a bouquet of roses! She loves flowers and doesn't she just look radiant?!

We chose to have a small dinner party with close family and friends at Lawry's Steakhouse in Causeway Bay. We got a private room and it was very cozy and pretty!

My sis then ordered some beautiful flowers of pink and ivory to put as center pieces along the long table to add a little femininity in a minimal way!

Of course we didn't make a set menu, we let everyone order a la carte!

Janice (my cousin and also one of my foodies) is enjoying the lobster bisque! Mmmm..

We had to have one of my favorite pink bubblies: Laurent Perrier Rosé, mmmm...

See how we are enjoying our wonderful steaks! Although this is not one of my favorite places for real good steak, it was a great night and we had lots of good fun!!

And of course last but definitely not least is THE BIRTHDAY CAKE! As I mentioned before as a tradition, we must have a birthday cake for the birthday girl/boy. We also started the habit of making it one of the highlights of the night to surprise everyone and the birthday person on how creative and thoughtful the cake will be. So for my mom's birthday we chose to do the CHANEL box design! Check it out!

My mom had a wonderful night and she absolutely lahved the cake. Of course these gorgeous cakes are more to look at than to be eaten! Although it is 100% edible, we want to be careful with our figures and not get into a super sugar high!

Pot Rice "Bo Zai Fan"

In October of 2008, my sis took me and my cousin to the wonderful little restaurant in Happy Valley. This little restaurant serves desserts, drinks and really REALLY gooooooood pot rice...

As My sis was living in Happy Valley before, she obviously knew where to go! This was awesome food and inexpensive! Of course due to my diet to maintain my weight..., I don't think I have been back since that time! =(

This is my cousin Janice who is enjoying her pot rice!! YUM

My sis is excited about her noodles...

I don't know why I chose noodles but I'm sure we all shared the pot rice! (And I'm holding a cup of HK style hot lemon tea!)

I think I will definitely go back this year!

Spanish Food At Home...

Once in a while we will have a wonderful Spanish dinner at home. Well actually to be correct it is really PERUVIAN. It's really different from your typical "Spanish" food. There is no Tacos or fajitas just REALLY REALLY good food.

Sometimes we would also invite friends over (but that really depends on our chef if he's willing to take on that many ppl to cook for! AKA my Papi)

Set up the dinner table all nice!

One of the most famous dishes of the Peruvians: Ceviche!! YUMMY

It's really raw fish cooked in lime juice with other secret ingredients!

(The orange is yam not carrots!!) I LAHV Ceviche!

We also add a little western touch as well: GARLIC Bread! (Homemade...)

We also add other variety of pre-meal food like cracker spread/pate!

This is a seafood soup which is really healthy, fresh and delicious! Also as you can see Peruvians LAHV cilantro!!

This is the main course called Estofado. It is again really healthy and made with tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, basil and chicken. There are a lot of variations of this dish in other cultures as well! (Supposedly really easy to make but I wouldn't know cos I don't cook...maybe one day I will attempt it!)

To end our meal we have to focus on our dessert! YES we are big dessert ppl. So of course we have our healthy fruits WATERMELON.

Desserts take too much time to prepare so we order the cakes from one of our fav bakeries; COVA. This is the blueberry cheesecake.

This is the tiramisu cake...

And last but not least we top it all off with coffee, tea and chocolates from Agnes B.!

Shake MMMMmmmm Buns!

Living in HK, one will automatically develop a very high standard pair of taste buds. But one of the things that was missing in the past few years was just a good ol' American burger. WELL...... NOW it's EVERYWHERE...from your triple o's to your fatburger... BURGERS has taken over the usual midnight meal at Tsui Wah's.

One of the burger stops that I lahv is definitely Shake 'Em Buns!!! Located in Causeway Bay and Central it is the taste of American/Gourmet fast food made just right for the small Asian stomach.

Here we tried their 3 mini burgers, chili cheese fries and a very ice cold chocolate milkshake to wash it all down! =) YUM.