This week's theme is falling, starting with the snow. We had a few snow days in Vancouver, at the beginning of the week, but it's pretty much cleared up now. I safely drove my little car over the highway to hang out with my buddies in Richmond, at Enjoy Cafe:

The restaurant looks dingy and dark, but there were no indications of that it would be a health concern to consume the food served here. I had one of the red dishes in the photo above, which was a baked pork chop on rice. J had the dish with the yellow sauce, which was their baked seafood and pineapple with portuguese sauce on rice. I tried a bite of her choice, and I will have to say it is safe to order. 

The baked pork chop on rice was also safe, but I've definitely had crispier fried pork chops. Other Hong Kong style cafes use pork chops with more meat as well. The slice of pork chop covers the whole plate of rice, but a third of it is a large bone! The sauce to rice ratio is perfect, but I would've liked more cheese on top. The best part of the meal was the ice cold milk tea, but for those of you who do not enjoy sweet beverages, ask for less sugar.



In conclusion, this place is not worth coming to Richmond for.

This spot at Burnaby Lake  is worth waking up early for:

Other than snow, I had a minor fall this week as well, and while I'm not physically injured, I am traumatized (luckily H was here and I could be a baby about it). My grandmother is also back in the hospital, and she says she might not come back out, but I can see that she's trying her best to recover. I think being tough might be in my blood.

This upcoming week will be busy. I'm going to list out some goals to accomplish, and I'll report back in next week's blog:

• Travel to the Northeast US
• Research and finalize 3 caterers for the wedding
• Finish Homo Sapiens

Most of this weekend was spent eating, preparing for P&V’s wedding, and then replenishing my energy with more eating.

The preparations started with P&V’s wedding rehearsal, after which we went to Van Tea Cafe for a late dinner. Here is an example of a house special spaghetti at a Hong Kong style cafe:




Sauce to spaghetti ratio balanced, and the texture of the spaghetti was not too hard or too soggy. There were lots of toppings in it, including a copious amount of ham and chicken. The egg yolk that topped it off was still very runny and mixed in perfectly with the rest of the sauce. I surprised everybody by finishing the whole plate, and I washed it all down with lemon tea.



Other than the food, the restaurant seating area was bright and clean, although a bit cramped. We did have to wait a good 20 to 30 minutes before sitting down, despite making a reservation. Normally, this would have annoyed me enough to go down the street to another Hong Kong cafe, but it was fine that evening, because it gave us more time to plan for the wedding. Meals really are about who you are with.

Right off the MTR Sham Sui Po Station, pick up one of these But Chai Go’s (rice pudding cake with red bean…) at Kwan Kee’s Store 坤記 :



Then, head to Kam Wah Cafe 金華冰廳 for pineapple bun (BLB or Bor Lor Bao) with butter:



Then, off to Shanghai Min at MOKO for dinner. Here’s an egg dumpling in soup, with cabbage underneath (super tasty, would recommend):



These giant pink air plants were pretty popular in Asia. I had to get one, they were only $30HKD:



Well, that’s the end of Hong Kong. I don’t miss it, it’s not a place I call home or a place that I would visit for no reason. There’s a lot of history and it’s exciting, if you’re into advertisements right in your face. It’s exhausting though. No wonder people in Hong Kong don't smile.

What else to do in the city, but eat? Here’s one of the best waffle places in Tai Po, inside one of the malls:

Here’s another snack shop, in the middle of Tai Po Market, where we had fake shark fin soup and curry fish balls, chased down with lemon tea from a nearby convenience store:

I can’t link you to these places, because again, I’m a horrible blogger and did not note their actual locations.

On top of all the eating, we ate some more, this time with my cousin and her 1 year old (notice the baby food in the background and Ziploc bags to keep the utensils clean). I didn’t like this grapefruit salad (awkward dressing) or the gai lan with tofu (too salty):

This lobster spaghetti was not something I’d order again. The spaghetti was a bit too al dente, and the lobster was overcooked and chewy:

The pad thai pizza was not bad!

The tiramisu sundae was the best choice out of everything:

Don’t come to the Mango Tree at Causeway Bay, they have horrendous service, expensive and not very filling dishes, and the food is not cooked very well. Everything was way too salty.

Living in the big city with all the lights seems very glamorous, but the glitz isn’t really doing anything for me these days. The lights are an illusion to blind you from the layer of grime on the sidewalks, on the roads, on the people. People say it’s dirty in the woods, so they’d rather stay in the city, but I came home everyday with a layer of pollution on my skin and hair. It’s the city where you’ll find all the real dirt, and the people are the dangerous animals causing it.

One more day of Hong Kong... 

Hikes are one of the things I’ll wake up early for. Continuing on from the last post, I thought I’d elaborate on this a bit more (ie, I found photos that I forgot I took, and now I want to write more). We left the house around 7AM, and went for breakfast at a little cafe called BB開心茶座, located near the trail head to get to the Sir Edward Youde Memorial Pavilion (尤德亭):

Classic Hong Kong breakfast of sausage, sunny side up egg, and instant noodle, paired with milk tea:

H had the coffee + milk tea combo (yeen yeurng). His aunt and uncle had similar noodles and drinks. The quality at BB開心茶座 was really acceptable, despite being on the outskirts of Hong Kong. A steady stream of cyclists and motorcyclists stopped on the way up, and the parking lot was packed with expensive looking cars. Don’t forget it was only around 7:30 or 8AM… People in Hong Kong really don’t sleep.

I didn’t have to figure out how to get to the trail myself, because of our hosts (H’s aunt and uncle). They also took us to this waterfall/swimming hole, where there wasn’t much water at the time, because it hadn’t rained in a while. The trail was really easy to navigate, and not gnarly at all.

Go up past the houses in the photo above, and you will eventually get here: 

Two hours to get back to the car.

I know. Horrible directions, and not very informational, but hey, I was jet lagged. Easiest thing to do is just go eat at the cafe and ask around, if you really want to go!

Although I didn’t blog these past 2 weeks, I was still eating and hiking and coffee-ing - my weekend rituals. I flew with Hong Kong Airlines, which is a fairly new company for flights from Vancouver to Asia. The tickets were so cheap at just over $650 to go to Hong Kong and Taipei!

First thing after landing – EAT.

Well, actually, first thing was try to get on a bus to make it to the city to meet up with H and his family for dinner. My bus pass did not have enough money for the ride (like the Compass, HK uses the Octopus card that can be refilled with funds so that you just tap on and off the bus to pay), and I had no HK cash yet, because I was going to get some later on… Some kind lady with a baby actually paid for me, which was sort of nice.

Here’s the first coffee I had at Halfway Coffee:

Absolutely adore the decor in here. The owner collected all the Chinese style antique-like mugs and cups that they use, which is impressive because there was a large selection. They also had takeaway cups that cost about $10CAD for a full set, custom printed to look like antique cups:

Before the first cup of coffee, we actually woke up around 630AM for an early morning hike with H’s aunt and uncle:

They’re pretty cool folks, and pretty successful. I mean, being able to afford to live comfortably in Hong Kong and drive around in a Tesla is no easy task. More about this hike in this post.

Then, we went to visit my cousin and her 1 year old baby for lunch, shopped, and ate some more. Boring Hong Kong life?

Luckily, I’m not jet lagged now, but work is really sucking the life out of me. The first day back from vacation is always the most work. Tomorrow is another day… The rest of Hong Kong was still more eating, as you’ll see in later posts.

I’m nowhere close to being ready to fly. This should be a nice and simple check in online, but it’s becoming quite painful as my One Plus keeps dropping internet connection. Work with me PLEASE. Frustrated by the United Airlines app that took 5 attempts to accept my passport scan, haven’t started packing, still hungover from last night at J’s house, and spent all morning recovering with H (who has been expressing his feelings about me leaving tomorrow by sighing every few minutes and pouting a little).

Replenishing with dirty HK cafe food at Happy Date. Can’t live without this. I think this place is better than Lido (another HK style cafe that serves similar food), in terms of price, service, and quality. All of this was only $10! Must go if you ever visit Richmond for breakfast.

From top left, going clockwise: Spanish Omelette, Pineapple Bun with Butter, HK Style Milk Tea, Satay Beef Instant Noodles

Here’s the food from a different angle while I was taking the above photo:


Ingrid Nilsen posted a recent video about how she gets over hangovers. Seems like a legit cure, with avocado and eggs.

Well, I’m hungry again. Bye. Going to forage for food around the house.